The 700 Club - August 8, 2011

A dental student by day, a drug dealer by night. I really thought that I could kind of live a double life and have my drug life along with my school life. Watch what happens when worlds collide. Right behind me on my kitchen counter was all my drugs. They really caught me red handed. Plus, a live performance from worship leader Darlene Zschech, on today’s 700 Club. Well, welcome to The 700 Club. Folks, you heard it here a long time ago, but to nobody’s surprise stock markets around the world sold off today, and the price of gold soared over 1,700 dollars an ounce after Standard and Poors downgraded the credit rating of the United States of America. Well, it was the first ever downgrade for the United States, and the White House isn’t happy about it. Efrem Graham has the story. Standard and Poor's unprecedented downgrade of the United States credit rating is the latest blow to confidence in the US economy. The political gridlock in Washington leads us to conclude that policy makers don't have the ability to proactively put the public finances of the US on a sustainable footing. The S&P’s lack of faith in America’s leaders has markets around the world watching to see how Wall Street responds. It scared them. The world has got too much debt. In Asia, markets in Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea all dropped sharply today. I think the reaction in Asia has been much better than expected; I think it’s rather muted. China, America's biggest creditor, reacted to the downgrade saying, America must, quote . . . . . . . . “come to terms with the painful fact that the good old days when it could just borrow its way out of messes of its own making are finally gone.” Investors also reacted to the downgrade by flocking to gold, driving up the price to another record, above 1,700 dollars. The president waved off questions about the downgrade on his return to the White House, but members of his administration blasted Standard and Poors for the downgrade. I think S&P has shown really terrible judgment, and they've handled themselves very poorly, and they've showed a stunning lack of knowledge about basic US fiscal budget math. There had been talk about Geithner stepping down as Treasury secretary, but with the debt crisis dragging on, he now says he'll stick around a little longer. Meanwhile, Republicans say this downgrade is the president’s fault for overspending, and Democrats blame the Tea Party for holding up the debt talks. This is essentially a Tea Party downgrade. The Tea Party brought us to the brink of a default. And as the finger pointing continues, Standard and Poors has warned America’s credit rating could drop another level if America doesn’t make significant cuts to its debt within the next two years. Efrem Graham, CBN News. I want to take you back in time. As you know, at the end of every year, I go off and spend some time praying. I ask the Lord for some direction, and hopefully I receive it, at least some of the time. At the beginning of this year, I talked about what I believed the Lord had told me about the financial problems our country is facing. Here is from that beginning-of-the-year broadcast. “Your country is in grave peril. The leaders have hearkened to the demands of interest groups and have led your nation into bankruptcy. In two years will come a time of reckoning.” It’s not now, but it’s going to be two years from now. “Your creditors will demand payment, and there will not be enough to satisfy their claims. Your currency will shrink in value. Your bonds will lose value. People on fixed incomes will suffer. Unemployment will escalate, and there will be turmoil.” Well, that’s coming down the road, but we’ve seen the preliminary. This S&P downgrade isn’t the end of the world, but it’s a humiliation for the United States of America. And what the Lord was saying essentially is that, “Your people can’t get together, that the leaders of your country can’t agree.” I was driving along Saturday morning going to a meeting, and I just happened to flip on the radio, and it was to NPR. They were trashing, trashing the prayer meeting being held in Texas. And I said to my wife, “That thing is being supported by taxpayer dollars. Why should we do that? Why should we give 300 million dollars to Planned Parenthood? Why should we support a whole panoply of liberal initiatives?” The president has driven us to the brink of bankruptcy. Right now, our stated debt is equal to the gross domestic product, which is a huge problem, and it’s getting much, much worse. So do you want this great nation humbled? We have already been humbled to think that people are laughing at us. And the Russians are laughing at us, and the Chinese are telling us to start living within our means. Imagine being lectured by the Chinese and the Russians. Well, we are, because the people in charge of this country don’t care, and they’re listening to the clamor of people in our nation who insist on getting something more from the Treasury. And the special interest groups won’t let up, but the truth is we can’t afford it. Only God has unlimited resources. No government has it. And when the people are all asking something from the government, there is a problem that has developed, and there seems to be no restraint. And this last budget deal was a joke. It was a joke. A couple trillion dollars. It was a joke. There was a congressman who put forth a very intelligent program. His budget was passed, but laughed at by the