On National Day of Prayer, America needs prayer like never before

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When Shirley Dobson, the wife of James Dobson, asked me to be the Honorary Chairman of the National Day of Prayer Task Force, I wondered at first if she was talking to the right person. I was so humbled, and of course I agreed.

Why? Because America needs prayer like never before.

In fact, I think the answers to our deepest needs as a nation are spiritual, not political.

We need divine intervention, and if we don’t receive it, we are in for some very dark days indeed. The United States needs another spiritual awakening or, as it is often called, a revival.

Despite the fact that we, as a nation, have largely forgotten God, the good news is: God has not forgotten us.

What is a revival? Revival means to restore something to its original condition.

Perhaps we cannot say that America is a completely Christian country, as it would seem everyone in it would need to believe in Jesus Christ to make that qualification. However, there is no denying that this country has a Judeo-Christian foundation.

But we have gotten too far from that. In the words of President Abraham Lincoln, “We have forgotten God.” We see trouble in our culture today. We see the breakdown of the family, crippling addictions, and random acts of horrific violence.

We have done our best to remove God’s Word and His counsel from our courtrooms, classrooms, and culture. Despite the fact that we, as a nation, have largely forgotten God, the good news is: God has not forgotten us. He still can bless and redeem our country.

One of the reasons I know that is because He redeemed me. 

I never knew my father. My mother was an alcoholic who married and divorced seven times. I smoked pot, dropped acid, and drank my problems away. But God got hold of me and my life was turned around.

And if there’s redemption for me and my situation, there is redemption for everyone and everything.

I think a lot of the problems in America started back in the 1960s, when I was a kid. That experimentation of the ‘60s has turned into an epidemic in the 21st century. 

Sociologist Robert Nesbet wrote, “The ideologies which gained entry into the academy in the ‘60s claim that fundamental intellectual principles of Western culture were illegitimate and must be overthrown. And with that we destroyed terms like truth, good, and evil.”

People laugh at the Christian worldview today. Up is down. Right is wrong. Wrong is right. So in our schools, evolution is taught as fact even though it is disputed in the scientific community. And yet they will not even consider teaching the biblical truth of creationism.

We basically teach our children that they crawled out of the ooze. They are highly evolved animals. Thus there is no God, there is no afterlife, and there is no final judgment. And then we scratch our heads and wonder what is happening when a kid gets a gun and walks onto a campus and starts shooting people.

And the pundits and the experts opine away and everyone asks why. And my question is, “Well, why not?” If there is no right and wrong, if there is no good and evil, if there is no God, why would we expect people to live morally?

To quote Lincoln again, “We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us and we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our heart that all of these blessings that we see in our country were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.”

That’s why the only hope is not merely a return to conservative values; it is a return to the biblical truth that we find only in the pages of Scripture.

If we want to see our nation turn back to righteousness, then we must pray. Please join me in doing that on May 2, the National Day of Prayer.

Pastor Greg Laurie is the Honorary Chairman of the National Day of Prayer Task Force and the founder of the Harvest Crusades. Harvest America 2013 will be simulcast live from Philadelphia on Sept. 28–29.

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Digital 'bitcoin' currency surpasses 20 national currencies in value

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  An illustration of the "bitcoin," a virtual currency currently selling for more than $90 U.S. Dollars.

More than $1 billion dollars worth of a digital currency known as "bitcoins" now circulate on the web – an amount that exceeds the value of the entire currency stock of small countries like Liberia (which uses “Liberian dollars”), Bhutan (which uses the “Ngultrum”), and 18 other countries.

So what is a “bitcoin,” and why would anyone use it?

Unlike traditional currency, bitcoins are not issued by a government or even a private company. Instead, the currency is run by computer code that distributes new bitcoins at a set rate to people who devote web servers to keep the code running. The bitcoins are then bought and sold for regular U.S. dollars online.

'They buy gold, they put it under the mattress, or they buy bitcoin.'

- Tony Gallippi, the CEO “BitPay.com,

Bitcoin is in high demand right now -- each bitcoin currently sells for more than $90 U.S. dollars -- which bitcoin insiders say is because of world events that have shaken confidence in government-issued currencies.

“Because of what's going on in Cyprus and Europe, people are trying to pull their money out of banks there,” Tony Gallippi, the CEO “BitPay.com,” which enables businesses to easily accept bitcoins as payment, told FoxNews.com.

In Cyprus, the government is considering taking a percentage of all citizens’ bank accounts to solve its fiscal woes. That has led Cypriots -- and other Europeans worried about the same thing happening to them -- to take their money out of banks.

