Asking Him: February 2019

Thursday, February 28, 2019

Test for Impeachment

Test for Impeachment by Bill Wilson

The Constitution states in Article II Section 4: The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Let us examine together the accusations leveled by President Donald Trump's former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen and determine with common sense if the building blocks of impeachment laid out in his testimony to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform meet the impeachment requirements. Granted "high Crimes and Misdemeanors" lends a fairly broad booth to land charges, but the context of Section 4 centers on "high" Crimes and Misdemeanors, not minor ones.

Cohen said: "I am ashamed because I know what Mr. Trump is. He is a racist. He is a conman. He is a cheat."

These are opinions, not impeachable offenses. No doubt that many presidents, some of them beloved by their electorate, were racists, conmen and cheats.

Cohen said Trump, "knew that Roger Stone was talking with Julian Assange about a WikiLeaks drop of Democratic National Committee emails."

WikiLeaks did America a favor by showing the truth about the Democratic Party and its nefarious dealings, hypocrisy, and disdain for the people it says it represents. Knowing about it and being excited for its release is not an impeachable offense.

Let us remember that the very same Democratic Party, its sitting president and its nominated candidate for president paid to fabricate a dossier to damage Trump.

At least WikiLeaks was genuine and true.

Cohen said he was providing: "A copy of a check Mr. Trump wrote from his personal bank account - after he became president - to reimburse me for the hush money payments I made to cover up his affair with an adult film star and prevent damage to his campaign."

That check could have been written for any of Cohen's services. Federal prosecutors say this could be an impeachable offense because it might be considered an illegal contribution to benefit Trump's campaign. This is a stretch, but it could happen. Keep in mind, however, that it is not a crime to write personal checks to pay someone to keep silent who is not an employee of the government. Notwithstanding, this is the rack where the impeachment hat will be hung.

The other accusations in Cohen's testimony about a Trump hotel business deal (that didn't materialize) in Russia, Trump not wanting his grades and SAT scores revealed, his financial dealings, and his funneling money to have his portrait be the highest auction bid are very minor-especially compared with Hillary Clinton having a "pay for access" scheme to enrich the Clinton Foundation when she was Secretary of State.

Bottom line: Trump is probably not the example of ethics and morals that best suit the office he holds, but these themes being used to remove him from office reveal that his accusers are far less examples of the same.

As Christ said in Mark 7:6, "Well has Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me."

Hypocrisy abounds hiding the cocoon of truth.

Israel launched its first spacecraft

Israel launched its first spacecraft last week. “Beresheet” (Hebrew for Genesis) will be the smallest craft to land on the moon, but it is carrying something of great significance: the so-called Lunar Library.

This is a disc containing twenty-five thousand books, a full copy of Wikipedia, and information on understanding earthly languages—in total, a thirty-million-page tome. The “library” is intended to preserve humanity’s knowledge and history long after we’re gone.

An Unfortunate Truth

Michael Cohen’s expected testimony today will be be both explosive and divisive. The fissure will fall largely along partisan lines. I need not address those issues.

My concern is the incalculable damage done to the legal profession and the rights of our clients in this process.

If a lawyer can be compelled or even permitted to proclaim his client’s confidential information to the whole world, why will any client be safe in the future?

The rule of confidentiality belongs to clients not lawyers. And if you want your rights protected you need to have the confidence that your lawyer cannot be pressured or permitted to flip on you and reveal your confidential conversations.

The rights of average Americans will take a big hit today.

I trust Him, but...

"I Trust Him. But. I forget sometimes to be in active trust. Then I see a reminder and become conscious that I have become comfortable with an anxious feeling in my being much like the background music of a movie. No one notices it, but it sets the mood of the scene anyway. My heart flutters a bit as I let the message sink in again. Trust Him. Trust Him. Like the first deep inhale after the realization that I’ve forgotten to breath. Trust Him- oxygen for my soul." Beth Lynne

The Apostolic Encourager

Fix Your Eyes on Jesus

Fix Your Eyes on Jesus by Dr. D. James Kennedy

“Let us look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…” Hebrews 12:2

In the early days of my pastoring, I had the pleasure of witnessing to a young man in his twenties, who finally accepted Christ. He was growing in the Lord. The very week after he joined the church, he made the central headlines of the newspaper. The FBI was looking for him for some kind of fraudulent activity he had been involved in before.

In fact, when they found him, he was so overwhelmed by this experience he had a mental breakdown. I visited him in Broward Hospital’s mental ward. When I went into his room, he was like a caged lion. He hardly seemed aware of my presence. He was pacing back and forth across the room, mumbling to himself, moaning, bewailing, and gesturing about what was going to happen to him.