administration. There was a commission that the president appointed, led by senior former Senator Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, who was the financial leader for Bill Clinton, two very distinguished bipartisan centrists. They came out with an excellent plan to reform taxes and to do what was needed in the economy. The president ignored it. Lee Webb has the rest of our top stories from the CBN Newsroom. Lee. Pat, the country is mourning the loss of those US forces killed over the weekend in Afghanistan. We’re now hearing from family members and learning more about the men who sacrificed so much. Mark Martin has that story. It’s the deadliest single day for US forces in the decade-long war in Afghanistan: a Chinook helicopter carrying 30 Americans shot down. Everyone died, including 22 Navy Seals, most of them part of the covert SEAL Team Six, the elite unit who killed Osama bin Laden in May. None of the men who took part in that raid were believed to be on the helicopter. (Virginia Beach, VA): This elite team of Seals is stationed here in Virginia Beach at the base behind me down this road. This tight knit Navy community is feeling the loss. To them, these Seal casualties are so much more than headlines or statistics. They are neighbors, husbands, and fathers. They are warriors when they’re at work, but they have children. They’re Daddy. They’re somebody’s husband. Diane Shipley and her retired Navy Seal husband, Don, are part of the close Seal community here. News of the tragedy spread fast. I got a phone call from one of the wives, and I immediately screamed and started naming off names to make sure that immediate family was safe. And then we just cried. Members of Seal Team Six are the best of the best. Losing so many at one time is a devastating blow. It’s important to understand what these guys do over there. They’re Spartans. They’re gladiators. One of those gladiators was 25-year-old petty officer Michael Strange. He said he’d be home for Thanksgiving. He was a great kid, man. He fought for this country. Then there’s 30-year-old Aaron Carson Vaughn, a father of two with a newborn on the way. He was a fabulous son to his parents, and a great big brother. And to me, he was the love of my life. But I want us as a church to ask that God of all comfort to be with these families. Churches in Virginia Beach spent Sunday ministering and praying for families who lost loved ones. We’ll just be there as a church. They need food. They need us to take care of their kids. It’s a community coming together to help each other heal from tragedy. And to see the sacrifice their family is making, this further sacrifice just hurts. It hurts us all. It shocks us all, because we’re going to miss them terribly. Mark Martin, CBN News. Lee, many of the SEALS from SEAL Team Six, I mean not many, a number of them, worked here at CBN in our security department. They’re absolutely marvelous people; and as they said, the best of the best. They’re warriors, gladiators. They’re willing to die for this country. But I want everybody to think about Afghanistan. I was over there years ago on the border of Afghanistan when the Russians had come in. The Russians turned tail and left. They couldn’t subdue that country. It is perhaps the largest exporter of heroin in the world, the opium poppies. It is terribly corrupt. Bribery is endemic. The president is corrupt. His family is corrupt. The warlords are corrupt. The whole place stinks. Why should we have brilliant Navy SEALs dying in the mountains of Afghanistan? I think the time has come to say, “Look, this has been interesting, but we’re out of here.” I know there are some people who say, “Well, you’re defeatist. You’re getting to be isolationist.” I don’t think it’s isolationist to not want to waste our people’s lives and our treasure in that God-forsaken mountainous area that’s led by a bunch of crooks. It doesn’t make any sense. Why should we do it? It’s not that strategic. People think it is, but it’s not. And it is impassable, those mountains over there, if you’ve been to Peshawar in Pakistan. I’ve been on the border in these other places and talked to the mujahideen years ago. They’re fighters, they’re killers, and they’re warlords. Why? Why waste those wonderfully young men in our Seal team or any unit of the United States military in that hell hole? Lee? Thousands of people from across the country gathered in Houston to pray for our nation Saturday. It was a call to prayer by Texas Governor Rick Perry, and the response was stronger than anticipated. Jennifer Wishon explains. It wasn't a ballgame, a concert, or even a speaker that drew 30,000 people to Houston's Reliant Stadium. I just wanted to come to pray for our nation. And also pray for the people that are out of work, families that are in need, and just so we can basically get our spending under control. It was seven hours of continuous worship. Texas Governor Rick Perry called for the event, but there was no fanfare surrounding his appearance. He simply walked out, started reading scripture and praying. As a nation we have forgotten who made us, who protects us, who blesses us, and for that we cry out for your forgiveness. It's awesome to see our governor reading scripture and believing in God. Perry is expected to announce a bid for president in the coming weeks. And while he may have been speaking the language of evangelical Christian voters, he made no mention of his future. It's not politics or anything like that. It's Jesus. It's