#1919 (4/14) GOOD FRIDAY: "Jesus, The Last Adam - The Whole Bible Points To Holy Week"

"JESUS, THE LAST ADAM - THE WHOLE BIBLE POINTS TO HOLY WEEK" - by: John Stonestreet & G. Shane Morris, Breakpoint.org, April 13, 2017; http://breakpoint.org/2017/04/breakpoint-jesus-last-adam/

What do the first man and Jesus Christ have in common? Well, the writers of the New Testament tell an exciting story for you, and for the whole world.

Sally Lloyd-Jones’s “Jesus Storybook Bible” is a favorite in my house for a lot of reasons. But the best part may be the prologue. In it, Jones explains that although the Bible contains laws for moral living, it’s not mainly a book of rules. And although it tells of great men and women of God, it’s not a book of heroes, either. Rather, it’s a story about one Hero in particular.

As Jones puts it, every story in the Bible whispers this Hero’s name. And there’s no time of year when that is more clear, though many of us miss it, than at Holy Week. Beginning with Palm Sunday, running through today (Maundy Thursday), Good Friday, and finally, Easter Sunday, we have the benefit of seeing not only Jesus’ story unfold, but of seeing the culmination of the whole story of Scripture itself.

This was a benefit the Disciples didn’t have. For Christ’s first followers, His words at the Last Supper, His arrest, His trial, and crucifixion were a bewildering defeat. It was only in retrospect, when Jesus opened the Scripture to them, first on the road to Emmaus and later in the upper room, that they understood, and even then, not fully!

Only after Christ’s ascension could a restored Peter stand before Jerusalem and proclaim the punch line of Holy Week: “Let all of the house of Israel therefore know assuredly,” he said, “that God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified.”

The rest of the New Testament shows how the Holy Spirit continued to reveal Christ’s presence throughout all of Scripture. Paul, for example, sees Jesus in the Bible’s very first chapters, calling Him “the Last Adam,” and contrasts the two men as heads of the human race. One failed and brought death on all His descendants. The other was faithful, bringing life through His death and resurrection.

And if we take the time to read Scripture more carefully, we see how deeply the parallels run. The ways in which Jesus is similar to, and yet better than Adam, are astonishing:

The first Adam yielded to temptation in a garden. The Last Adam beat temptation in a garden. The first man, Adam, sought to become like God. The Last Adam was God who became a man. The first Adam was naked and received clothes. The Last Adam had clothes but was stripped. 
The first Adam tasted death from a tree. The Last Adam tasted death on a tree. 
The first Adam hid from the face of God, while the Last Adam begged God not to hide His face.

The first Adam blamed his bride, while the Last Adam took the blame for His bride.
The first Adam earned thorns. The Last Adam wore thorns. 
The first Adam gained a wife when God opened man’s side, but the Last Adam gained a wife when man opened God’s side. 
The first Adam brought a curse. The Last Adam became a curse. 
While the first Adam fell by listening when the Serpent said “take and eat,” the Last Adam told His followers, “take and eat, this is my body.”

We celebrate this last event today—Jesus’ final meal with His Disciples, and His new command that we “love one another.” In giving Christians this meal, He sealed His role as Adam’s replacement.

Do you remember how, when Mary Magdalene saw the risen Christ, she mistook Him for a gardener? Through His body and blood, the Last Adam restored what the Forbidden Fruit destroyed, inviting us back to a restored Garden-City in the New Heavens and Earth, where the tree of life grows around the throne of God, free for the taking. That’s what His story, our story, the story—and this week—are all about.

Good Friday ... it’s easy to rush through this dark reminder of our sin, and look forward to Easter. But please, stay here a while. The only way to Sunday is through this week, and the events and the words Jesus spoke before His death are worthy of our reflection.

[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

RESOURCES - To help you, your family, and your small group drink deeply of these precious words, my colleagues and I at the Colson Center have put together a PDF booklet of reflections on the seven sayings of Jesus from the cross.
"The Seven Last Sayings of Jesus on the Cross: Reflections for Holy Week" - Colson Center | April 2017; http://breakpoint.org/free/
"The Jesus Storybook Bible" - Sally Lloyd-Jones | Zonderkidz | February 2007; http://www.colsoncenterstore.org/Product.asp?sku=0310708257

"'I Thirst' - Good Friday and Jesus of the Scars" - by: John Stonestreet , Breakpoint.org, April 14, 2017; http://www.breakpoint.org/2017/04/breakpoint-i-thirst/

#1918 (4/13) "A HEALER FOR HOUSING"

"A HEALER FOR HOUSING" - Intercessors for America, March 28, 2017; http://www.getamericapraying.com/blog/a-healer-for-housing/

Pray for Dr. Ben Carson to have compassion and wisdom as Secretary of HUD. Thank God that Dr. Carson puts his faith and trust in Christ. "Stay alert. This is hazardous work I’m assigning you. You’re going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don’t call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove." (Matt. 10:16 MSG)

We should all want Ben Carson to succeed. If he does, the fight against poverty can be won. If he does not, then we continue down the same road we’ve been on for more than half a century. It goes in never-ending circles of more spending, more promises and fewer results. This endless loop of liberal orthodoxy brought us 80 uncoordinated means-tested federal welfare programs costing $744 billion annually.

