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Well, welcome to The 700 Club. For today's headlines, let's go over to the CBN News Desk.
REACTOR BREACH?
Gordon, there could be a breach in the reactor core at one unit of the damaged Japanese
nuclear power plant. Officials fear that could mean more serious radioactive contamination.
Charlene Israel has the story.
Officials became suspicious of the breach after two workers waded into water 10,000
times more radioactive than normal and suffered
skin burns when the water splashed over their protective boots. They were evacuated from
the plant and rushed to the hospital.
These workers had direct contact with highly radioactive water touching their feet, touching
their skin. This means that they will come down with radiation burns. They know that
some of them may not come out of this accident
alive.
Officials said this latest threat is yet another setback in attempts to gain control of the
plant two weeks after the deadly earthquake and tsunami engulfed the facility and knocked
out its crucial cooling system. Radiation from the plant has been showing up in raw
milk and vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower.
Tokyo continues to wrestle with fears over tainted tap water after test results showed
levels had shot up above what's legally safe for
infants.
We've been using tap water for cooking and other things for the children. But we changed
to pure water for all the cooking and drinking water.
Meanwhile, the death toll in the country has risen to over 10,000. Eighteen thousand people
are still listed as missing. Charlene Israel, CBN News.
Operation Blessing is on the ground in Japan helping the survivors with literally tons
of food and water, plus kerosene for heating and other
important supplies. You can help by sending your donation to Operation Blessing at Disaster
Relief, CBN Center, Virginia Beach, Virginia, 23463. Or call 1-800-759-0700. Or
you can log on to OB.org.
NATO has agreed to enforce the no fly zone over Libya now. So far, the zone has proved
to be effective, but it is taking a lot of work.
CBN's Chuck Holton is in Italy where some of
the American forces are stationed.
American aircraft continue to come and go from the naval air station here at Sigonella
in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn. But as
pressure mounts in Washington for the Obama Administration to find a way out of the conflict
and minimize costs to the taxpayers, the military personnel here are going to continue
to support their brothers in arms in the skies over Libya. Lieutenant Matt Knight is the
base public affairs officer.
Naval Air Station Sigonella is a logistics space. Its historical mission is to support
Sicily, NATO, and combatant commanders. In this operation,
that support has just become greater, however, it's still our normal mission.
It's just the scale and the scope has increased. They were flying from here to Tunisia
to Cairo taking refugees out before this started. So we started as a humanitarian and
then shifted into supporting ongoing operations mandated by the UN resolution in
1973.
Chuck Holton, CBN News, at Sigonella Naval Air Station.
And back here at home, Tea Party favorite Michelle Bachmann may be getting ready for
a White House bid. The Republican representative
from Minnesota hasn't confirmed plans to run, but she may form an exploratory committee
as early as May. We will have an interview with Michelle Bachmann next week
on The 700 Club.
The woman killed in the terrorist attack at a Jerusalem bus stop this week was a Christian.
She had been working for 20 years translating the Bible into the language of a tribe in
Togo. Mary Gardner was from Scotland and she went to Israel at the beginning of the year
to hone her translating skills at a ministry called Home for the Bible Translators.
Two days after its first major terror attack in years, Jerusalem held a marathon, an event
that it plans to hold annually. Chris Mitchell has that story.
Runners from 40 nations came to participate in Jerusalem's inaugural marathon.
I couldn't pass up my first marathon, being in the Jerusalem marathon, so I'm really
excited.
Jerusalem's Mayor Nir Barkat sponsored the marathon.
Many marathon runners in the world consider where they have not yet run. And now
Jerusalem is one of those short list of cities that you have to do a marathon.
In addition to the marathon, runners could choose to run a half-marathon, a 10K or a
4.2K race. More than 10,000 runners ran in the
four races. They get to run near many of Jerusalem's sites, including the Jaffa Gate
and through the streets of Jerusalem's Old City.
But two days before the marathon, a terrorist bomb exploded in Jerusalem that killed one
and wounded dozens. It threatened the race, but the city decided to press on with its
plans. On Wednesday, terror struck the streets in
Jerusalem, but two days later on Friday, thousands of runners filled the streets in
a visible sign that despite any threat of terror life
goes on in Jerusalem.
We will not be terrorized. We will continue living our lives, opening up Jerusalem for
the benefit of the world to enjoy. There are no
cancellations and our plans are on track.
The city plans to make the race an annual event. They already have a date set for next
year's marathon, March 16, 2012. Chris Mitchell, CBN News, Jerusalem.