God. The governor's involvement drew several dozen protestors. Gay pride flags dotted the sidewalk. Others dubbed the governor “Pastor Perry.” I feel that it completely erases if not outright blurs, anyway, the separation between church and state. Any controversy was left at the door, along with political labels as thousands of Christians gathered to praise, pray, and worship at this historic event. It is extremely scary when we think about going into the future as a country that's turned away from the Lord. I think this is a great place for us to start getting things turned around, getting on our knees before our maker. You call us to repent, Lord, and this day is our response. We give it all to you, for Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen. And amen. Jennifer Wishon, CBN News, Houston, Texas. Pat, back to you. Is it any wonder that man was elected for three terms to lead one of the largest states in our nation? And I might add, a very prosperous state, a state that has low unemployment, paying the bills. He has founded his administration on the Bible, and I might add it works. So, man, it took courage for him to do this. All this “blurred the lines of separation of church and state.” No, it doesn’t. There’s nothing that says that people couldn’t pray. Franklin Roosevelt prayed. Harry Truman prayed. Woodrow Wilson prayed. Dwight Eisenhower prayed. You go down the list of our presidents. They prayed. They invoked God. We have never, never had a time in our country where we separated this country from God. But it looks like we’re trying to do it as hard as we can, and I appreciate Governor Perry bringing that emphasis to come back to the roots of our nation. Terry. Well, six months ago, the Egyptians ousted their corrupt leader. Up next . . . . . . . . see who is sweeping in and why Christians in the country are worried. Plus, our chat room is open . . . . . . . . and we want to hear from you. All you have to do is log on to CBN.com and go to our event page. You can send us your questions and comments, and we’ll Bring It Online with them later on today’s show. Her story touched us. When can I surf again? Her comeback inspired us . . . . I don’t need easy; I just need possible. . . . . and showed us what it takes to be a true champion. Soul Surfer, now on Blu-Ray combo pack. This is what I used to look like, and this is what I look like now. Lifestyle Lift helps remove wrinkles, frown lines, and sagging skin. Get noticeable natural results with options that take as little as an hour. Call right now and get a free information kit. Looking younger feels great. And now for a limited time only, get a free laser treatment with purchase. A $950 value, yours free if you call now. This offer is for a limited time. Get a laser skin treatment free with your Lifestyle Lift. Tomorrow . . . . I thought that since my dad drank that every guy that was a man should try it. Confessions from Newsong singer Russ Lee. I still had a big garbage bag full of every kind of drug you can imagine in the trunk of my car. And the one song that changed his career. Plus . . . . . . . . make your dollar go farther. Radio host Clark Howard shows you how to buy smarter and save money, on The 700 Club. Well, there was the so-called Arab spring. We warned you in those days that all wasn’t as it seemed. We all said Egyptians were protesting freedom, and we applauded at that. But now many analysts worry that Islamists are hijacking the revolution. Well, we worried about the same thing, because the Muslim Brotherhood was in evidence. Gary Lane reports the country’s Coptic Christians are joining the political fight to keep that from happening. Another massive summertime protest in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, this one six months after the historic ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Magdy Khalil (Coptic Solidarity): It's good news to go to the streets again to protect their revolution. The Muslim Brotherhood and the military council hijacked the revolution. And they’re moving the nation toward an Islamic state while maintaining the corrupt practices and privileges of the old regime. That’s the belief of Coptic spokesman Magdy Khalil and many other Egyptians who believe the ruling military council has made a political deal with the Muslim Brotherhood. They are looking to protect their positions. Who can accept this situation? The Muslim Brotherhood, because the Muslim Brotherhood plans to control the whole of Egypt. Khalil says the Brotherhood is ignoring high level corruption in exchange for power and control. That's why parliamentary elections were moving on a fast track. Originally planned for September, the military council now says they will be delayed until November. But some Christians and secularists still believe more time may be needed to overcome the political advantage of the better organized Muslim Brotherhood. If the election moves forward as planned, chances are the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist parties will win the majority of seats in the parliament. Christians and secularists don’t want to see that happen. So what they’re trying to do is slow this whole process down. So they have launched a new campaign called “Constitution First.” Christians and secularists fear if the parliamentary election is held first, the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist parties will write the Constitution to include wording that would eventually Islamize Egypt and impose Sharia