We have no way of knowing if public benefits truly help anybody. How many people became self-sufficient due to food stamps, Section 8 vouchers, home heating assistance and cash welfare benefits? You see, the government does not measure outcomes on metrics such as employment or ending drug abuse. If the government did measure such things, we would know where to target resources instead of trying to meet every human need imaginable.

Dr. Carson took the job few conservatives in Washington want, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). While HUD does not represent the entire welfare state, more than any other Cabinet department, its sole reason for being is to help Americans join the middle class.

When President Lyndon Johnson signed legislation creating HUD in 1965 he said, “We must not let our cities become symbols of a sordid society.” Fast-forward to today and President Trump, in his speech to Congress, cited Baltimore and Detroit among examples of urban decline. Nobody can argue with that. The mayor of Detroit campaigned on fixing broken street lights. Baltimore went up in flames following a fatal police encounter with an unemployed, young black man. Dr. Carson is intimately familiar with Detroit, where he was born and raised, and Baltimore, where he spent his career as a neurosurgeon.

HUD is missing in action when it comes to addressing the ills of urban America. It has meandered way off course during the Obama administration, inserting itself into local land-use decisions through its fair housing rule, a politically correct and meaningless focus on climate change, and providing Indian and rural housing where other departments and agencies already have a role. Such mission creep will not help anyone escape poverty in Baltimore, Detroit or anywhere else. Perhaps a physician is what we need after all, somebody who can diagnose, triage and treat the problem of poverty in America. But don’t say that to the poverty-industrial complex.

When Mr. Trump announced Dr. Carson as Cabinet secretary, former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter told The Wall Street Journal: “For the serious practitioners of public policy, I cannot imagine those professionals could be more demoralized by this announcement today.” Thank you, Mayor — you just summed up the entire problem. The HUD secretary should not be going to work every day attempting to please practitioners of public policy.

Dr. Carson told senators during his confirmation hearing that he will take a “holistic” approach to public housing. That means addressing the underlying conditions that cause homelessness in the first place such as substance abuse, lack of education and job skills, and broken families. Organizations like ours, and many other private, nonprofits across the country, train our case managers to ask open-ended questions when someone needs to stay in our homeless shelters or enroll in our drug rehabilitation program: “What brought you here?” Answering that question elicits a response that identifies entrenched problems that go beyond putting a roof over someone’s head.

Contrast that with the approach of the last eight years. The Obama administration sought to warehouse people with no questions asked about maintaining sobriety or trying to find work. How did that happen? The Obama administration promised to end homelessness, and appointed officials and bureaucrats followed suit, devising a program called Rapid Rehousing, which sweeps people off the streets and into subsidized housing.

Illustrating the liberal mindset of fighting poverty, previous HUD Secretary Julian Castro asked Congress for $11 billion to create a new entitlement for this program. To justify this request, Mr. Castro pointed to a massive HUD report that nobody has time to read. Someone did read it — the Institute for Children, Poverty and Homelessness — which concluded, “Definitive answers were nowhere to be found” regarding Rapid Rehousing’s results. So much for the brilliance of public policy practitioners.

Dr. Carson will face a stubborn bureaucracy, big-city political machines, lousy media coverage and members of Congress who will question his every move. The first challenge has been met: putting someone in charge who can look at poverty and homelessness anew. Perhaps the first step, if HUD is to be relevant in fighting poverty, is to stop the status-quo madness and back someone to lead it without a government resume. (Contributor: By Vann Ellison for The Washington Times – Vann Ellison is the president and CEO of Naples, Florida-based St. Matthew’s House.)

#1917 (4/12) "The Assisted Suicide Freight Train Hits the Brakes - Pro-Life Victories"

"THE ASSISTED SUICIDE FREIGHT TRAIN HITS THE BRAKES  Rhe Assisted Suicide Freight Train Hits the Brakes: - PRO-LIFE VICTORIES" - by: Eric Metaxas & Stan Guthrie, Breakpoint.org, April 12, 2017; http://www.breakpoint.org/2017/04/breakpoint-assisted-suicide-freight-train-hits-brakes/ [AS I SEE IT: As someone who was born and spent the first half of my life in Hawaii, it has saddened me that liberal and anti-life voices have always held sway there. What an encouragement to read in this article that pro-lifers are experiencing victory on this issue. I pray that when the US Supreme Court does eventually hear a case involving this issue, they will uphold the right to life. - Stan]

A funny thing happened on the way to our supposed brave new world of assisted suicide...