Now, let's go back over to Terry to see what's ahead on today's 700 Club.
Well, coming up, a businesswoman with a big house and a company car.
I never dreamed that I would find myself unemployed. They said that we may not get our
last paychecks, that the following Monday our insurance benefits would cease to exist.
See what saved this woman from having to sell her home, after this.
Coming up later, NFL gunslinger Kurt Warner goes for the hail Mary and fumbles:
Short, brown spiky hair with the miniskirt on and the red boots.
Seriously, I'm not playing a game. So I'm 25, a divorced mother of two. If I never see
you again, I totally understand.
Meet the teammate that got him back in the game.
We would honestly either argue about Jesus, or we would decide that night to make out.
Today, an ounce of gold buys you two fine suits. In ancient Rome that same ounce of
gold bought you two fine togas. For over 5000 years
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Jennifer Dickenson was living her dream job, a great job, a beautiful home, and a company
car. But when the recession hit, Jennifer watched it all disappear overnight.
Jennifer Dickenson always wanted to live in a big house in the country. So she worked
hard as a national account manager to achieve her
goal. She never thought her livelihood was in
jeopardy.
I never dreamed that I would find myself unemployed.
But that's exactly what happened when the business she worked for went bankrupt
overnight.
They said that we may not get our last paychecks. We most likely would not be reimbursed
for any outstanding expenses, that the following Monday our insurance benefits would cease
to exist.
Those things combined cost Jennifer close to 5,000 dollars. In addition, she lost her
company car and her gas card, which meant large bills she had never had before.
I'm single, so there was no one to share the expenses with. The mortgage and the expense
of having a home was all on me.
So when her savings ran out, Jennifer put her house on the market. Month after month,
she looked for work and for ways to cut costs.
She had been a faithful CBN partner since 1998
and wasn't sure if she could continue giving.
I was tempted to decrease my giving or maybe stop giving altogether for a while. But I
just settled it early that it was not a choice
for me, that God had been faithful to me. There
was no way that I was going to give to Him and give to the needs of other people through
Operation Blessing and Orphan's Promise and CBN and that the Lord would not make a way
for me.
Jennifer was at church one Sunday when someone gave her an idea.
One of the elders suggested that I be very specific in my petition to God about the type
of job that I wanted, the position that I wanted,
and all of the details.
Jennifer made her list and didn't hold back. She contacted The 700 Club and asked CBN to
agree with her in prayer. Then while she was watching a special 700 Club webcast dedicated
to overcoming financial difficulty, she got a call.
And it was the company that I had written down on the paper. That was only a week later.
They said they had my resume, that I was one of the candidates that they wanted to
interview.
Two months later, Jennifer got the job.
I got everything that I wrote on that list, the position, the salary, the company car.
Jennifer didn't have to sell her house after all.
One of the most exciting parts of getting my job was to pick up the phone and call the
realtor and say, "I'm taking my house off the market."
And what about all the savings that she lost?
I just recently got my tax returns, and I was able to put that into savings. So I'm
saving again. And I am getting back on track. And
God is restoring me. I think it's a miracle.
Now Jennifer encourages others who are going through tough economic times.
When we are in times of need, that could possibly be the best time to give to others and to
just release and let God have everything and give the principle of reciprocity an opportunity
to work. He did it for me. And I know that He will do it for you.
He will do it for you. He loves it when His kids keep track of these things, whether you
keep track of the increase, or you say, "Lord, here's the job I want. Here are the details."
That way, you know when He's answered the prayer. When you start praying with
specificity is the time that God really moves into action, because then you'll know that
it was Him. It wasn't based on your own effort.
It was based on Him and what He can do for you. Here it is from Psalms 37, "Trust in
the Lord." That's the first thing. Just trust Him.
Trust His Word. Trust that He will do what He says He's going to do. And then on our
part, "do good. Then you will live safely in the
land and prosper. Take delight in the Lord, and
He will give you your heart's desire." Jennifer learned that firsthand, that He would give
her her heart's desire, give her a dream job, give her a dream home, enable her to stay,
enable her to prosper, all because she was doing her part, which is doing good. So do
that. Resolve today that you're going to trust God
and do good. Terry.
Well, right now, we want to take you to a village in China. Children were getting a
good education at their local school, but they
were also getting sick from the school's drinking water.
Ten-year-old Wuji is a star student at her small primary school in southern China. She
especially loves physical education, and she pushes herself very hard in class.
