July 28th, 2010 by Nathan Curby
Pray for believers in America to stand against every kind of sexual immorality within the Church and especially among Church leaders.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has welcomed back seven homosexual clergy members who had been barred from the denomination. At a ceremony Sunday, the seven became some of the first actively homosexual clergy to be added or reinstated by the ELCA since the denomination voted last year to rescind its policy requiring homosexual clergy to be celibate.
Since the vote last year, at least 185 congregations have voted to leave the denomination over its position on homosexual clergy, according to an ELCA spokeswoman. The ELCA is the largest denomination in the U.S. to allow homosexual ministers. The U.S. Episcopal Church and the United Church of Christ also allow them, and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is in the process of allowing them. Two smaller Lutheran denominations, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, do not ordain ministers in same-sex relationships.
The New York Times reports that more Lutheran congregations are preparing to leave the denomination.
The Rev. Mark Chavez, director of Lutheran CORE, a coalition of theologically conservative Lutheran churches, said his group expected to form a new denomination, the North American Lutheran Church, in August.
He said of the ceremony on Sunday, “It’s just another steady step taken by the E.L.C.A. to move the denomination further and further away from most Lutheran churches around the world and from the whole Christian church, unfortunately.”
Tags: ELCA, Espiscopal, homosexual clergy, homosexuality, homosexuality in the church, Lutheran, Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, Lutheran CORE, Mark Chavez, United Church of Christ, Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
Posted in Church & Religion, Marriage & Family |
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July 28th, 2010 by Nathan Curby
Pray for Jordan and other nations to earnestly seek peace with Israel. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
Israeli PM Benyamin Netanyahu with Jordan’s King Abdullah Tuesday in Amman. (Photo: GPO/Haaretz)
Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu met with Jordan’s King Abdullah on Tuesday, ending more than a year of near-silence between the two countries, Haaretz reports. U.S. President Barack Obama reportedly urged Abdullah to agree to the meeting in order to smooth over tensions between the nations.
Abdullah is skeptical about Netanyahu’s commitment to peace, but Netanyahu believes Abdullah is more convinced following their meeting. Netanyahu sees Jordan as the key to convincing the Palestinian Authority to enter direct talks with Israel. Netnayahu told Abdullah he is willing to “go far” to reach agreement with the Palestinians on core issues, provided that security arrangements are suitable.
Tags: Barack Obama, Benyamin Netanyahu, Israel, Jordan, King Abdullah, Middle East, Palestinian Authority
Posted in Israel & Middle East |
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July 28th, 2010 by Nathan Curby
Pray for safety, success, and mental and emotional strength for U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a $58 billion measure to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, despite growing opposition to the wars among congressional Democrats. The House passed the Senate version of the war funding bill after the Senate rejected tens of billions of dollars in domestic initiatives that the House had included in its original version.
The measure received broad Republican support, with only 12 Republicans voting against it, but 102 Democrats opposed the bill, more than twice the number who voted against a similar measure last year. “What has changed in my mind is I am so discouraged at the chances of our commitment in Afghanistan succeeding that I think it’s time to say, no more,” said Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA).
The vote seemed to be unaffected by the Sunday release of 91,000 secret documents about the Afghanistan war. The documents, however, gave a voice to opponents of the war who say they paint a picture of a war that is rapidly deteriorating. President Obama argued that the documents did not introduce any new information to the debate, and that they reinforce his decision to make a change in strategy, sending 30,000 new troops to Afghanistan. The bill passed Tuesday will partially go to pay for those new troops.
Tags: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Congress, Henry Waxman, House of Representatives, Iraq, Senate, war funding
Posted in Government & Law, Israel & Middle East, Military & Veterans, Obama & Biden |
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July 27th, 2010 by Nathan Curby
Give thanks that oil in the Gulf of Mexico is biodegrading more quickly than expected! Continue to pray that the impact would be minimal on all who live in the Gulf Coast region.
Oil in the Gulf of Mexico is breaking down and disappearing from the surface more quickly than expected, but fears about the long-term effects of oil underneath the water still linger. Jane Lubchenco, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said Tuesday that the oil is biodegrading quickly, being broken down into microscopic particles and consumed by bacteria.
Despite the good news, questions remain about how much oil is floating between the sea floor and the surface. The New York Times reports that fishermen along the Gulf Coast remain skeptical about the positive reports, concerned that submerged oil could still ruin fish, crab, and shrimp populations. Even if the Food and Drug Administration approves fish from the Gulf as safe, it could take a long time before consumers are ready to purchase them.
Tags: BP, Deepwater Horizon, FDA, Gulf of Mexico, Jane Lubchenco, NOAA, oil spill
Posted in Creation Care & Energy |
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July 27th, 2010 by Nathan Curby
Pray that Congress will not pass a bill allowing abortions to be performed at military hospitals.
Buried inside the 854-page 2011 National Defense Authorization Act is the very short section 713, which strikes a subsection of the U.S. Code. Section 713 is titled “Restoration of Previous Policy Regarding Restrictions on Use of Department of Defense Medical Facilities,” making it eminently unclear what the section actually does.
The section of the U.S. Code that is stricken by Section 713 reads: “No medical treatment facility or other facility of the Department of Defense may be used to perform an abortion except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term or in a case in which the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest.”
Section 713, which was inserted into the bill in committee by Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL), effectively makes it legal to perform abortions on U.S. military bases. LifeNews.com reports that Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) has introduced an amendment to remove Section 713, but the amendment is not thought likely to pass. Pro-life groups are urging lawmakers to vote against the bill in its current state.