law to become a government similar to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Egypt’s Coptic Christians say that would not be good for them. A disaster not only for Christians in Egypt, but also for Israel, for the United States, for Europe, for the whole West, for the human civilization, for the Western civilization. I think the Coptic Christians would be in a very difficult, difficult spot and much more difficult than if the Muslim Brotherhood took over than even under Mubarak. But things were not good under Mubarak. And Coptic Christians have not fared well since Mubarak's departure. In the first 300 days after the Mubarak regime fell, Copts in Egypt, the Christians in Egypt, faced more than 60 attacks, yes, including murders, the burning of churches. And Christians are still waiting for a thorough investigation and prosecution of those responsible for this bombing at Saint Mark's church in Alexandria last New Year's Day. Twenty-three people were killed in the attack. Ninety-seven were injured. Congressman Wolf says it's time the United States become an advocate for Egyptian Christians. I think there ought to be pressure on the leadership, members of Congress, and this administration to advocate and stand now with the persecuted. The Coptic Christians are really the leading point of the spear, because if Egypt trends the other way, the impact that will have. Middle East expert Walid Phares suggests the Obama Administration should start talking to the right people. Earlier this summer, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the United States would begin a dialogue with the Muslim Brotherhood. They have been arguing that the Muslim Brotherhood should be the partners of the West, knowing very well that the Muslim Brotherhood's aim, final goal is to establish an Islamic state like Iran, or like Sudan, or ultimately like the Taliban. So we need to have a change of direction, first in Washington and in Brussels, so that we can begin to partner with the right natural allies in the region. And that's the hope and prayer of Egyptian Christians and secularists, a political movement and pressure from the West to keep their democratic revolution moving forward. Gary Lane, CBN News, Cairo, Egypt. Thanks, Gary. The Muslim Brotherhood is first coming in a stealth attack. They’re showing themselves as peaceful, as religiously oriented, as people who only want the good of Egypt. That’s phase one. Second is they’re going to move in to take over political power. Step three, they’re going to impose Sharia law and establish what is known as the “caliphate.” That is their desire. The worldwide rule of Islam, but primarily in the Middle East, it would extend from Baghdad all the way down through all the Arab nations through North Africa, and, of course, Egypt would be one of the key players. That’s their goal. Well, coming up . . . . . . . . she’s the singer behind “Shout to the Lord” and many other favorite worship songs. Darlene Zschech is here, and she’ll be singing a song from her upcoming CD. That’s next. This is the information retailers don't want you to know, especially now. 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Now take the same great stories you see on The 700 Club with you on your phone. Go to mobile.cbn.com. Find the story you want and click on it, and instantly it streams to your phone. You know who needs to see that? Both: Frank. The 700 Club stories to go. How cool a club is that? Darlene Zschech spent 25 years at Hillsong Church in Australia where she penned some of the most memorable praise and worship songs of our era. Her songs remain as powerful as ever, and now she is here with, “Cry of the Broken.” "CRY OF THE BROKEN" “ Lord I come . . . .” Just one song on Darlene's latest album . It's called You Are Love. It's going to be released on September 6th, but you can pre-order it were ever music is sold, and if you can't wait you can hear “Cry of the Broken,” on Hillsong’s most recent CD. It’s called, God is Able. But please welcome now back to The 700 Club, Darlene Zschech. Darlene, come on in. It’s great to see you. Hey, I missed you. Beautiful song. Wonderful to have you here. Thank you. Please sit down. Worship, I mean, your name, whenever worship is mentioned, Darlene Zschech’s name comes with it. Which I know it's a joy to you, because you are a true worshiper. Why is worship so important in our relationship with the Lord? It's critical to our relationship with the Lord. We were designed to be in relationship, to be in communion with Him, and one of the great ways that God enables us to do that on Earth is through worship. Whether it's through song, you know, song is a really key part of it. But through our lives being poured out, there's a sacrifice. There's an intimacy that comes into all of that, isn't there? Oh my gosh. And a power. It's amazing, His presence, His great power, and that's one of the reasons I love and am so committed to announcing His presence and His greatness in our midst. That's the beauty of worship, when we start to exalt Him. Exalt the name of Jesus above all else. Any circumstance, any trial, any mountain, any Valley. Worship really declares who He is. His worth. The Psalms do that in a beautiful way in Scripture, but there's one Psalm in particular that really has moved you and is involved in the book that were going to talk about that you've done. And you started it with Psalm 145. Talk about why that gripped your heart. Lot of reasons. But there's this one