I love to run and skip rope with my classmates. Usually, I outrun and outskip everyone.
Wuji's teacher says that she should always drink water after she exercises, so she doesn't
get dehydrated. But many days, there's no fresh water available for the children.
All we have is rainwater that makes its way on the ground through old pipes and to our
school. It's dirty and cloudy and not good to drink. We try to provide buckets of clean
water for our students, but there is not much we
can do. It still gets filled with pebbles and
stones. The kids should not drink it, or they will get sick.
It's difficult for children to learn when they don't have enough water in their bodies.
I get so thirsty that I can't even focus on what is going on in class.
There have been days that Wuji was so parched that she had to drink the dirty water at
school. Recently, when she did this, she got very ill. She was sent home from school and
unable to return. That's when CBN found out about the water problem at Wuji's school and
built a well and a new water basin for the children.
Now there is always clean water for the kids. They can wash their hands after playing and
their faces after PE. They can even take fresh water home to their families.
As for Wuji, she doesn't have any more stomachaches, and there's always enough water for
this young athlete.
Whenever I turn on the tap, there is clean water pouring out. It's very sweet and healthy.
And because Wuji comes from a poor single parent home, CBN decided to pay for both her
and her brother's education. Now, there's nothing stopping these children from a bright
future.
CBN really helped us. They care about my children and about all the students at school. We
never could have done this by ourselves.
I'm so happy to everyone that helped me. I wish you a wonderful life and all my
classmates say thank you, too.
You are providing clean drinking water, not just for this child and her classmates, but
also for the families in that village, and providing
education for her, for her brother.
This kind of thing is happening all around the world, and it happens because people like
you join The 700 Club. If you're not a member
of The 700 Club, it's a great day to partner with
the rest of us to reach out to the world with the knowledge of the love of Jesus Christ,
and then be a part of these life changing endeavors
as well. You can join us by going to your phone and calling right now. Our number is
toll free. It's so simple: 1-800-759-0700. Just
say, "I want to join The 700 Club." Sixty-five cents a day, 20 dollars a month, makes you
a 700 Club member. And when you call, if you say, "I want to give through Pledge
Express," that's electronic monthly giving. It means your bank does all the work. You
have none of the hassle, don't have to remember,
no stamps, no envelopes. It saves us a lot in
administrative costs, so we can put even more of your gift right into the lives of children
like Wuji.
So when you call and say that, we want to say thank you by sending you "Power for Life"
teachings. Each month you'll get one of these, and we believe that they will touch your life
and enhance your faith as well. So call now. Be a world changer. You can make a
difference. Gordon.
Well, up next, NFL superstar Kurt Warner and his wife Brenda.
We knew what we believed before the NFL gave us millions of dollars. So when the millions
of dollars come, that's not who defines us.
See how this famous couple and what has kept them together for 20 years.
Still ahead, country music's Larry Gatlin talks about the pitfalls of fame.
I didn't realize that show business was two words. I took care of the show. I didn't take
very good care of the business.
Later on today's 700 Club.
Well, welcome today. We're talking about the law of expectation.
You need to see this teaching that Gordon Robertson did on the law of expectation, because
it will really change the way you think about yourself.
It definitely encouraged me to dream bigger.
All things are possible.
If you are at the lowest of your low, if you feel that you have no hope, The Law of
Expectation will help you find hope by transforming your mind.
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Kurt Warner's rise from grocery clerk to NFL quarterback is the stuff that dreams are made
of. And his romance with his wife Brenda reads like a movie script. Sports reporter Shawn
Brown talked with Kurt and Brenda about the journey that took them both to the top.
Arizona Cardinals Quarterback Kurt Warner is regarded as one of the best to ever play
the game. He's been to the Super Bowl three times,
winning Super Bowl XLIII with the St. Louis Rams. Statistically, the four-time Pro
Bowler is the second most accurate quarterback in the history of the NFL. In the 2008 season
he led the Cardinals to their very first Super Bowl appearance. But that's just one side
of Kurt's story. The other side began over 20
years ago when he met his wife, Brenda. He was a struggling quarterback, and she was
a single mom with two kids.
One of the first times I'd ever gone to the bar, I wasn't much into it, but my roommates
kind of pulled me out to the bar. And I just noticed her from across the room, short, brown,
spiky hair with the miniskirt on and the red boots and dancing up a storm out there.
