#594 (7/29) "Is This Still America?"

REMINDER: Check out this past week's "Truth That Transforms  broadcast (Cen. FL - Sun, 5 pm, ch. 55.1: Mon., 7pm, 52.2; and at www.truthinaction.org). This week's broadcast is about believing God to do great things through each of us. Inspiring talk.  Don’t miss it

PRAISES AND PRAYER REQUESTS:

July 29th - BUS ACCIDENT IN INDIANAPOLIS - PRAY for the people of the Colonial Hills Baptist Church as their youth pastor, his pregnant wife, and another member of the church were killed over the weekend as they and the church youth were returning from an out of state summer camp. PRAY for their emotional healing as well as the healing of 7 teens, with one in critical condition. 
ATTENTION: TODAY is the 21st day of the 30 days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. (see link below for resource material you can download.) Please join me in focusing your prayers EVERY DAY for these over one billion people who need to hear the gospel of Jesus.[NOTE: 1) You can download a  page of helpful basic information about Islam and Ramadan at: http://www.opendoorsusa.org/downloads/pdf-downloads/Islam_reference_guide-1.pdf ; and 2) The following is from a 30-day prayer guide you can download at: http://www.opendoorsusa.org/downloads/pdf-downloads/2013-ramadan-prayer-calendar-1.pdf (The following is from that prayer guide. July 29 – 21^st Day of Ramadam -  LIGHT OF THE WORLD (Libya) “’I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” (John 8:12) Christianity has existed in Libya since New Testament times. With the emergence of Islam, the church was almost obliterated by the 12th century. Following the 2011 overthrow of Muammar Gadhafi’s  dictatorial regime, there has been political instability and growing support for militant Islam. With 97% of the population Sunni Muslim, the Christian community is facing uncertain times. Pray for them today, especially during Ramadan, for the Light of Christ, dwelling within them, to pierce Libya’s spiritual darkness.

"Angry Islamists Turn Wrath on Egypt's Christians,"  By George Thomas, CBN News Sr. Reporter http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/July/Angry-Islamists-Turn-Wrath-on-Egypts-Christians/  Friday, July 12, 201 - "Egyptian Christians are facing growing retaliation by angry Islamists for opposing ousted President Moham3med Morsi. His supporters say Christian leaders were behind his removal from office....On Thursday, the body of a Christian merchant was found decapitated in a cemetery. Last Saturday, a Coptic Christian priest was shot by gunmen in an outdoor market. Also, days after the military coup that removed Morsi from office, Muslim extremists in southern Egypt burned dozens of Christian homes and stabbed four believers to death. "It's part of the Brotherhood's mobilization that they are targeting Christians, that they are renouncing them as behind this. If the Brotherhood is able to portray what happened as a Christian-dominated or Christian-driven protest, then they get to gain massive support in the streets," Tadros explained.PRAY for the nation of Egypt, as it faces a crucial  moment, 1) that the recent events would result in its becoming a true democracy and NOT an Islamic state; 2)  that the peoples' freedoms, in particular the religious freedom of its minorities (specifically its oppressed Christians) would be protected; 3) for peace and stability to return; 4) that the U.S. will effectively reach out to the new government, and 3) for safety for Americans living in Egypt  

"American Pastor Saeed: 300 Illegal Days in an Iranian Prison,"  - by Jordan Sekulow, July 23, 2013 http://aclj.org/iran/american-pastor-saeed-300-illegal-days-iranian-prison