Scripture within Psalm 145, where it says in one generation you shall command and tell my works to the next generation. I love that understanding that we, from our kids to our grandchildren, that the Word in us and the stories and the testimonies of God's faithfulness in us, just gets retold. Get stronger and stronger as the generations get stronger and stronger in the things of God. You talk about the generations, and we should mention the book at this point, it's the natural plan of time to tell you all about it. The Art of Mentoring. When I first read the title I thought, well what is this about? Of course, the subtitle, “Embracing the Great Generational Transition.” Talk about that. You just alluded to it. The significance of one generation that knows the Lord, passing along to another. There's so many places in Scripture where it says, “And then a generation came who knew not the Lord.” “He knew not, and it was not passed on well.” It's this great story of David in the Bible, how it brought to his last breath, but he's just committed to passing on to the next generation. The same with Moses. The thing with me was, looking through church history, and you know in our worship team in Hillsong, I’m just so passionate about that team. Throughout church history though, teams have never really transitioned well in bringing through the youth. While the people like myself who have been around for a long time, tend to get threatened and fall off the edges, and they find themselves as statistics rather than entering days where the young and the old together. Which happens only in the church. I mean, it's just a beautiful thing about the body of Christ. Historically we've actually never done generational transition very well. I studied it through watching businesses, family businesses, and looking through the Word of God, and I just started teaching it within the context of our own team. Talk about what it is you're teaching, because this is a book, The Art of Mentoring, that you've written, is a book about values, and mercy. If there's something you see, and it's not just in America; it's the world. It's like values are becoming blurred. Well, I didn't call them “chapters.” I called them “values.” Just the value of different critical things about raising up the next generation, about handing on responsibility. How to set people up to win. How to remain secure at your post while you're setting people up to do better than where you're at right now. All of those kinds of things. So I broken down to values, just things that we could . . . . Really grab hold of. . . . . really grab hold of. Well, the book is an amazing book. I love looking through it. There's so much in it to be explored, and reread, and underlined, and then passed on to somebody else. I've lived it, and I'm living it, if you know what I mean? It always makes it fresh for those of us who are breeding a writer's work. Thank you so much for your songs, for your writing. Darlene has more in her book, “The Art of Mentoring - Embracing the Great Generational Transition.” This is available where ever books are sold. Plus we have a great behind the scenes interview with Darlene on our website. All you have to do is log on to CBN.com and then click the, “In the Green Room,” link. Thank you so much. Thank you, bless you. It’s great to have you with us. The Lord bless you. Pat. Thanks. And thanks Darlene, beautiful. Still ahead, the worst day of Christopher's life, first, a prison sentence, and then what felt like a death sentence. So, they sent me to the nurses office, and as I sat in that room and I looked down at this piece of paper, I saw three letters and a symbol. It read HIV Positive. But that wasn't the only thing that happened to Chris that day. See what it was. It's good news, when we return. My name is Roger Stump, and I’m a cancer survivor. The surgeon said it's inoperable. “It's already in your liver.” My wife, Brenda, sat there and cried; and I'm thinking, “I can't die right now. I'm only 52 years old.” I was so distraught. I've heard Cancer Treatment Centers of America have experience with pancreatic cancers. It was like night and day. The hospital just breeds an environment of hope. You get a CT scan, and the next morning the results were read to you. We’d go up there; I just knew it was going to be a good result. You could just see the joy on Dr. Granik’s face. Call now and we’ll show you how the most compassionate people anywhere put you at the center of everything we do. Together, we'll explore real treatment options you may not even know exist. Cancer Treatment Centers of America. It is such a different place, because they give you hope. I would strongly urge you to call them and get a second opinion. Please call today. Welcome back to The 700 Club. A major push this year to allow school vouchers. At least 30 states have introduced bills that would use taxpayer funds to send children to private schools. Most are limited to poor or special needs children. The National Conference of State legislatures says is the highest number, though, of states ever to consider school vouchers during one year. Last year just nine states debated voucher bills. Just one past in Oklahoma. This year six states have already passed voucher legislation. CBN’s WorldReach is launching a new Spanish-language program in Guatemala. WorldReach is teaming with Channel 27 in Guatemala to produce a series translated into English means, “what I have lived through.” The program tells the stories of people who have overcome extraordinary obstacles. The programs feature miracles, and they talk about tragedies, drug addiction, alcoholism, and homosexuality. Each episode includes a testimony, questions from a live studio audience, and comments and advice from specialists. And you can find out more about CBN WorldReach by logging onto CBN.com/worldreach. Pat and Terry will be right back. Hi there neighbor, Pat Boone here for my good friends at Swiss America, the company that makes retirement dreams come true with gold. A lot of folks are shifting a portion of their retirement funds into a new precious metals IRA with Swiss America. And since 2004 these IRA’s are up in value over 150 percent. 