The two hit it off, and at the end of the night, Kurt tried to kiss her. And though
Brenda was interested in him, she felt she needed
to tell him about her situation.
He leaned over to kiss me, and I thought, "Seriously, I'm not playing a game. So I'm
25, divorced, mother of two. If I never see you
again, I totally understand."
The next day Kurt paid her a visit, and he was met at the door by her two-year-old son
I went over there I guess to see her, but really the whole encounter was about her kids.
I said hello, walked in the door and immediately
saw her kids. Her son Zachary grabbed me by the hand, started leading me around the
house.
Zack warmed up to Kurt almost immediately, and it didn't seem to matter to Kurt that
Zack was blind. And that made quite an impression on Brenda who was watching them with
her infant daughter, Jesse, in her arms.
There are things that are deal breakers, and those are kind of deal makers, where Zachary
took his hand. Being blind, he didn't know who Kurt was walking in, but he just knew
it was somebody new. And he walked in, laid on the
floor with Zachary, wrestled him. I sat Jesse down, and he just interacted with the kids.
And I thought, "This is something different."
Kurt's and Brenda's relationship grew. But Kurt's football career wasn't going well.
He tried out with the Green Bay Packers, but going
up against the likes of Brett Favre and Trent Dilfer didn't help. He was cut before the
season even started. And now with no job and no
money, he moved into Brenda's parents' basement and got a job that only paid him $5.50
an hour.
I took the infamous job of working nights at a grocery store. And it was. So much of
life is about pride. And here I am living in her parents'
basement without a job, and I'm just thinking, "Gosh, this isn't me. This isn't
what I do. I don't want to be just kind of taking
from everybody else and not giving anything."
Kurt and Brenda had a great relationship, but there were some things they didn't see
eye to eye on, especially when it came to having
a relationship with God.
He would tell me some detail, and I'd say, "Well, show me that in the Bible. If you think
that that's your core of your spiritual belief, show me." So we would honestly either argue
about Jesus or we would decide that night to make out that night. It was one or the
other. And that was our dating process. And kind
of weird. He preferred to make out. I preferred to argue about Jesus, until he finally got
it.
What was it that you believed? Was what you believed in, was it right or you just didn't
know where to find it?
I think I just believed in the story. I understood the story. I understood that Jesus died on
the cross. I always use the reference that He was kind of like my spare tire, that up
to that point I was driving. I was in control, and
if I ever needed Him, I could jump back in the
back and grab my spare tire, and He could help me out in whatever trying time that was.
Kurt and Brenda grew even closer, and Kurt felt the pressure to make enough money to
marry and to have a family. So in 1995, he joined the Arena Football League with the
Iowa Barnstormers. And when he did, he got more
than he bargained for when his teammates invited him to a Bible study.
It was in that process where I started to realize I really had no idea why I believed
what I believed. So I thought, "Okay, they're asking
me these questions. I'm going to figure out some answers for them. I'm going to start
reading the Bible, and I'm going to find out why
I believe what I believe." And it was through that process where, as you open the Bible
and you read the scriptures, it's obvious that
it's all about Jesus, and it's all about what He did
on the cross, and it's all about giving your life to Him. And so in the process of trying
to prove everybody around me wrong, I ultimately
proved them all right.
Kurt realized he needed to make a change. Then, Brenda had received news that her
parents were killed when a tornado hit their town in Arkansas.
I was hurting so much, and yet he was there to just listen and not judge me, and also
be there for Jesse and Zach, my kids, because
they lost their grandparents.
I wasn't playing well on the football field. Her parents were killed. It was right around
that time where I'd came to the realization that
I needed to commit my life to Jesus.
During their grief, Kurt gave his life to the Lord. And when he did, things began to
change. He and Brenda married. And after leading the
Barnstormers to two consecutive Arena Bowl appearances, he was offered a chance to play
in the NFL Europe League for the Amsterdam Admirals. Then in 1998, Kurt's dream to play
in the NFL was realized when he signed with the St. Louis Rams. (Interviewing): What changed?
What changed was that I no longer was looking at me, and I began looking at everybody
around me, and specifically looking at what God wanted for me. That was a complete
change for me. I realized that it wasn't about me. That if it works out in the NFL, it's
because God wants me there, and it's for me to do something for Him.
Kurt spent six seasons with the Rams. And after a season with the New York Giants, he
moved on the Arizona Cardinals, but that pales to his role as husband and father of seven.
He and Brenda have written book about their life together entitled First Things First,
with the underlining message of staying focused
on God.