He was possibly facing twenty years in prison.

After some time, he quieted down as I read the Scripture to him about how Peter had looked at the waves and had begun to sink. I said to him, “You are looking at the waves, and you are sinking into total mental depression and agony of spirit. Lift up your eyes to Jesus. Fix your eyes upon Him. Look upon Him. Look unto Him.”

Gradually, all of his anxiety and distress just seemed to drain away. He sat down in a chair and began to look at me with eyes that obviously were quite full of understanding. He was restored.

Later, the charges against him were dropped.

Though your problems seem insurmountable, fix your eyes on Jesus.

Jesus Christ, give me strength for today to focus on You.

Lord Jesus, forgive me for too often focusing on the problems of life, but not You.

If ever I should start to sink, let me say with Peter, “Lord, save me.”

Thank You that You have overcome the world…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN KEEP OUR EYES ON JESUS AND STAY UPON THE WATER.

The Judas Test

The Judas Test
From: Today God Is First by Os Hillman
February 28, 2019

"If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were raising himself against me, I could hide from him. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked with the throng at the house of God," (Psalm 55:12-14).

Betrayal is one of the most difficult tests that we will ever face because it involves being wounded by someone we trust. It's hard not to become bitter when a friend or family member wounds us. It takes a lot of Christ-like grace to forgive a traitor.
You have probably faced the Judas Test yourself.

Everyday you and I abide in a world that is rife with betrayal, deception, duplicity, and treachery. Perhaps you have been betrayed by someone you trusted completely--perhaps that someone was a member of your own family. It may have even been someone you've gone to church with or prayed with - someone you trusted as a brother in Christ.

The Judas kiss stings worse than a slap across the face. Almost every leader I know has experienced that sting at one time or another. Yet God is watching to see how we respond to the Judas Test. If we pass the test, He can then take us to the next level, the next test. If we fail, we'll probably have to repeat the test until we learn to forgive.

The Judas Test is God's graduate level course in faith, designed to reveal to us the truth about ourselves:

Are we willing to trust Him enough to forgive the Judases in our lives?

The book of Hebrews warns, "See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many" (Hebrews12:15).

When we refuse to forgive we risk infecting ourselves and others with a "bitter root" of resentment.

Quote of Bill Keller

"Praise your way out of the valley and back onto the mountaintop." Bill Keller

Today in History

Today in History
1953
Watson and Crick Discover Chemical Structure of DNA

On this day in 1953, Cambridge University scientists James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick announced that they had determined the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule containing human genes.

Though DNA–short for deoxyribonucleic acid–was discovered in 1869, its crucial role in determining genetic inheritance wasn’t demonstrated until 1943. In the early 1950s, Watson and Crick were only two of many scientists working on figuring out the structure of DNA.

California chemist Linus Pauling suggested an incorrect model at the beginning of 1953, prompting Watson and Crick to try and beat Pauling at his own game. On the morning of February 28, they determined that the structure of DNA was a double-helix polymer, or a spiral of two DNA strands, each containing a long chain of monomer nucleotides, wound around each other.

According to their findings, DNA replicated itself by separating into individual strands, each of which became the template for a new double helix. In his best-selling book, The Double Helix (1968), Watson later claimed that Crick announced the discovery by walking into the nearby Eagle Pub and blurting out that “we had found the secret of life.”

The truth wasn’t that far off, as Watson and Crick had solved a fundamental mystery of science–how it was possible for genetic instructions to be held inside organisms and passed from generation to generation.

Watson and Crick’s solution was formally announced on April 25, 1953, following its publication in that month’s issue of Nature magazine. The article revolutionized the study of biology and medicine.

Among the developments that followed directly from it were pre-natal screening for disease genes; genetically engineered foods; the ability to identify human remains; the rational design of treatments for diseases such as AIDS; and the accurate testing of physical evidence in order to convict or exonerate criminals.

Crick and Watson later had a falling-out over Watson’s book, which Crick felt misrepresented their collaboration and betrayed their friendship. A larger controversy arose over the use Watson and Crick made of research done by another DNA researcher, Rosalind Franklin, whose colleague Maurice Wilkins showed her X-ray photographic work to Watson just before he and Crick made their famous discovery.

When Crick and Watson won the Nobel Prize in 1962, they shared it with Wilkins. Franklin, who died in 1958 of ovarian cancer and was thus ineligible for the award, never learned of the role her photos played in the historic scientific breakthrough.