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Although he was born in the US, he never felt like he fit in with his American classmates. Kids, they’re always kind of cruel, and they pick on kids for being different. He was small for his age. He played piano and worked hard in school, and wasn’t good at sports like the other boys. I was shorter. I wore glasses, so I was “four eyes.” I was picked on, because I was maybe a little more effeminate, because I was more artistic. When he was nine years old, Christopher saw pornography at a friend’s house. That’s when he started thinking maybe he was different. Those images just awoke something in me that I didn’t know was there. But I also noticed that I was attracted to the images of both the men and the women. He decided to keep his feelings secret with hopes they would go away, but they didn’t. All these feelings were kind of bubbling up in me, and I was kind of keeping them held down. And I felt like I just needed to get it out somehow. When he was about 20 years old, Christopher started going to gay bars. So I was doing that kind of secretly behind my parents’ back; and my other friends, they didn’t know. But I was being more sexually active then at that point. When he moved away for dental school, he decided to let his secret out and live the homosexual lifestyle full on. At that point, I felt like I could really express myself and explore who I was and explore these feelings that I had kept hidden for so long. Then one day while at home, he told his parents about his sexuality. Words were definitely not enough to describe how I felt when he told us he was gay. I felt ashamed and betrayal, rejected, devastated and just full of sorrow. My reaction was that I felt total hopeless, and I just gave up hope. The two began to pray for their son. He was a dental student by day, but by night he was getting deeper into homosexuality and drug abuse. I was traveling around the country doing drugs and selling drugs, so I was missing more and more class. I really thought that I could kind of live a double life and have my drug life along with my school life and not let them interfere. It wasn’t long before the two worlds collided. He was expelled from dental school just four months before graduation. Now that they expelled me, I just completely consumed myself with living in the gay community. I began doing what I knew how to do well and knew how to do best, and that was drug dealing. He was making big money and having several sexual encounters each day. I really was treated like a superstar, and I felt that I was invincible. And I really felt like that I was God. His parents refused to give up on him, even though he refused to stay in touch. Every morning before I started my day, I would go into my prayer closet. And one of the prayers was, “Lord, have mercy on this son.” The answer to the prayer came one day with a knock on Christopher’s door. I opened up my door, and it wasn’t anybody that I had seen before, but it was 12 federal drug enforcement agents. Right behind me on my kitchen counter was all my drugs. And they really caught me red handed. And I was charged with the street value equivalent of 9.1 tons of marijuana. Just three days after Christopher went to jail, something in a trash can caught his attention. I saw something out of the corner of my eye, and it was a book. And so I stopped, and I bent over, and I picked it up. It was a Gideon’s Bible. For the very first time, I opened up that good book. As I was reading it, I was really convicted of my rebellion, not only against the law and against man, but also against God. Christopher learned that there were consequences to his actions. So they sent me to the nurse’s office; and as I sat in that room looked down at this piece of paper, I saw three letters and a symbol, and it read “HIV positive.” He went back to his cell, feeling like he had received a death sentence. He lay down and looked up at the graffiti-covered bunk over his head. And I noticed one thing scribbled there by someone. And it read, “If you’re bored, read Jeremiah 29:11,” which says, “‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you.’” And at that point was probably the darkest and the most hopeless point in my life, after I was sentenced to six years, after I had received news of my HIV status. God gave me enough faith that night to just simply get through that one day. Christopher relied on God’s help to get by one day at a time. It was during this probably year-long process that I surrendered my life to Christ and that I knew that I no longer was going to live according to my ways and according to the ways of the world, but surrendering all my hopes and dreams to Him. As his relationship with God grew, Christopher struggled to find justification for his homosexual