I had death hit me. I had divorce hit me. I had infidelity. I had a special needs child
be affected. You don't know what's ahead. It's
a fallen world. So I encourage people to see that if you build that foundation, then that's
what matters. Just like our marriage. We knew what we believed before the NFL gave us millions
of dollars. So when the millions of dollars come, that's not who defines us. The
NFL doesn't. The popularity, the fame and fortune. We had that foundation built beforehand.
It doesn't mean everything is going to be perfect, and I think that's what people get
the sense of when, okay, they see Kurt Warner
and they know his story, and Kurt and Brenda and the seven kids, and everything is just
perfect. And that's a huge part of this book is
that it's not perfect. Her life, she's gone through struggles. I've gone through struggles.
We still battle together. We struggle raising
kids, but the thing like she said is that we always
know that God is with us and God is leading us. And God is going to work it together no
matter where we screw up. I don't know how we'd do it without Him. I don't know. I think
back to years when I tried to do it by myself, and I think about my life now. And I think
about marriage and seven kids, and I'm just thinking, "There was no way I could figure
this out and be successful by myself," that I know
it's all about Jesus, and that's why we are what we are.
That's why we are where we are. It's all about Jesus. He's the one. He's the one that if
you say, "Okay, God, I'll do it your way." He'll
lead you into paths of righteousness. He'll bring
success to you. He'll bring fulfillment to you. He'll give you your heart's desire, all
because you want to live for Him. Now, you hear that
story of Kurt and Brenda, and you go, "Wow, how could this ever be? How can you go from
stocking grocery shelves to being a star NFL quarterback, winning Super Bowls? How can
that happen?" Well, it happened because Kurt said, "I'll let God. I'll stop having Him
be my spare tire. And you come on up front to the
driver's seat." Now, God doesn't promise to everyone that you're going to be an NFL
quarterback. He's made each one of us unique. And He's created good works for us to walk
into, good works that are uniquely made for you, that will bring you satisfaction, that
will really fulfill your heart's desire. Now, each
one of us comes to the tableÑyou heard it from
Brenda. We live in a fallen world, so things are going to come at you. And for her, all
kinds of things came at her, where she had a special
needs child. She had divorce. She had to walk through the death of her parents. She
had a lot. But in all that process, she had God
with her. What about you? What about you? Do you have God with you? Do you have God
guiding you? Do you listen to Him every day? And do you say, every day, "God, not my
will, but let your will be done." Do you trust Him with your future? Do you trust Him that
He has got plans for you, that He wants to give you a hope and a future? Do you trust
all of that? Well, today, let today be the day
you do that. And regardless if you've ever prayed
this prayer before, even as professing Christians we have a tendency to drift away, and we
want to do things our way. And we get frustrated sometimes. But today, if you'll just turn
it over to Him and trust Him, then He will do it. He'll come through for you. So right
now, if this is for you, bow your head with me.
Pray a very simple prayer, and let God do all the
rest for you. Pray with me. "Lord Jesus." That's right. Say it out loud. "Lord Jesus,
I come to you today, and Jesus, I turn my life over
to you. And I ask that you would guide me, that you would protect me, that you would
be with me. And Jesus, I proclaim right now that I want to follow you all the days of
my life. Forgive me for the times that I've gone
my own way, that I've left you, and restore me now, and be with me now. Do all of this
for me, for I ask it in Jesus' name. Amen." If you just prayed with me and if this was
the first time that you've prayed it, we've got
a free packet for you.
It's called "A New Day." And in there is teaching on how to live the Christian life.
There is also a booklet filled with Bible verses. And if you want somebody to pray with
you, you've got specific things that you want to
be unburdened of, if you want to know if God can forgive you, we're here for you. All you
have to do is pick up the phone and call: 1-
800-759-0700. Terry, over to you.
Coming up, country music took Larry Gatlin to the top of the world and to the bottom.
My end was taking lint out of the carpet thinking it was ***, snorting lint and putting
it in a free base pipe.
Larry shares the rest of his pilgrimage, after this.
Come on and cross over to the all new Cross Country radio from CBN.com. Cross Country:
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Country meets the Cross. Cross Country, it's only on CBN.com.
Everywhere I turn, people are talking about gold prices. Gold has risen to new records;
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Welcome back to The 700 Club. The Obama Administration is calling on the United Nations
to fight for gay rights around the world. In a declaration of the UN Human Rights Council,
the US asked governments to review how homosexuals are treated and have urged the end
of criminal punishments on lesbians, gays, and bisexuals. The document says people must
be free from discrimination based on *** orientation, but acknowledges that, quote,
"these are sensitive issues for many."