''Today [7/23] is the 300th day of American Pastor Saeed Abedini’s illegal imprisonment in Iran – 300 days away from his wife and kids, 300 days of torment for his Christian faith, 300 days and counting...Pastor Saeed’s wife, Naghmeh Abedini, responded to this positive step:"Thank you to all of the individuals who have prayed, written letters, signed petitions, called government officials, run benefit races, tweeted, and shared Saeed’s story. Thank you to all the government officials from around the world who have stood for my husband.  Iran has listened to your pleas.  While I am encouraged that Saeed is finally getting medical care, the fight is not yet over.  It has been a difficult 300 days – 300 days of torment simply because Saeed loves Jesus Christ.  I am hopeful Iran will do the just and honorable thing and release Saeed.'' ...We continue to work in this country and in the international community to secure Pastor Saeed’s freedom.  And more than 600,000 people around the world now stand in solidarity with Pastor Saeed at SaveSaeed.org. [ I urge you to pray DAILY for this courageous brother in Christ and his family and the hundreds of thousands of other Christians worldwide suffering persecution for their faith. - Stan] 

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"Is This Still America?" -  By Thomas Sowell, Jewish World Review July 16, 2013/

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell071613.php3#.UfRoQtKTgl8  [NOTE: This is written by an African-American who obviously can see what happened apart from any question of race.]

There are no winners in the trial of George Zimmerman. The only question is whether the damage that has been done has been transient or irreparable.

Legally speaking, Zimmerman has won his freedom. But he can still be sued in a civil case, and he will probably never be safe to live his life in peace, as he could have before this case made him the focus of national attention and orchestrated hate. More important than the fate of George Zimmerman, however, is the fate of the American justice system and of the public's faith in that system and in their country. People who have increasingly asked, during the lawlessness of the Obama administration, "Is this still America?" may feel some measure of relief.

But the very fact that this case was brought in the first place, in an absence of serious evidence — which became ever more painfully obvious as the prosecution strained to try to come up with anything worthy of a murder trial — will be of limited encouragement as to how long this will remain America. The political perversion of the criminal justice system began early and at the top, with the President of the United States. Unlike other public officials who decline to comment on criminal cases that have not yet been tried in court, Barack Obama chose to say, "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon." It was a clever way to play the race card, as he had done before, when Professor Henry Louis Gates of Harvard was arrested.

But it did not stop there. After the local police in Florida found insufficient evidence to ask for Zimmerman to be prosecuted, the Obama administration sent Justice Department investigators to Sanford, Florida, and also used the taxpayers' money to finance local activists who agitated for Zimmerman to be arrested. Political intervention did not end with the federal government. The city manager in Sanford intervened to prevent the usual police procedures from being followed.

When the question arose of identifying the voice of whoever was calling for help during the confrontation between Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman, the normal police procedure would have been to let individuals hear the recording separately, rather than have a whole family hear it together. If you want to get each individual's honest opinion, you don't want that opinion to be influenced by others who are present, much less allow a group to coordinate what they are going to say. When the city manager took this out of the hands of the police, and had Trayvon Martin's family, plus Rachel Jeantel, all hear the recording together, that's politics, not law.

This was just one of the ways that this case looked like something out of "Alice in Wonderland." Both in the courtroom and in the media, educated and apparently intelligent people repeatedly said things that they seemed sincerely, and even fervently, to believe, but which were unprovable and often even unknowable. In addition, the testimony of prosecution witness after prosecution witness undermined the prosecution's own case. Some critics faulted the prosecuting attorneys. But the prosecutors had to work with what they had — and they had no hard evidence that would back up a murder charge or even a manslaughter charge. You don't send people to prison on the basis of what other people imagine, or on the basis of media sound bites like "shooting an unarmed child," when that "child" was beating him bloody.

The jury indicated, early on as their deliberations began, that they wanted to compare hard evidence, when they asked for a complete list of the testimony on both sides. Once the issue boiled down to hard, provable facts, the prosecutors' loud histrionic assertions and sweeping innuendoes were just not going to cut it. Nor was repeatedly calling Zimmerman a liar effective, especially when the prosecution misquoted what Zimmerman said, as an examination of the record would show.

The only real heroes in this trial were the jurors. They showed that this is still America — at least for now — despite politicians who try to cheapen or corrupt the law, as if this were some banana republic. Some are already calling for a federal indictment of George Zimmerman, after he has been acquitted.

Will this still be America then?

[bold and italics emphasis mine]