lifestyle. I turned to the Bible alone. And I went through every verse, every chapter, every page of scripture looking for justification for homosexuality. I never found anything. So I was at a turning point, and a decision had to be made. It was either abandon God and His Word to live as a homosexual by allowing my feelings to dictate who I was or abandon homosexuality by liberating myself from my feelings and live as a follower of Jesus Christ. My decision was clear and obvious, and I chose God. Christopher was released from prison after serving his sentence. Today, his relationship with his parents has been restored. He is an instructor at Moody Bible College in Chicago and lives each day with purpose. No person has ever been promised that we would have tomorrow. And yet, most of us, we live with the expectancy of tomorrow. But it took getting HIV for me to realize that I must live with a sense of urgency. And he no longer defines himself by his sexuality. My identity as a child of God must be in Jesus Christ alone. God was telling me, “Don’t focus upon your feelings, or don’t focus upon your sexuality, but focus upon living a life of holiness and living a life of purity.” Being a Christian is not an easy thing. I may still struggle, but God has given me the grace. God has claimed the victory on the cross that, though I may still have struggles, I’m not going to be bound by them. Who are you? It's interesting. Who are you? What is your identity? Who are you? Did you ever think of that? Who am I? A lot of people do that, who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? Who am I? Well, I'll tell you who you are; you are a creature made in the image of God, made to worship God made to spend eternity with God in His paradise. That's who you are. Who have you become? That depends on what you've been doing. Did you embrace alcohol or drugs? Did you embrace licentiousness? Did you embrace the homosexual lifestyle? Did you embrace adultery or something else, stealing, whatever? That's what you've become, but that's not who you are. Do you want to be who you are, who God intended? You'll never be happy until you do what God intended for you. Now I'm going to give you a chance right now. It's real simple. You're watching this program, and don’t go anywhere. Right now, at this moment, I want you to open the door to who you are. I want you to ask God to come in and restore what you have destroyed, and what the devil has destroyed, and that you might become fully whole as you were intended to be. Now bow your head right now and pray with me, and let's ask God to do a miracle in your life. You'll know joy and peace beyond measure. Pray these words, “Jesus,” pray with me, “Jesus, you know what I'm intended to be. You've known because you made me, Lord. And I want to fulfill the destiny that you have for me. And right now, Lord, in the name of Jesus, in your name, I turn away from things that have marred me, and made me less of a person that you intended. And I pray, Lord, that you might come into my heart. That you might live in me and make me the person that you intended me to be. Lord, I receive you as my Savior. I take you as Lord of my life, and from this moment on, I am yours. Thank you, Lord.” Now I want to pray for you. “Father, in Jesus’ name, for those who prayed, let the power of God touch them. Lord, reveal to them, even as we speak, the fullness that you have for them. In Jesus Christ, thank you Lord. Amen.” And amen. Now if you prayed with me, I want you to move forward, what's next? I want you to move into something next. Next. You need to read the Bible. You need to get into the Word. That one verse in Jeremiah, “I know the plans I have for you.” That one verse transformed Christopher's life. I have a little CD, a 73 minutes of concentrated teaching about what happens when you accept Jesus. I think you'll find it very interesting. It's easy, you pop it into your CD player and away you go. Then I got a little booklet that’s got the Scriptures taken from that teaching. There's over 60 Scriptures in here. It'll tell you all these things that you have done. It's real easy. Easy to read, easy to understand. But, it will give you a start. I ask you to call right now. Just say I prayed with Pat. I gave my heart to the Lord. I am becoming who I was intended to be. Pick up the phone and call, and I'll give you this free. It's 1-800-759-0700. Operators are there. If the lines are busy, please call back, but they'll be here all day long. 1-800-759-0700. Absolutely no financial obligation whatsoever. It's all free. Call, right now. Terry. Coming up, your questions from our chat room. One of our viewers wrote, “My husband says he's a Christian, but at times he visits live, nude chat rooms on the Internet. What should I do? We’ll answer that question and more, coming up next. I always wore a mask. I would never let anyone see what I really felt inside. My whole life, all I wanted to hear was that, "I love you and I want you." I just realized all of the horrible things that I've done in the past to feel loved and accepted, if they were fleeting. It didn't matter. The relationship that I wanted my whole life was right there for me, and it was Jesus. This is what I used to look like, and this is what I look like now. Lifestyle Lift helps remove wrinkles, frown lines, and sagging skin. Get noticeable natural results with options that take as little as an hour. Call right now and get a free information kit. Looking younger feels great. And now