A group of Regent University students is working to fund food banks for families in Niger.
The students are members of Regent's Students in Free Enterprise. They struck up a
partnership with Operation Blessing and using a grant awarded to them by Campbell Soup
Company, students hosted events in the community and did projects on campus. They were
able to raise enough money to fund one seed bank, and they're well on their way to
funding a second. Each bank serves around 700 people. And you can find out more about
Operation Blessing by going to its website at OB.org.
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Country music fans have no problem recognizing Larry Gatlin. But as Larry told Scott Ross,
one night as he looked into the mirror, Larry didn't recognize himself.
Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers become one of country music's most popular groups
during the '70s and '80s. Larry and his brothers have a total of 33 Top 40 singles. The
band's biggest hits include Grammy-winner "Broken Lady" and "All the Gold in California"
to name a few. I recently talked with Larry about his faith and his new project, The
Pilgrimage. And we also discussed the few missteps along the path to stardom.
(Interviewing): Your music, you started way back when you and your brothers, when you
were kids.
Little boys.
Country music? Gospel music?
No, Gospel music. I was six and a half, almost seven. Steve was four and Rudy was two.
We won a little talent contest in Abilene, Texas, singing Gospel music. And we were big
fans of the Blackwood Brothers, James Blackwood, and, of course, Elvis's favorite group.
And brother Hovie Lister and the Statemen's Quartet, and the Spear Family and people like
that.
JD Sumner.
JD Sumner, all those guys. We loved Gospel music. We learned to sing in the church. Up
until the time all this Nashville thing happened back in '71, '72 when I met Dottie West,
and she brought me to town, I always assumed and all I had ever wanted to be was a
Gospel singer.
Dottie West opened the door for you in many, many ways, didn't she? What was your first
big hit?
Dottie loved songs. You'd come to Dottie's houseÑone night I drove into Dottie's house
about 7:30 at night, and Kris Kristofferson was asleep on the couch. And Roger Miller
was asleep on the floor, and Willie was scrambling
eggs in the kitchen. That's where the songwriters in Nashville used to hang out,
was at Dottie's place. "Sweet Becky Walker" was
the first top 20 record we had. The first real giant hit was "Broken Lady" in 1975,
won the Grammy for that in '75, '76. We've had a great
life. I'm grateful for it. I never planned it
that way, but like I say it was a bigger plan than mine. God laughs at men's plans.
Your success eventually overtook you, didn't it?
I was 22, 23 years old, started making some money. We had unstructured time, a lot of
time on our hands, the kind of money that a driller's kid from West Texas, an oil field
man would never have dreamed of. My end was taking
lint out of the carpet thinking it was ***, snorting lint and putting it in freebase
pipe. That's my low. I wasn't exactly eating the husk of corn that the pigs wouldn't eat,
but that's pretty good bottom. If you're going to have a bottom, that's pretty good. I crawled
in the bathroom, looked in the mirror and saw the devil. I saw an image in that mirror
that I did not recognize. And appropriately enough, I crawled in there, I was on my hands
and knees, and I said, "God, if you don't help me, I'm going to die."
Do you see where you veered off the road? Did you know God? Had He been a part of your
life early on?
He was always a part of my life. I became a Christian when I was a little six-year-old
boy. We've got to remember the Book says that the
devil "walketh about the earth to and fro seeking whom he may devour," and he nearly
got me, and he had me for a while. It didn't mean that I was no longer a Christian or that
God had disowned me. The biggest mistake I ever made was snorting ***. The second
biggest mistake I ever made, I didn't realize that show business was two words. I took care
of the show. I didn't take very good care of
the business.
When Larry hit bottom and cried out to God, his life began to turn around. He believes
God gave him a second chance at life. Now after
nearly two decades, Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers return to Nashville to produce
their new album, The Pilgrimage. And on the project Larry wrote a tribute song to Johnny
Cash.
Larry Gatlin (Singing): "Well, Johnny Cash is dead . . . ."
"Johnny Cash is dead and his house burned down?"
That's true. And do you have a problem with that?
Well, with Johnny Cash being dead, I do.
You've got to realize the world will never be the same. Nashville will never be the same.
Country music will never be the same. After all, Johnny Cash is dead, and his house burned
down.