Proponents of assisted suicide would have us believe that legalized killing is an unstoppable freight train and that those who oppose it are going to get run over. And no wonder. Last year Colorado and the District of Columbia legalized it, while California enacted a bill that had been passed in 2015. They joined Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Montana where this great evil is now legal.

That’s why I’m very pleased to tell you that reports of the demise of a culture of life have been, to borrow a phrase, greatly exaggerated. We’re starting to win again. No, this doesn’t mean we can relax, but it’s really good news—and frankly, we could use some.

Bills to legalize euthanasia “have done very poorly” in 2017, Rita Marker, executive director of the Patients Rights Council, told Baptist Press. “That has been a shock to those who are in favor of it because they thought that all of [a] sudden the dam had burst and everything would happen for them.”

So far, that has not happened. Bills to advance the idea that some lives aren’t worth living have gone down to defeat in Indiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Tennessee. Also in New Mexico, the state senate voted 22-20 against a bill to legalize assisted suicide for people expected to die within six months. It was a bipartisan vote, with 7 Democrats joining 15 Republicans.

Similar bills stalled in Hawaii, Maryland, Utah, and Wyoming, Marker said, although it’s always possible they could be brought back. In Hawaii, a House of Representatives committee unanimously decided not to advance a proposal allowing physicians to prescribe lethal drugs on the same day a patient is diagnosed as terminally ill.

Eva Andrade of the Hawaii Family Forum said that Hawaiians should “say a prayer of thanksgiving” while remaining vigilant—because when it comes to assisted suicide bills, death is never final. “Although this may seem like the battle is over, please be advised that the battle is not over until the last day of session,” Andrade said. “And even then, the bill is still alive for next session. Even now, proponents are most likely regrouping.”

Dauneen Dolce, executive director of the Right to Life Committee of New Mexico, told the American Family Association that assisted suicide legislation likely will be introduced next year. Therefore, she said, those opposing the culture of death must remain “actively involved in some way,” by “educating yourself, or giving support to the organizations that are educating others, or [being] involved in the political arena. If you don’t do that,” she added, “you are handing over our state [and] our laws, and the culture of death will come to us—and that’ll be from apathy.”

The job is immense. According to a 2016 survey by LifeWay Research, 67 percent of Americans say it is morally acceptable for terminally ill patients to ask their physicians to help them end their lives. We must not only work to change—or block—laws in the political and legislative realms. We must also work—and pray—to change hearts and minds in our neighborhoods, in our social and work circles, and across society.

Apparently most Americans see pain and suffering as the ultimate evil and personal autonomy as the highest good. What I can only call this “sub-Christian worldview” completely misses the truth that God can and often does use the things we’d rather avoid in our lives—even at the end of life—to draw us closer to Himself.

Remember, when it comes to assisted suicide, apathy is deadly. So let’s educate our fellow Americans about the beauty and dignity of life, from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death. Remember as well: “If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”

Come to BreakPoint.org for resources on the evil of assisted suicide.

Further Reading and Information  - As Eric points out, there is good news for those who value life and recognize its worth at every stage. Check out the links below for further information on the setbacks to the assisted suicide freight train.
"Assisted suicide bills faring poorly in 2017" - David Roach | Baptist Press | March 27, 2017; http://bpnews.net/48574/assisted-suicide-bills-faring-poorly-in-2017
'Always Care, Never Kill" - Ryan T. Anderson | Heritage Foundation | March 24, 2015; http://archive.breakpoint.org/images/content/breakpoint/Document_Links/Heritage_Brief_-_Always_Care_Never_Kill.pdf
The Patients Rights Council website - http://www.patientsrightscouncil.org/site/
"The Art of Dying: Living Fully into the Life to Come" - Rob Moll | IVP Books | June 2010; http://www.colsoncenterstore.org/Product.asp?sku=9780830837366

#1916 [4/11] "Gorsuch A Time As This"

ATTENTION:  SCROLL DOWN  to get t today's article entitled in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. And PLEASE be sure to note the various PRAYER REQUESTS listed AFTER the posted article. They deserve  your intercession. THANK YOU.

BE Prepared TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST ABORTION 

(...because ALL Babies Matter! - http://www.lifenews.com/2017/03/01/why-do-unborn-babies-matter-just-because-they-are/ 

: Go to: LIFE Training Institute - http://prolifetraining.com/resources/five-minute-11/  

Be Prepared TO ENGAGE WITH THE PC CULTURE:

Go to:"Tactics" - 

http://townhall.com/columnists/mikeadams/2016/04/29/tactics-n2154983

NEW PERSONAL UPDATE: 4/11 - Please see the JOURNAL section on the right side of this blog age for the latest. I REALLY appreciate all your prayers!