“So they buy gold, they put it under the mattress, or they buy bitcoin,” Gallippi said.

Bitcoin demand has also increased, Gallippi says, because last week U.S. regulators issued the first official guidelines for private digital currencies. Prior to the regulations, the legal status of the currencies was in doubt.

“Now people can see that it's not illegal, that it's not banned,” Gallippi said.

Bitcoin is controversial because the currency can be exchanged anonymously online -- it is in a sense the digital equivalent of using hard cash -- and so some have criticized it for facilitating online drug markets. On the site known as "the Silk Road," for instance, users pay bitcoins for illegal drugs and other forbidden items.

Bitcoin Targeted by Cyberattack

Just as Bitcoin explodes beyond the $1 billion mark thanks to Europe’s debt crisis, the emerging virtual currency was dealt a setback this week after a key exchange was hit by a powerful cyber attack that caused delays. 

Read more at Fox Business.

In a 2011 letter to the Attorney General, Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) argued for strict enforcement.

“After purchasing bitcoins through an exchange, a user can create an account on Silk Road and start purchasing illegal drugs from individuals around the world and have them delivered to their homes within days,” the Senators wrote. “We urge you to take immediate action and shut down the Silk Road network.”

But the Silk Road is still running, and a recent study estimates that $23 million dollars of illicit items are sold for bitcoins on the site every year.

The regulatory guidelines issued last week by the government agency known as the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), however, will not stop that.

The regulations say that digital currencies like bitcoin are to be treated essentially as foreign currencies. Companies that exchange digital bitcoins for real money will have to comply with the same regulations as traditional currency exchangers -- namely, they must verify the identity of anyone exchanging money for bitcoins and report large transactions to the government.

Using bitcoins to purchase goods, however, is specifically exempted.

“A user who obtains convertible virtual currency and uses it to purchase real or virtual goods or services is not… under FinCEN’s regulations,” the guidance reads.

Some bitcoin defenders say the use of bitcoins to buy illegal items shouldn’t obscure the legal uses.

“With any technology… Criminals are going to use it for something, and regular people are going to use it for something,” Gallippi said. “You can't ban cell phones just because criminals are using them to do drug deals. You can't ban e-mail just because people are using them to do phishing scams in Nigeria. You have to start just prosecuting people who are committing crimes -- you can't just completely wipe out the new technology.”

Gallippi says one reason to use bitcoins for legal transactions is a lower risk of identity theft.

“If you are buying something online and you have the choice of paying with a credit card or bitcoins – think about what you have to do to use a credit card. You have to fill out this whole long form, name, address, account number, sometimes more... coincidentally, that’s all the info a thief would need to steal to pretend to be you.”

Between that, bitcoin’s anonymity, and worries about conventional currency, bitcoin demand is as high as ever, according to Alan Safahi, who runs “Zip Zap” – a company that facilitates cash deposits at stores like CVS and Wal-Mart for transfer to a site that can convert the money to bitcoins.

“We’re processing millions of dollars a month. We’ve seen tremendous surge in activity,” he said.

Contact the author at maxim.lott@foxnews.com.

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Anti-abortion law makes Arkansas ground zero in intensifying national debate

Arkansas has become ground zero in the battle over abortion rights and limitations in the country.

Just last week, lawmakers overrode Gov. Mike Beebe's veto of a law that will ban most abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy. Under the Arkansas Human Heartbeat Protection Act, which is scheduled to go into effect later this summer, women seeking an abortion who are at least 12 weeks pregnant will be required to undergo an ultrasound. If a heartbeat is detected, the abortion would not be permitted. 

The law includes jail time and fines for doctors who violate the law but no penalties for women who seek or undergo an illegal abortion.

State Sen. Jason Rapert, the Republican who authored the law, says he thinks lawmakers struck the right balance. He notes the measure includes exceptions for "rape, incest, to save the life of the mother and to prevent irreparable harm to the mother's health, in addition to giving an exception for fatal fetal anomalies."

In deciding to veto the legislation, Beebe cited concerns over the constitutionality of the law, as well as the cost of defending it. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, notes that Arkansas is not alone on that front.

"There are so many battles in so many states that are very similar that I think the bulk of the law will, without question, make itself up to the [Supreme] Court," Dannenfelser said.

Pro-choice groups, citing Roe v. Wade and subsequent Supreme Court precedents, feel confident it's a fight they will win.