How do you keep balance now and the perspective and the journey you've been on between
the spiritual Gatlin, Larry Gatlin, and the man that's in this business, the husband,
the father?
They can't be different men. They have to be the same man. They have to be the spiritual
man. It has to come from that. Thank God I have the things that my mother and father
taught me, the things that I've learned from pastors and from spiritual teachers and the
books that I read. Without fail, the days that I start off the right way with a little
devotional time and putting God first, those days are really good days. I've been
successful, and I'm grateful for that. I want to make a difference. I've decided that I'm
not going to pound my fist anymore at those folks
and at laws that I can't change. I'm going to
try to take a loving look at the situation and do what God gave me the ability to do,
A gifted man and a great message. God allows start-overs. Isn't that wonderful news?
Well, Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers have released their first album in almost
two decades. It's called Pilgrimage, and you can
get it wherever CDs are sold. I know you'll enjoy it.
Well, when we come back, Terry and I will be praying for you and your needs, right after
this.
Up next, bad news after surgery . . . .
You're never going to speak again above a whisper.
. . . . a praying husband . . . .
God spoke to me and says, "She is going to be fine."
. . . . a believing wife . . . .
I'm going to believe for total healing.
. . . . and the impossible outcome.
This is absolutely a miracle what took place!
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I was in a lot of pain. I remember feeling, "I don't want to have cancer. Why is this
happening?"
I went to pray with my 10-year-old. He said that he wished he had two hearts, because
one of them was breaking.
I had to reassure her a lot that I'm going to be okay. Things are going to be all right.
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I don't really see how anyone can get through a life-threatening disease without the Lord
in their life. He gives us the strength that
we need to carry on.
Aurea McGarry hosts a TV show in the Atlanta area. Her voice is heard by thousands of
people, and that's incredible, because after she had surgery for cancer, doctors told her
that she would never speak above a whisper.
Aurea McGarry suffered from chest pains for almost a year before she received a grim
prognosis from her doctor.
And they told me that they found something in the x-ray and "the blood work doesn't look
good, so we think it's some type of cancer, but we don't know for sure." My mom had just
died of cancer a few years earlier, so when I heard the word cancer, I thought death.
You marry the most beautiful woman in the world, and all of a sudden, that can be taken
away from you in a split second. This cancer is invading our life. I just didn't know what
to do. I didn't know where to go. My whole world
just came crashing to a halt. I thought I was
going to lose her.
At that moment I said, "I'm going to believe for a miracle. I'm going to believe for total
healing." Because I've heard of people getting instant healing. And I kept thinking, "Well,
I can do that, too. I believe." My pastor was
there praying. My husband was praying. We had
called The 700 Club to pray.
And it's amazing. As soon as I called The 700 Club, I felt just so much peace. It was
the most amazing thing. I was just a wreck before
I called, but as soon as I called them, it gave me the relief that I needed. It gave
me the strength that I never thought I could have.
The doctors removed the cancer from her, but as she woke from the surgery, they
delivered more bad news.
"We had to take out the lining around your heart, disconnect half your diaphragm, and
we had to remove one of the left nerves to your
vocal chords, and you're never going to speak again above a whisper. It would be impossible."
Aurea began six months of intense chemotherapy to kill any remaining cancer cells.
Really getting really sick and the doctor, I overheard him say, "This is the sickest
patient that we have ever had."
Chemo almost killed me. My doctor said that the cancer's curable, but the chemo was the
real struggle.
The prayers of her friends and family became a source of hope during her toughest
moments.
When I was lying on the floor in the bathroom just wrapped around the toilet bowl, he'd
be on the phone. I could hear him agreeing in
prayer on the phone with The 700 Club. And he
didn't stop picking up that phone and praying all days, hours, of the six months that I
was in chemo, along with all of our friends and
family and pastors. That meant a lot to us. You
know what, when you're sick, you really do feel the prayers. I felt a real warmth and
that peace that passes all understanding. I knew
I was going to be okay.
Doctors finally said Aurea's cancer was gone, but unfortunately, so was her voice.
But I kept praying, kept standing in prayer that her voice would be restored. I said,
"I don't know how long it's going to take, but it will
be restored." God spoke to me and said, "She is going to be fine."
And I couldn't speak for almost a year. I was really, really bad, very faint. I couldn't
even make a phone call, because people would hang
up on me thinking it was an obscene phone call. But about a year or so later my voice
starts coming back. And before you know it, I
just realized I'm talking. And it was kind of like one of those aha moments. This is
really a lot better. And I went back every year to
my doctor to get my checkup. And they're like, "You're sounding good. You're sounding good."
