CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR PASTOR SAEED'S RELEASE, - News as of 2/22 from the American Center for Law and Justice on American Pastor Saeed (who just started an 8 year sentence for helping the underground churches in Iran) - "As Iran continues to abuse imprisoned American Pastor Saeed Abedini, its goal is now clear -- force Pastor Saeed to deny Christ.
PLEASE Continue to PRAY: "Libya Arrests Suspected Christian Missionaries ," February 16, 2013; "Four foreigners were arrested in Libya on suspicion of distributing books about Christianity and proselytizing, a Libyan police spokesman said on Saturday. Spreading Christianity is a crime in the predominantly Muslim North African county. The four were arrested in the eastern city of Benghazi on Tuesday and are under investigation for printing and distributing books that proselytize Christianity. Police said they found 45,000 books in their possession and that another 25,000 have already been distributed. The suspects are from South Africa, Egypt, South Korea, and one holds both Swedish and U.S. Nationality. The U.S. Embassy in Libya has declined comment. "(Sources: CBS News, USA Today, Associated Press) [So much for the so-called "Arab Spring." - Stan]As the Lord leads, PLEASE PRAY: · For the timely release of the arrested missionaries. · For all who share God’s loving salvation in Muslim countries.
DECLARE YOUR SUPPORT FOR TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE. Please SIGN THE PETITION BELOW to declare your support for the traditional definition of marriage and in support of an amicus brief to go to the Supreme Court as it considers the redefinition of marriage on March 26th. Their decision on whether to uphold the Definition of Marriage Act passed by Congress in 1996 could be as piviotal to marriage in America as Roe v. Wade was to the definition of the sancity of human life in America. MOST IMPORTANTLY, please keep the upcoming Supreme Court review of this case and their final decision in your PRAYERS.
https://www.truthinaction.org/index.php/the-affirmation-of-marriage/?utm_source=Truth+In+Action+News+List&utm_campaign=9d8fb2dcc6-DOMA+%231+AB+TEST+Length&utm_medium=email
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AS I SEE IT: Even as the world needs to keep it's focus on Iran's growing acquisition of nuclear material at one end of the Muslim world, we must be ever wary of what is happening at the other end of the region - in Egypt, the other large Muslim country in Israel's backyard. The growing power of the Muslim Brotherhood there that resulted from the much hailed (and misnamed) "Arab Spring" should be a continued cause for concern and PRAYER, especially for Christians who face growing hostility by what is becoming an Islamic state. - Stan]
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SIGN PETITION TO STOP FUNDING OF EGYPT'S MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD. On March 1, President Obama imposed the Sequester, a budget control act that could dramatically impact our military strength. Already, the Army is planning to cut tens of thousands of soldiers. Yet three days later, on March 4, Secretary of State John Kerry announced $250 million in new taxpayer aid for Egypt's hostile Muslim Brotherhood government, and our government could give $1.5 billion more. Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood government has implemented Shariah law, persecutes Christians, breaks its peace treaty with Israel, and obstructs our investigation of the Benghazi terror attacks. Why are we sequestering our military while giving the Muslim Brotherhood an economic stimulus? Today (3/6), we are launching a new campaign, demanding that our government cut the Muslim Brotherhood's budget before it cuts our own military. America must cut its budget deficit, but the first cut should be the jihadists. Sign our Petition to Sequester the Muslim Brotherhood. http://aclj.org/radical-islam/sequester-muslim-brotherhood
"America Turning a Blind Eye to Egypt's 'New Pharoah?" By Erick Stakelbeck CBN News Terrorism Analyst, March 05, 2013 http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/March/America-Turning-a-Blind-Eye-to-Egypts-New-Pharoah/
WASHINGTON -- During the past few months, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has seized absolute power over his country. The Muslim Brotherhood leader enjoys support from the Obama administration, but his opponents call him a dictator who wants to turn Egypt into an Islamic state. Some have even called him Egypt's "new Pharoah."
He is the most powerful man in the Arab world's most influential country. He's referred to America as an enemy. And as a 9/11 conspiracy theorist, he denies al Qaeda was behind that attack. Yet he's due to receive sixteen F-16 fighter jets and 200 Abrams tanks from the Obama administration this year. A majority of Republican senators signed off on the deal.
A Hostile Character
So who is this questionable ally that America is helping to arm? "He's a rough personality. He's quite hostile -- he doesn't like to answer questions," Eric Trager, with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said. Trager studies the Muslim Brotherhood and has interviewed Mohammed Morsi face-to-face.
"He was considered within the Brotherhood as a hardliner -- somebody who was there to enforce the Brotherhood's most hardline ideas whether it came to saying that women and Christians can't even run for the presidency of Egypt, whether it was their foreign policy ideas, their hostility toward Israel," he said.
Morsi put that hostility on full display in a series of interviews before he became Egypt's president. In one, he called Israelis "bloodsuckers" and "warmongers" and referred to Israel and America as enemies." He also quoted from the Koran, calling Jews "the descendants of apes and pigs." In another interview, Morsi called on the Muslim world to confront Israel and boycott goods from any nation that does business with it, including America.
Morsi put that hostility on full display in a series of interviews before he became Egypt's president. In one, he called Israelis "bloodsuckers" and "warmongers" and referred to Israel and America as enemies." He also quoted from the Koran, calling Jews "the descendants of apes and pigs." In another interview, Morsi called on the Muslim world to confront Israel and boycott goods from any nation that does business with it, including America.
He branded Jews "hostile by nature" and called for every inch of Israel to become a Palestinian state. "The idea that he would moderate, that he would rule inclusively -- always overlooked who he was within the Brotherhood and assumed also that he could change in ways that are simply not realistic," Trager said.
America's Blind Eye
Trager said that Morsi hails from the Brotherhood's most radical wing. Yet the Obama administration appears to believe he's a positive force in the region. When Morsi helped broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas late last year, administration officials publicly praised him. Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton thanked him for his "personal leadership."
According to The New York Times, President Obama told aides he was impressed with Morsi's "pragmatic confidence. He sensed an engineer's precision with surprisingly little ideology." One day later, Morsi issued a decree banning any opposition to his laws and decisions in Egypt. Egyptians responded by taking to the streets in violent protests that continue to rage.
Now Morsi holds in his hand all the powers -- all the powers of judicial, legislative, and executive. And also nobody can cancel his decisions," Former Israeli Ambassador to Egypt Zvi Mazel said.As the former Israeli ambassador, Mazel has seen the Brotherhood up close. "According to my understanding of the Muslim Brothers, their ideology will be superior to pragmatism. They will provoke crises with Israel and also with the United States," he said. "Listen, the Muslim Brothers fought for 84 years to reach power and impose Sharia [Islamic law]," he added. "Now that they are in power, will they say, 'Okay, now we are going to become modern people. We are going for high tech and Allah is not important?' No, it's impossible."
Morsi's government is vowing to honor its peace treaty with Israel, for now. Another interesting note about Morsi: he reportedly joined the Muslim Brotherhood not in Egypt but here in America when he was a student at the University of Southern California.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
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