"The bill is clearly unconstitutional, clearly inconsistent with Supreme Court precedent," Louise Melling, the American Civil Liberties Union's deputy legal director, said. ACLU officials said they are planning to jointly file a legal challenge with the Center for Reproductive Rights before the Arkansas law is set to go into effect.

While the so-called "Heartbeat Law" is hashed out in court, Rapert also says he plans to introduce a measure that would ban state officials from allowing any state or federal funds from flowing to organizations that perform abortions, namely Planned Parenthood. 

If he succeeds, Arkansas would join a number of other states that have blocked funding to the family planning organization, including Colorado, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Wisconsin.

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Ambassador Susan Rice top contender to become next national security adviser

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice is the leading contender to become the White House’s new national security adviser, following a failed bid to become secretary of state, a senior Obama administration official told Fox News this weekend.

President Obama could appoint Rice without the Senate confirmation needed for a Cabinet post. Rice withdrew herself from consideration for the secretary of state post in the face of withering criticism by congressional Republicans and others for her handling of the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2012, Libya terror attacks.

Five days after the attacks that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans at a U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya, Rice said the attacks appeared spontaneous and sparked by an anti-Islamic video.

Rice, 48, later said she gave an incorrect account, based on intelligence reports at the time. However, subsequent meetings with leading Senate Republicans appeared only to increase her lack of support for the Cabinet post.

This weekend, the administration official told Fox a Rice appointment is not imminent because the president still has to find an ambassadorship or another post for current national security adviser Thomas Donilon.  

Fox first reported last year, shortly after the outcome of the November elections, that Rice might get the NSA post –- under the assumption Donilon might become the new White House chief of staff.

Donilon did not get the job so the president must first find a new post for him before moving Rice.

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Why sequestration aka a national 'detox' program is just what America needs

The $1.2 trillion in across the board budget cuts called "sequestration" -- beginning with $85 billion that is expected to kick in on March 1 -- is just what the doctor ordered: a detox protocol for a nation addicted to entitlement spending and bloated budgets in every facet of government.

No addict likes the idea of going into a detox unit. Why?  Because it hurts. He knows that, while Librium or methadone will be used to make getting off drugs easier, the final result will be to leave his system without alcohol or heroin, and without the detox meds that mimic them.  In the end, he will be left to face reality and deal with it, without false, chemical courage.

The way that detox works is to reduce addictive medication slowly, but surely—to taper off. With every reduction in Librium or methadone doses, the mind may react with anxiety, and the body may react with a rising pulse rate. While seizures are to be avoided (but are almost never fatal), the patient has to be made to understand that it won’t be painless to reverse the dependency on intoxicants for which he is responsible.  

No pain, no gain.

The American drug of choice is wild partying with entitlement spending and bloated budgets in many government agencies and departments.

The American drug of choice is wild partying with entitlement spending and bloated budgets in many government agencies and departments.  

This drug has allowed our people to feel better than they should about their economic circumstances, their educational system, our ability to defend our nation and our own abilities to sustain our lifestyles—whether those lifestyles are propped up by free cell phones, or funny money Medicare insurance, or programs to bail out bankrupt companies and forgive home mortgages that people legally contracted to pay, or manic spending sprees on roads, bridges and federal buildings built with money printed by the Federal Reserve (which is an oxymoron).

The only reason detox is any good, by the way, is that it can set the stage for a period of sobriety, making amends and coming up with strategies for living the truth, instead of living a lie. 

This amounts to coming up with real solutions to problems, rather than dodging them by deluging them with more drugs. Genuine creativity is kindled by heartfelt desire, necessity and, often, some amount of suffering.  It is short-circuited by slight of hand, laxity of mind and anything that artificially makes one believe things are better than they really are—like alcohol or marijuana or heroin or government handouts paid for with borrowed funds or fake currency.

Without access to the drugs of rampant entitlements, as we begin to get sober, we will have to be more creative in delivering needed services to those poor people who truly need help.  We will need to be more creative in the ways in which we incentivize entrepreneurs to truly power our economy with courageous investment and bold ideas. We will need to be more creative in the ways we defend our country and spread liberty around the globe.

So, while sequestration (for which, you may read detoxification) will, perhaps, hurt, we should be more concerned if it does not.  Because that would mean that we could have been detoxed faster, ridding ourselves of toxins sooner and demonstrating (no small thing) our resolve to bear some pain in order to make real gains.

Dr. Keith Ablow is a psychiatrist and member of the Fox News Medical A-Team. Dr. Ablow can be reached at info@keithablow.com.

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