I'm like, "Yes, and I'm not supposed to." So
I'm a testimony of miracles happening in God's timing, not in our instant, "God, can you
do this for me and do it now?"
Doctors said this was impossible, that she would not speak no more than a whisper. And
this is absolutely a miracle what took place. And so I believe in miracles.
Today Aurea and Brian produce a TV show in the Atlanta area. Her voice can be heard
encouraging people to expect the miraculous in their lives, too.
Any time somebody says that can't be done, that's impossible, that's an opportunity for
God to show how great He really is. I don't believe in impossible no matter what it is,
because in God's eyes, He can do anything.
All things can be done through Jesus Christ. You can be healed, your drug addiction can
be healed, your cancer can be healed, your stress
can be healed. God wants us to make it very simple. Believe in Him, and believe in
His Word, and everything can happen.
Believe in Him. Believe in His Word, and everything can happen. Simple. We want to make
it complicated. We want to come up with these little formulas. And then when it doesn't
happen immediately, we then start expressing all our doubts and we start saying, "Well,
have I tithed enough? Is there anybody I need to forgive? What's blocking it?" And instead
of just being just like little children to say, "Daddy, I believe in you. I trust in
you." Who is the father of our faith? Well, his name is
Abraham. And God gave him a promise. And it took years, years, for it to come to pass.
And here's what the Bible says about Abraham, that he did not consider the deadness of his
own body, but he was fully persuaded that He
who had promised was able. And you look at the McGarry's, and here, doctors are saying,
"You'll never speak. It's not going to happen." And they didn't consider the deadness of her
vocal cords. They didn't consider the impact of the chemotherapy. It never entered into
their minds that this was permanent. What entered into their minds was God. All things
are possible. There's nothing impossible for Him.
When man says it's impossible, that just means there's more opportunity for God's glory
to shine through. Now, what about you? What about you? Today, are you willing to
just trust God? Are you willing to trust His timing? That's a tough one sometimes where
the healing process has started, but it's going
to take a while. For the McGarry's, it took a year. It took a surgery, too. What about
you? What about you? Are you going to continue
to believe in spite of things, in spite of the
deadness of your own body? Are you still going to believe? Now, we're going to pray. We're
going to believe with you. The Bible says if two or more agree touching anything, it
shall be done. Before we pray, though, we want to
encourage you with some more miracles that have happened to people who just decided to
believe. And here's Margie from Destin, Florida. She began having terrible headaches,
problems with her memory. Neurologists found she had too many strokes ten years earlier.
And his diagnosis, his prognosis, was dementia, and then Alzheimer's. Well, that
is a prognosis that means death. Margie was watching The 700 Club. Terry, you had a word
of knowledge, "There's someone, you've been suffering from a lot of mental confusion,
and you fear that it's Alzheimer's or dementia. God is correcting that deficiency
in your body, and it's all going to go away." Well, Margie instantly felt a jolt go through
her body. When she went back to the neurologist, he couldn't find anything wrong
with her brain. Margie says her memory is excellent. And that is an incredible miracle.
Wow! Hallelujah!
Wow!
God is good. Well, here is another one. This is Ebenezer. He's an Army officer in Fort
Drum, New York. He hurt his left knee in training, and it became painful and swollen.
Doctors couldn't find the cause of the problem, so every day for a year he had to deal with
the pain and swelling. Then one day, he was watching this program. And Gordon, you gave
this word of knowledge. You said, "There's a man. You're praying for your left knee.
You just spoke to that knee, work. You have pain
in it. You have swelling in it. God is healing you right now. Stand up and do what you couldn't
do before. Ebenezer said he felt a sensation flowing in and around his left knee.
Then he began to jump up and down. The swelling and the pain were completely gone.
Praise God.
Amen.
That can happen to you. That can happen to you, and it can happen right now. All it takes
is that we believe, we come to Him and we say, "We believe. We believe you're God. We
believe that when you speak, you're not lying." When you're fully able to do that which
you've promised to do, and then you're fully willing to do that which you promised to do,
and there's nothing blocking you from the love of Jesus Christ being poured out over
you and in you. Let His love, His forgiveness,
His mercy, and just be fully convinced that there
is nothing separating you from the love of Christ, nothing. You're right there with Him.
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UnderWing Transcripts The 700 Club Daily Broadcast
Friday, March 25, 2011
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