Facebook Whistleblower:

Facebook Whistleblower:

Staff 'Deboost' Unwanted Content - and I Saw Same Code Used on Conservatives - Breitbart

Recent Facebook insider leaks released by Project Veritas reveal that the social media giant's demoting of conservative content isn't just done by human moderators, it's built right into the code of the website as a technical action called "deboosting."

Project Veritas latest bombshell report reveals inside info from Facebook. One of the most shocking revelations from the report is that Mark Zuckerberg's suppression of conservative content on the platform isn't just the result of heavy-handed moderation by human employees, but is actually built right into the code of the site.

The documents revealed a routine suppression of the distribution of conservative Facebook pages. The technical action she repeatedly saw, and for which Project Veritas was provided documentation, was labeled ActionDeboost-Live Distribution.

Said the insider, "I would see [this term] appear on several different conservative pages. I first noticed it with an account that I can't remember, but I remember once I started looking at it, I also saw it on Mike Cernovich's page, saw it on Steven Crowder's page, as well as the Daily Caller's page."

DOJ Fines Virginia Firm

DOJ Fines Virginia Firm for Hiring Foreigners over Qualified Americans - Breitbart

The Justice Department announced this week it will fine CFA Institute (CFAI) more than $320,000 for choosing to discriminate against qualified American workers by specifically hiring foreign workers imported through the H-1B visa program.

Every year, more than 100,000 foreign workers are brought to the U.S. on the H-1B visa and are allowed to stay for up to six years. There are about 650,000 H-1B visa foreign workers in the U.S. at any given moment. Americans are often laid off in the process and forced to train their foreign replacements.

Between November 2016 and January 2018, the Virginia firm allocated annual exam-grading job positions to H-1B visa foreign workers before even recruiting qualified American professionals.

"The Civil Rights Division works diligently to stop employers from unlawfully denying employment opportunities to qualified and available U.S. workers," Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Civil Rights Division said in a statement.

- Father, we thank You for the Trump administration's attention to this issue that has displaced and financially ruined many middle class families. We pray this case will be a warning heeded by other employers to end this practice.

"Employers, treat your workers with equality and justice as you know that you also have a Lord and Master in Heaven who is watching you," Colossians 4:1.

Tlaib, Omar

Tlaib, Omar become first reps to sign 'Pledge to Impeach' Trump - The Hill

Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar (Minnesota) and Rashida Tlaib (Michigan) have signed onto a "Pledge to Impeach" President Trump, aides to the lawmakers confirmed Tuesday. The advocacy group By the People is asking members of Congress to back impeachment efforts. Both congresswomen appear in footage shared by By the People in which they can be seen signing the pledge.

"This is not an issue of Republicans vs. Democrats," Alexandra Flores-Quilty, a spokeswoman for By the People said in a statement. "It's about checking the flagrant abuse of presidential power from a white supremacist who is profiting off of the presidential office, abusing his powers, and undermining our democracy and our Constitution."

Tlaib called to impeach Trump on her first day in Congress in an op-ed last month in the Detroit Free Press. Top Democratic leaders have said they are waiting to see the conclusion of Mueller's Russia investigation before they examine impeachment proceedings.

Father, we lift up Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib to You and pray, first of all, that they would come to know the saving power of Jesus and the reality of Your Kingdom. Forgive them for empowering those who wish to see our country divided. We also ask You, Lord, to remove them if they remain unrepentant and in rebellion to authority.

"Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds," Hosea 6:1.

Trump Frees American Imprisoned in Yemen

Trump Frees American Imprisoned in Yemen - Free Beacon

The White House announced on Monday that an American citizen who had been held hostage in Yemen for the past 18 months has been successfully "recovered and reunited" with his family. Danny Burch, a U.S. citizen, had been imprisoned in war torn Yemen for the past year and a half. His release marks the 20th American rescued from abroad by the Trump administration.

The UAE is believed to have played a critical role in negotiating Burch's release, as well as the release of other Americans held captive in the Middle East.

"We work every day to bring Americans home," Trump said. "We maintain constant and intensive diplomatic, intelligence, and law enforcement cooperation within the United States Government and with our foreign partners.

"Recovering American hostages is a priority of my administration, and with Danny's release, we have now secured freedom for 20 American captives since my election victory. We will not rest as we continue our work to bring the remaining American hostages back home."

- Father, we thank You for Danny Burch's release and pray other American captives around the world will be brought home.

"For He looked down from the height of His sanctuary; from heaven the Lord viewed the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoner, to release those appointed to death," Psalm 102:19-20.