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On Watch in Washington / The Informer
November 25, 2015

THE TRUE STORY OF THANKSGIVING
Come Thanksgiving Day each year, many of us give the nod to Pilgrims and Indians and talk of making ready for a harsh first Winter in the New World.But for the Christian, the deepest roots of our thanksgiving go back to the Old World, way back before the Pilgrims, to a story as old as creation, with a two-millennia-old climax. It's a story that keeps going right on into the present and gives meaning to our little lives, even when we're a half a globe removed from history's ground zero at a place called Golgotha.

Give thanks! The appropriate response to this encouraging message is to give thanksgiving and praise to God for His kindness, faithfulness, and provision. This is not to ignore family members and friends who suffer in challenging difficulties. But God's outstanding and overcoming blessing is the forgiveness of our sins through Jesus Christ. His grace is sufficient to save and to keep His own.

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thess 5:16-18)
 
 


Remember the campus unrest in the 1960s? Whether you agreed with the students or not, they were protesting about things of great consequence - like civil rights, or the military draft, or the Vietnam War. They had chants like "hell no, we won't go." Those were the good old days. Now we are witnessing whiney college kids marching in the streets screaming obscenities or taking over the university president's office for what? Feeling slighted? Having their feelings hurt? Talk about rebels without a cause.One of the trendy demand by the aggrieved students is free college tuition. And why not? Nearly everything else these millennials have ever had was handed to them for free.

Pray for universities experiencing these violent protests. May many seeking "freedom" find it in Jesus Christ. The article blames rebel students and indulgent parents. A third source of poison to young minds is the anti-American, pro-Marxist, pro-rioting, tenured "fraternity" of rabble-rousing faculty who foment anarchy and encourage revolution. Academia must cleanse itself of these enemies of truth.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His precepts have good understanding." (Ps 111:10)     


 

Belgian prosecutors say they have arrested 16 people in raids Sunday night, after the city of Brussels spent the second day in a row on high alert.Twenty-two raids were mounted, the prosecutors said - most in Brussels, and several south of the city. No explosives or firearms were recovered in the arrests, prosecutors say, and fugitive Salah Abdeslam, a suspect in the Paris attacks, was not among those arrested.As we've reported, the Belgian capital has been essentially shut down since Saturday, after authorities said they received "concrete information" of a terrorist plot.

Some ask why we, as Intercessors for America, focus on these attacks in European nations? The immediate answer is in one acronym, NATO. France and Brussels are NATO members, as is the U.S. As such, America is committed to their defense. And today we learned that Turkey - also a NATO member - shot down a Russian warplane near Syria. The world is a simmering cauldron. Pray!

[Jesus said,] "And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet." (Matt 24:6)
 
 

A terror attack at a luxury hotel in Mali's capital has left at least 21 people dead, including two militants, and highlighted the world's growing vulnerability to extremist violence.Less than a week after the Paris gun and suicide bomb attacks in which 130 people were killed, a group of heavily armed and seemingly well-trained gunmen stormed the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako. They drove unchallenged into an inner compound, detonated grenades, opened fire at security guards and then took hostage about 170 people -among them diplomats, a celebrated Guinean singer and air crew from France and Turkey, as well as Indian and Chinese nationals. Three Chinese, one American and one Belgian were among the dead.

While many Americans might not be able to locate Mali quickly on a map of Africa, we encourage prayer even for far away terrorism victims. Only God knows which country will be the next target. The international terrorist movement - identified by several names - is worldwide, relentless, and rabid. Are we just a step away from the next world war? Please pray! Fervent intercession is the key!

"And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord...." (Acts 17:6-7)
 
 
Iranian court sentences Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian to a prison term. No further details provided.An Iranian court has sentenced Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian to a prison term, Reuters reported Sunday, citing the state news agency.The length of the prison term was not specified. "Serving a jail term is in Jason Rezaian's sentence but I cannot give details," judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei told a weekly news conference in Tehran, according to the IRNA news agency.

Intercessors know that Mr. Rezaian's plight is linked to another Iranian-American, Saeed Abedini, for whom we have been praying since his arrest in 2012. Two other Americans are also imprisoned in Iran, and from all appearances, neither President Obama nor Secretary of State Kerry made a protest or exerted diplomatic pressure for their release when they had leverage. Pray as you are led.  
"Remember the prisoners as if chained with them-those who are mistreated-since you yourselves are in the body also." (Heb 13:3)
  
 

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