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"GORSUCH A TIME AS THIS" - Tony Perkins, Washington Update, April 10, 2017, http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WA17D17&f=WU17D06 [AS I SEE IT: Since his swearing in at mid-morning yesterday and after my work shift late at night, I kept channel flipping (I don't have cable connections) and was stunned that I could not find one news outlet that even mentioned this historic event that took place. Sure, there were other news stories including threats by North Korea (again), but the consequences of this new justice on the Supreme Court may be easily the most significant event in our country this year and possibly for years to come. Sadly, it has come to where any justice - and particularly one on the Supreme Court - can impact the lives of the rest of us 300 million plus Americans. And because this justice (unlike 4 and sometimes 5 of the others on the court right now) has pledged to interpret the Constitution and not make new law, we just may be at a crucial turning point in our country's history for generations to come. This new justice being sworn in was a moment tens of millions of Christians trusted President Trump to do in voting for him last November have waited for. And yet the media was largely silent. How sad. - Stan]

It was the most significant swearing in since Donald Trump's. When Neil Gorsuch put his hand on the Bible to become the 113th Supreme Court justice in U.S. history, Antonin Scalia, in that great cloud of witnesses, was no doubt smiling. His 49-year-old replacement is everything the longtime originalist could hope for -- a humble, esteemed, and deferential jurist whose legacy will almost certainly outlast the president who appointed him.

For millions of Americans who put the Court at the top of their concerns last November, it was a moment of extraordinary relief. To them, the election of President Trump was all leading up to this sunny morning, when the balance of the Court would finally tip back in the favor of the Constitution. For the entire nation, it was a powerful image of the new president keeping the most important promise of his young term. Surrounded by his wife and two daughters, Gorsuch became the first justice to be sworn in by his former boss, Anthony Kennedy. Now, the clerk-turned-colleague will have his own seat on the bench he served at one of the most critical times in our nation's history.

Fortunately for the rookie, he won't have to wait long to get his feet wet as he'll jump right into a busy spring of arguments. Although Gorsuch won't have a vote on the cases argued before he was confirmed, at least a dozen others await the Court -- which will be at full strength for the first time in more than a year. In the meantime, the newest member of the bench will have to find his place among the team of nine. "The junior-most justice starts off at the bottom of the heap, sits on a far wing of the bench and speaks last at conference." And, as CNN points out, Gorsuch will have one duty the others do not: answering the door. "It's a job that Justice Elena Kagan, confirmed to the bench in 2010, is likely relieved to relinquish. She lightheartedly described the job qualifications at a Princeton appearance in 2014. 'The junior justice has to answer the door,' she began. 'I mean literally, if there is a knock on the door, and I don't hear it -- there will not be a single other person who will move, they will just all stare at me until I figure out 'oh, I guess somebody knocked on the door.'"

Plenty of important issues will come knocking too, and conservatives can be grateful that Gorsuch will be answering. Religious liberty will headline the spring docket, with key cases like Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Pauley. While the Court hasn't yet agreed to hear them, multiple cases are pending before the Court that involve "Blaine Amendments" from several state constitutions which are being used to discriminate against religious institutions in the use of state resources. Like in Trinity Lutheran, the issue in Douglas County School District v. Taxpayers for Public Education and Colorado State Board of Education v. Taxpayers for Public Education is whether such state level discrimination is barred by the Constitution. The Court's decision in Trinity Lutheran will significantly affect the outcome in these cases, and Justice Gorsuch would likely side with the religious institutions anyway.

The justices are also currently considering whether to accept several other important religious liberty cases. In Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the issue is whether a state can force a small business owner (Jack Phillips) to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding due to sexual orientation nondiscrimination laws, or whether the baker's First Amendment free speech and free exercise rights protect his ability to opt out of this process. Even if the Court doesn't take up this case, we know the issue isn't going away. There are several small business owners who have already been penalized by different states for refusing to use their talents to further same-sex weddings. Justice Gorsuch will be poised to consider this issue, and we're glad he has a strong record of protecting religious liberty. Additionally, the Court will consider whether to hear Sterling v. United States, which will decide whether the Religious Freedom Restoration Act protects a service member's right to display Bible verses at a military workstation.

In the future, we can expect to see more abortion regulation and healthcare conscience/religious liberty issues surface at SCOTUS, along with the question of whether sex discrimination includes "gender identity" and/or "sexual orientation" discrimination. When that time comes, we are grateful that we will have a strong originalist in Justice Gorsuch on the bench. For more of an assessment of how his presence will affect the Court, see our prior briefing on this issue. [http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF17C04.pdf]