Tags: abortion, Department of Defense, Roger Wicker, Roland Burris
Posted in Government & Law, Military & Veterans, Sanctity of Life |
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July 27th, 2010 by Nathan Curby
Pray for mothers on Capitol Hill testifying to the good that Crisis Pregnancy Centers have done for them. Give thanks for CPCs and volunteers saving lives and encouraging young women facing unplanned pregnancies.
Terrie was pregnant and confused in the Fall of 2008. She was unemployed, and her boyfriend had kicked her out of his apartment. Opening the yellow pages to look for an abortion clinic, she noticed an ad for a crisis pregnancy center that offered help for pregnant women.
Now Terrie and other moms who opted to keep their babies are going to the Capitol to tell Congress how grateful they are for the help they received from pregnancy centers. Heartbeat International sponsors the “Babies Go to Congress” event, happening this week from Tuesday through Thursday. Heartbeat says that abortion advocates like NARAL Pro-Choice America are slandering pregnancy centers and lobbying for Congress to regulate them. “Babies Go to Congress” is an effort to show Congress the good that pregnancy centers are doing.
Tags: abortion, Babies Go to Congress, crisis pregnancy centers, Heartbeat International, pro-life
Posted in Church & Religion, Government & Law, Marriage & Family, Sanctity of Life |
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July 23rd, 2010 by Nathan Curby
Pray that legal challenges to our freedom to come before God in prayer will not stand up in any court.
FoxNews.com reports that incidents of prayer being challenged as unconstitutional are becoming increasingly common. One of the most recent high-profile cases involves police telling a group of schoolchildren to stop praying on the steps of the Supreme Court because it is illegal.
Arizona school children are told they can’t pray in front of the Supreme Court building … Two University of Texas Arlington employees are fired for praying over a co-worker’s cubicle after work hours … In Cranston, R.I., a high school banner causes controversy when a parent complains it contains a prayer and demands that it be removed.
There are more legal challenges to prayer in the United States than ever before, says Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-founder of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, an atheist organization whose business is booming as Americans increasingly tackle church vs. state issues.
Tags: Freedom from Religion Foundation, Freedom of Religion, prayer, U.S. Constitution
Posted in Church & Religion, Government & Law |
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July 23rd, 2010 by Nathan Curby
Pray for peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula as the U.S. holds joint naval exercises with South Korea this weekend.
The aircraft carrier USS George Washington arrives in Busan, Republic of Korea on July 21. (Photo: U.S. Navy/Charles Oki)
North Korea on Friday threatened a “physical response” to the joint naval exercises by the U.S. and South Korea planned for this weekend (The Guardian). The four days of exercises, planned to take place in the Sea of Japan beginning Sunday, are in response to the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan in March. An international investigation determined that the ship was sunk by a torpedo from a North Korean submarine, but North Korea denies responsibility for the attack.
The U.S. has also called for new sanctions against North Korea to bring a halt to its nuclear weapons program during this week’s regional security conference in Hanoi. North Korea maintains that new sanctions would contradict the UN Security Council’s silence on who bears responsibility for the attack, and says the military exercises are a threat to the security of the region.
Tags: Cheonan, Navy, North Korea, nuclear weapons, South Korea, UN Security Council, USS George Washington
Posted in Military & Veterans, United Nations |
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July 21st, 2010 by Nathan Curby
Pray that the oil well in the Gulf of Mexico will be sealed permanently, and that cleanup and recovery will happen quickly.
If federal officials approve the plan, BP could implement a procedure this weekend to permanently seal the broken oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, officials said Wednesday. The procedure, called a “static kill,” works by pumping heavy drilling mud and cement into the well to seal it off. BP officials are hopeful that the procedure can make permanent their success last week in closing off the well after 85 days of oil spewing into the Gulf.
Officials had been waiting for the completion of a relief well to pump cement into the well in a “bottom kill” operation, but now believe the static kill can succeed where previous efforts have failed, because pressure in the well is lower than expected.
BP said that the cap placed on the well last Thursday is still keeping oil from spilling into the ocean. Former Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the federal incident commander, said that pressure testing will continue in order to make sure the pressure buildup isn’t causing further damage to the well. Officials said that reports of small leaks earlier this week turned out to be related to another old well nearby and are inconsequential.
Tags: BP, Gulf of Mexico, oil spill, static kill, Thad Allen
Posted in Business & Economics, Creation Care & Energy |
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July 21st, 2010 by Nathan Curby
Pray for safety for Israel and success in implementing new defense systems.
Israeli officials on Monday conducted tests of the Iron Dome missile defense system, intended to protect Israeli towns from rocket attacks. Observers said the system performed remarkably well in tests against both long-range and short-range missiles, prompting excitement about Iron Dome’s capabilities, though there are still concerns about the price tag.
Haaretz reports:
The defense establishment is still weighing the balance between the number of radars for the systems to the number of intercept missiles necessary. Different estimates suggest that each intercept missile will cost $40,000.
Last week, the U.S. Congress passed the Obama administration’s proposal to give a grant of $205 million to Israel to help fund the system, which is estimated to be half of the amount needed to protect the Negev and the Galilee from short- and intermediate-range rockets and missiles.
Nevertheless, some are still cautioning that hopes for the system should not be raised too high. While helpful, it will not be “a solution to all the threats,” says Reuven Pedatzur. Given the high price tag of each Iron Dome intercept missile, the volume of incoming missiles could overwhelm the defense shield. Iron Dome is a great technological achievement, but still not a “silver bullet.”
Tags: IDF, Iron Dome, Israel, missile defense shield
Posted in Israel & Middle East, Terrorism & Persecution |
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