for a limited time only, get a free laser treatment with purchase. A $950 value, yours free if you call now. This offer is for a limited time. Get a laser skin treatment free with your Lifestyle Lift. Well, many of you sent questions into our chat room, and we want to answer some of them today. Pat, here's a question from one of our viewers who says, “My husband says he's a Christian, but at times he visits live, nude chat rooms on the Internet. What does the Bible say about this? The Bible has a lot of things to say. It says “flee youthful lusts”; that's one of the things it says to do. But it also says if you think of adultery in your heart, that you have committed the act. Well, this guy's not just think in it, is kind of living in out in a fantasy world with this woman on the Internet. So, what's he doing? He's committing adultery. That is what's happening, and you've got to intervene and say, “I'm not going to stand for this anymore. You've got to be set free.” This is an addiction. He's been ensnared by this thing. Look at him as a captive, and try to get him delivered. But, it's intolerable. It's intolerable to have a husband or a wife, doing this kind of stuff. I agree. And it really is. All right, next. This is Kim who says, “My parents have been having problems for years, but it has escalated recently. My mother acts immature and my father yells at her. And now my younger sister is acting out. I feel like my family is falling apart.” Kim, there's nothing more difficult than for a teenager, young person, to see their parents misbehaving or shouting, or tearing it up, because you want desperately to have your mother and father love each other, because, your stability comes about by having an intact family. You want your mother and father hugging each other, and loving each other, and then loving you. That's what you want. But you're not having that. What you must do in addition is to ask God to do something about it. God is the only one who can change this. You can tell them maybe, you can tell them you're hurting me very badly, and maybe they'll listen. You never can tell, they might listen to you. It might be that suddenly, like a mirror, you let them see themselves in the mirror, and you'll be the mirror. Well, ask God. Take it before the Lord seriously. He can do miracles that you can't do. All right. This is Rick who says, “My children believe they've seen demons in their homes and lives. Now they fear for their lives. We've prayed, but we have not seen nor heard from God?” Well, I don't know if they've seen demons or not; but, boy, there's nothing worse than having demons, and chasing demons all the time. But I recommend what you do is to go to their home with them, maybe bring a man of God with them who believes in the Bible. And go room by room and bind Satan, and bind the spirits, and cast them forth. They'll leave, because they have to. But your children need to stand on the Word and stand on the name of Jesus. Yeah. Speak it. You have authority in the Word of God. And to know that the Scripture says, “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” You've got ground to stand on. Of course it is. Amen. Okay, this is Russ who says, “Oil prices are below $90 a barrel. So why are gas prices so high? The last time we had these kind of pump prices, an oil barrel cost $145. Are we being gouged? The stuff goes up and down. The world market prices go up and down. They can't change the prices at the pump. The refiners can't change prices that quickly. They buy the stuff and they’re processing it; and the fact that while their processing it, the price of crude goes up or down, doesn't affect their cost. So I don't think you're being gouged. It's a very volatile situation, but I tell you before the end of this year, oil will clearly go up in excess hundred dollars a barrel. Trust me, it will happen. All right. You’re going to need the time we have left to answer this. Jay says, “Free will led men to sin. My question is, do we have free will in Heaven? If we do, does that mean there is the possibility of sin in Heaven? And if we don't, then why did God create man with free will knowing that some people would reject Him and go to Hell? Well, that's what happened to Satan. Satan had free will, and he rejected God and tried to take over Heaven. That is where sin came from. He said, “I will, I will extend, I will, I will.” Of course you have free will in Heaven. But you're going to be in the presence of God. You'll be a spirit, and you will have knowledge, and you'll be in the presence of God. It would be so wonderful. Why would you sin when you got everything going for you? And furthermore, there won't be any devil to tempt you. So, Heaven's going to be great. You'll like it. Tomorrow, financial expert Clark Howard gives you tips on how to save money. These words from Proverbs . . . . “Every word of God is pure, He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.” YOU WERE THERE PLEDGE REMINDER Here at CBN, we see amazing things happen when we stand together. That’s why we want to say thank you to the thousands of you . . . . . . . . who recently pledged to join The 700 Club. Your monthly gift makes it possible to bring crucial help to those who need it most. You help heal the sick, feed the hungry . . . . . . . . and preach the Gospel across America and throughout the world. You’ve brought health and hope to people in desperate need. And changed their lives forever. 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