[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

"Gorsuch Joins the Supreme Court With Nod to Scalia" - Caleb Ecarma / April 10, 2017 / http://dailysignal.com/2017/04/10/gorsuch-joins-the-supreme-court-with-nod-to-scalia
    "... Gorsuch, who will turn 50 in August, is the youngest current member of the court. He had served since 2006 on the Colorado-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
    “Justice Gorsuch, you are now entrusted with the sacred duty of defending our Constitution,” Trump said, adding: "Our country is counting on you to be wise, impartial, and fair. To serve under our laws, not over them, and to safeguard the right of the people to govern their own affairs. I have no doubt you will rise to the occasion and that the decisions you will make will not only protect our Constitution today, but for many generations to come."
     Addressing Scalia’s widow, the new justice pledged: “To the family of Justice Scalia: I will never forget that the seat I inherit today is that of a very, very great man.”
     Gorsuch’s voice broke slightly as he thanked his wife and two children.
     Gorsuch also had a word for his new colleagues.
     “Thank you for the warm welcome,” he said. “I look forward to many happy years together.”
     “The swearing in of Neil Gorsuch, who is a committed constitutionalist, is a big victory for conservatives and the Trump administration,” said Elizabeth Slattery, a legal fellow in the The Heritage Foundation’s Institute for Constitutional Government. Slattery said Gorsuch understands how the framers of the Constitution designed the judiciary branch to act and will interpret the nation’s laws in such a way.“[Gorsuch] will likely have an impact on religious liberty and tackling the administrative state,” she said. “His record as an appeals court judge shows a respect for all religious believers, whether they have views that are currently popular or politically correct.” Referring to Gorsuch’s predecessor, who was beloved by conservatives, Slattery said the new justice “will no doubt live up to the standard set by Justice Antonin Scalia.”
     John Malcolm, director of Heritage’s Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, expressed a similar positive sentiment regarding Gorsuch’s swearing-in.“Today is a historic day, as a fine man and excellent judge has now become our nation’s 113th Supreme Court justice,” Malcolm said. “I have no doubt that he will distinguish himself, and that his lodestar will be fidelity to the Constitution and rule of law.”
"Why We Have Mitch McConnell to Thank for Justice Neil Gorsuch" - Genevieve Wood / April 10, 2017; http://dailysignal.com/2017/04/10/why-we-have-mitch-mcconnell-to-thank-for-justice-neil-gorsuch/
"4 Lessons Conservatives Should Learn From Getting Gorsuch Through" - Rachel del Guidice / April 07, 2017; http://dailysignal.com/2017/04/07/4-lessons-conservatives-should-learn-from-getting-gorsuch-through/

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PRAYER MATTERS:
"To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world." - Karl Barth; "Prayer is inviting God into a seemingly impossible situation and trusting/resting in His love and grace to accomplish His perfect will in His perfect time and for His greatest glory." - Stan 
PLEASE BE IN PRAYER FOR THE PEOPLE OF SYRIA [from OpenDoors.org]

*For families struck by terror in such an unexpected way — while they were sleeping — to receive the care and rest that they need to physically and emotionally heal from this horrific ordeal.

*For those who executed the attack. This act was full of evil and hate, but no one is too far from God’s saving grace. May God convict their hearts today of the evil act they did — in direct rebellion to Him and His Word. May He save them miraculously, just as God did with Paul, while he was persecuting the church.

*For believers in Syria and in this region as they navigate so much uncertainty. May they remain faithful to God through these most difficult times as He sustains them with peace and endurance. May the gospel be ever-present in their minds.

2/7 American Center for Law and Justice: American Pastor Andrew Brunson still languishes in a Turkish prison. He’s one of 19 prisoners in a 10-person cell. He’s the only Christian. Pastor Andrew has been falsely charged with “membership in an armed terrorist organization.” He has served and loved the people of Turkey for more than two decades. Now this U.S. citizen is in extreme danger – falsely charged for his Christian faith. We are representing his family and have launched an aggressive global campaign demanding that Turkey – a fellow member of NATO – release him immediately. We’re working on Capitol Hill with our nation’s leaders, through our international offices, and around the globe to secure the release of Pastor Andrew. Now, we are preparing to send a critical legal letter to Turkey’s president in the next few days. Time is of the essence. Sign our letter before we send it. Join the fight. Be Pastor Andrew’s voice. He needs it now more than ever.Sign Our Petition: Free American Pastor Andrew Brunson.https://aclj.org/persecuted-church/free-american-pastor-andrew-brunson 

12/13- American Center For Law and Justice: On trial for their faith, two Christian pastors in Sudan face death. Christian Pastors Hassan Abduraheem and Kuwa Shamal have been brutally imprisoned for nearly a year – 359 days – in deplorable conditions. Their trial has been delayed time and time again.Their churches miss them. Their families need them. They face possible death sentences because they are Christians. At the ACLJ, we've launched a massive international legal advocacy campaign for their freedom. We're preparing critical legal letters to Sudan, raising their case with world leaders, and preparing action at the U.N. They could be sentenced to hang for their faith if the world is silent. Christian Pastors Hassan and Kuwa need your voice now. Time is of the essence, as the trial continues. Our silence could be their death.Other Christians facing death in Sudan are now free because you spoke out. Demand Sudan free Pastors Hassan and Kuwa now. Sign Our Petition: Save Christian Pastors from Death...https://aclj.org/persecuted-church/save-christian-pastors-from-possible-death?

PRAY FOR AMERICA: THANK GOD for His many blessings on America throughout it's history. May we then ask that AMERICA once again be a blessing TO GOD, by once again submitting to HIS will in our affairs - both personal and national - that He may truly "heal our land." (2 Chron. 7:14) Short of that, we should not be saying "God Bless America"but instead "God be merciful towards America!"

PRAY FOR OUR LEADERS:  1) Pray for President Trump and his advisers, that they would select Godly leaders at the federal level who will be accountable to do an excellent job (or be fired!) ; that he would seek God's wisdom and be enabled to lead our country effectively in the years ahead; and 2) Pray our leaders at every level of government will Spirit-filled, leading us with Godly wisdom and integrity; that they will  only pass legislation and enact policies that will benefit Americans today as well as future generations and NOT do any lasting harm.

SUPREME COURT: PRAY 1) that the Senate will quickly confirm Judge Gorsuch for the Supeme Court, and 2) that the justices will only hand down decisions that are Constitutionally sound and in the best interests of our country now and for future generations.

Other World-Wide Prayer Requests:

 This is a photo of 3 of Asia's daughters holding a picture of their imprisoned mother.

A Christian Mother's Mandatory Death Penalty Could Be Overturned. PRAY and Sign the Petition Now! - https://aclj.org/persecuted-church/save-christian-mom-asia-bibi-from-execution? 
Learn about Christian Persecution; Check out the World Watch List:

http://live.opendoorsusa.org/wwl/?utm_source=action&utm_medium=email&utm_content=content-banner&utm_campaign=may-2016
PRAY for the ON-GOING crisis now happening in IRAQ/SYRIA.  Pray that coalition forces will be able to destroy the leadership and infrastructure of ISIS.

#1915 (4/10) "After Missile Strike in Syria, Trump Must Avoid Mission Creep"

"AFTER MISSLE STRIKE IN SYRIA, TRUMP MUST AVOID  MISSION CREEP" - James Phillips / April 09, 2017 / http://dailysignal.com/2017/04/09/after-bold-strike-in-syria-trump-must-avoid-mission-creep/

President Donald Trump ordered an attack on Syria's Sharyat Airfield on April 6, two days after aircraft from that airfield attacked Syrian civilians with chemical weapons. (Photo: MCS 3rd Class Ford Williams/Zuma Press/Newscom)

On April 6, President Donald Trump ordered a cruise missile strike against the Syrian airfield used by the warplanes that launched last week’s chemical attack against Syrian civilians.
This strike was an appropriate, proportional, and carefully calibrated response for the Assad regime’s repeated use of illegal chemical weapons.

While it was a bold tactical strike that sent a powerful message that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s behavior was unacceptable, it is merely the opening bid in what is likely to develop into a protracted diplomatic crisis. Trump reacted viscerally to the pictures of poisoned babies and moved decisively to launch the punitive reprisal. But that limited military action is unlikely to be decisive in and of itself.

Since the missile strike, Assad has already sent warplanes from the same base to bomb the rebel-held village of Khan Sheikhoun again, this time with conventional weapons. Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose government guaranteed that Assad had given up all his chemical weapons in 2013, has chosen to remain entrenched in denial.

Moscow has raised the stakes by dispatching a Russian destroyer to patrol off Syria’s coast and by ending the deconfliction arrangement, which had lowered the risk of Russian-American military clashes in the skies over Syria. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson travels to Moscow on Tuesday to further engage diplomatically on Syria with Putin’s government. But the prospects for a quick resolution of the crisis are very poor.

The Humanitarian Impulse - No good deed goes unpunished in the Middle East. The Trump administration should keep this in mind, as well as the experience of past U.S. administrations, as it charts its future course.
     President George H.W. Bush also reacted viscerally to news reports of starvation in Somalia and mounted an admirable response when he launched Operation Restore Hope in December 1992, airlifting emergency food aid to that failed state.
     But that humanitarian aid mission was later expanded into a failed nation-building experiment by the Clinton administration, which discovered that one of the biggest obstacles to feeding starving Somalians was pilferage of food supplies by warlords leading local militias.
This oxymoronic “humanitarian war” in Somalia saw U.S. troops back up a United Nations peacekeeping force and clash with fierce local militias, some of them trained and assisted by al-Qaeda.The death of 18 American special operations troops in Mogadishu in October 1993, when two of their helicopters were shot down, led to the termination of the operation in 1994.
    Humanitarian operations also produce unintended consequences. The U.S. humanitarian intervention in Somalia was perceived as an unacceptable act of imperialism by Osama bin Laden, then living in nearby Sudan. Al-Qaeda launched its first attack on Americans in December 1992 when it planted a bomb in a hotel in Yemen, which was being used by U.S. Marines traveling to Somalia to assist the food distribution. Although the Marines had already departed, two people were killed at the hotel.
    President Ronald Reagan was not so lucky when he dispatched U.S. Marines to Lebanon as part of an international peacekeeping force to stabilize that country in 1982 after Lebanese President-elect Bashir Gemayel was assassinated by a Syrian agent. Hezbollah terrorists directed by Iran later launched a truck bomb attack against the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 241 Americans on Oct. 23, 1983. As a result, the international peacekeeping force was withdrawn in 1984 and Lebanon increasingly fell under the malign influence of Syria and Iran for years after that.

If Trump now introduced U.S. troops into Syria, they too would become a lightning rod for Islamist terrorism launched by al-Qaeda, ISIS, or Hezbollah and other Shiite extremist militias from Iraq, which Iran has deployed to prop up Assad. The Trump administration should bear this in mind and rule out the idea of expanding its current military commitment to destroy ISIS in eastern Syria into a broader military push to topple Assad.

What Next? - Washington has warned that it will take prompt action if the Assad regime launches another chemical attack. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, who has quickly emerged as the moral voice of the administration, told a special session of the U.N. Security Council on Friday that: “The United States will no longer wait for Assad to use chemical weapons without any consequences. Those days are over.” She warned that “[the] United States took a very measured step last night. We are prepared to do more, but we hope that will not be necessary.”
    It would be foolhardy for Assad to use chemical weapons again. If he did, Trump could respond with a targeted strike on Assad similar to Reagan’s 1986 airstrike targeting Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi. Reagan clearly did not expect to end Libyan terrorism in a one-shot quick fix when he launched the 1986 airstrike. He described the reprisal as “but a single engagement in a long battle against terrorism” and threatened future reprisals if Qadhafi continued to support terrorist attacks against the U.S.

Focus on Chemical Weapons, Not Regime Change
     The Trump administration should remain focused on the key problem at hand—Assad’s chemical weapons threat—and not seek to expand the military mission to include regime change.
That kind of mission creep would bog down U.S. military forces in Syria for years, fighting not only the Assad regime, but Hezbollah, Iran, and possibly Russia.
    Regime change is a bridge too far. Once crossing it, the Trump administration would inherit the responsibility to spend more blood and treasure to cobble together the shards of a failed state infested with over 1,000 fractious militias, many of them anti-American.
    While Assad has lost all legitimacy as the leader of the Syrian government, his eventual removal from power should be a long-term diplomatic goal, not a military goal.

But the Trump administration can indirectly raise the military costs of Assad’s chemical aggression by providing greater aid to select Syrian rebel groups—who have no links to ISIS, al-Qaeda, and other Islamist terrorists—or to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party.

The defeat of ISIS should remain the top U.S. military priority in Syria, not regime change in Damascus. The most practical and effective humanitarian policy that Washington can provide to Syrians is to quickly destroy ISIS and relentlessly deter future chemical attacks by the Assad regime.

[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

James Phillips is the senior research fellow for Middle Eastern affairs at the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation. He has written extensively on Middle Eastern issues and international terrorism since 1978. Read his research.

"How President Trump Can Improve U.S. Syria Policy" -  James Phillips, March 3, 2017; http://www.heritage.org/middle-east/report/how-president-trump-can-improve-us-syria-policy
"After Missile Attack, the Challenges Facing Trump in Syria" - Josh Siegel / April 07, 2017; http://dailysignal.com/2017/04/07/after-missile-attack-the-challenges-facing-trump-in-syria/

#1914 (4/9) SUNDAY SPECIAL: "REFLECTION: What the Spiritual Language in the Syria Speech Tells Us About [Pres.]Trump"

"REFLECTION: WHAT THE SPIRITUAL LANGUAGE IN THE SYRIA SEECH TELLS US ABOUT [PRES.]TRUMP" - CBNNEWS.com, 04-07-2017; http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/2017/april/reflection-what-the-spiritual-language-in-the-syria-speech-tells-us-about-trump [AS I SEE IT: Many of us, while encouraged by many of his actions as President, wonder just what is his true spiritual state. Maybe this article is just wishful thinking. Or MAYBE - by looking closely at what he said in his remarks regarding the US air strikes against Syria, comments he certainly did not have to necessarily articulate - we are seeing indications of his spiritual condition. We can only pray that it is, and certainly it should lead us to continue to pray for our President. - Stan]

(Credit: AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Trump's speech justifying the missile launch on Syria relied on spiritual language as he sought God's wisdom. His approach will have strong appeal for his evangelical supporters, and it might go even deeper, showing the world a different side to the president.

The Underlying Theme Is Justice - Justice demands punishment for a perpetrator who commits wrongs against innocent civilian populations.
     "Numerous previous attempts at changing Assad’s behavior have all...failed very dramatically," the president said. "Tonight I call on all civilized nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria." Here he drew a bright red line.

The greatest appeal of the speech for evangelicals is the religious language sprinkled throughout and the deeper meanings it suggests.

He Appealed to Moral Law - While President Trump cited Assad's violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention, he appealed to a higher moral code than international agreements or the United Nations.
     "No child of God should ever suffer such horror," he said. With that statement, President Trump highlighted a higher moral code.
     He said that all men and women are created by God and for that reason they are deserving of protection and safety from evil. People don't derive their right to freedom and security from any manmade organization, but from the Creator and if a government or individual transgresses those rights, then they should be held accountable.

His Words Reflected Humility - President Trump asked for God's wisdom in facing the challenges ahead. It's true that President Trump's actions and words don't often reflect humility, but the Bible is clear that a humble man seeks God's wisdom.
     Proverbs 22:24 says: "Humility is the fear of the Lord; its wages are riches and honor and life."
     Also, in his closing, he asked God to bless not just America, but the entire world. He broadened the perspective beyond narrow self-interest and showed concern for the other nations and populations who are at risk if the Syrian war continues unchecked. That's a sign of a leader.

He Showed Compassion for the Suffering - President Trump pointed to the innocent victims suffering at the hands of a brutal dictator.
     "Assad choked out the lives helpless men, women and children. It was a brutal death for so many. Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered at this very barbaric attack."
     Evoking these images brings the depths of the depravity of chemical weapons home and demonstrates empathy, another quality of great leaders.

Did he use these phrases simply to make his case and to appeal to his evangelical base? It's certainly possible. He is a politician, after all.

But hearing this speech brings to remembrance the reasons both Mike Pence and Ben Carson cited when they first cast their support for Trump. They said that when they sat down with him face to face, behind the spotlight, they found a man very different from the brash exterior. One of humility and grace.

This speech might have just given us all a glimpse of that man.

#1913 [4/8] PRO-LIFE SAT: "Trump Affirms Human Rights, Ends US Funding for UN Population Fund"

"TRUMP AFFIRMS HUMAN RIGHTS, ENDS US FUNDING FOR UN POPULATION FUND" - Melanie Israel / April 05, 2017 / http://dailysignal.com/2017/04/05/trump-affirms-human-rights-ends-us-funding-for-un-population-fund/ [AS I SEE IT: Another example of something we should have been hearing about in the major media outlets. Oh wait, could it be they don't want to report something that they support or even that makes President Trump look good? Just wondering. - Stan]

The U.N. Population Fund has long supported China's population control policies, which are enforced with coercive abortion and forced sterilization. (Photo: Michael Reynolds/Sipa /Newscom)

According to the Kemp-Kasten Amendment, which has been regularly attached to foreign appropriations bills since 1985, the president has the authority to withhold federal funding from any organization that “supports or participates in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.” On April 3, a State Department memo announced that the U.S. will do just that.

During the Reagan and both Bush administrations, the Kemp-Kasten Amendment was invoked and the U.S. withheld funding from the United Nations Population Fund due to its continued support for and participation in the Chinese government’s coercive family planning practices, which include forced abortion and involuntary sterilization. The Clinton and Obama administrations made no such determinations, so during their time in office the United States sent hundreds of millions of dollars to the fund.

Americans should celebrate the Trump administration’s decision to change course. Taxpayers should not be forced to fund an organization that continually partners with a government entity that subjects the Chinese people to disturbing human rights abuses under the guise of “family planning.”

For over three decades, China has subjected its citizens to a one-child policy (in recent years expanded to a two-child policy). Enforcement mechanisms include mandatory pregnancy screenings, crippling fines for exceeding the allowable number of children, detainment, termination from one’s job, forced abortion, and forced sterilization.

Heritage Foundation experts Sarah Torre, Olivia Enos, and William Wilson described some of the disastrous demographic consequences of China’s family planning practices in a recent report:

*Declining fertility rates, cultural and legal systems that favor men, prenatal sex-determination tests, and sex-selective abortion have led to a skewed sex ratio, which exacerbates a devastating gender imbalance across China.

*Many men are demographically unable to find a wife due to the country’s extreme gender imbalance. These so-called “bare branches” are at an increased risk for suffering from depression, suicidal thoughts, and aggression.

*The shortage of marriageable women has led to an increased demand for forced marriages and sex trafficking, as well as infant kidnappings/trafficking and fraudulent adoptions.

It is tragic and unacceptable that the Chinese government continues to trample the rights of its citizens through coercive family planning programs while partnering with the United Nations Population Fund.

Now that the Trump administration has ended U.S. funding for the United Nations Population Fund, it should pursue other diplomatic means to address human rights abuses under China’s family planning programs and work toward ending, once and for all, China’s forcible population control policies.

[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

Melanie Israel is a research associate for the DeVos Center for Religion & Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation.
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"President Trump Defunds UNFPA, Which Promotes Abortion and Pushes Population Control in China" - Miacaiah Bilger, APR 4, 2017| http://www.lifenews.com/2017/04/04/president-trump-defunds-unfpa-which-promotes-abortion-and-pushes-population-control-in-china/
"Trump Praised for Defunding UNFPA: “The Blood of Chinese Women is No Longer On Our Hands” - Steven Ertelt, APR 4, 2017; http://www.lifenews.com/2017/04/04/trump-praised-for-defunding-unfpa-the-blood-of-chinese-women-is-no-longer-on-our-hands/