The 700 Club - July 21, 2011

Summer’s here. That means it’s time to get fired up. We go grilling with Paula Deen’s sons and get the secret to the ultimate tailgate party. Plus . . . . Little by little I began to notice him perk up when talking about her. A lot of texting and a lot of calling. They call him “The Ambassador” . . . . I’m in trouble. I don’t know what to do. . . . . and before long, this rapper-turned-pastor would need diplomatic immunity, from his wife. You could tell the foundation was cracking. We’ve got all that and answers to your questions, but in the big news, the White House and Congress say they’re making some progress toward a deal to raise the debt ceiling. But their time, obviously, is running out. Well, some conservatives believe Washington needs to stop adding more debt and start living within its means by making a balanced budget amendment part of the Constitution. John Jessup has the story from Washington. Attempts for the United States to only spend what it takes in goes back to the Founding Fathers. It's taken 200 years since Thomas Jefferson first proposed it to bring it up this time. And another Virginian sponsored the latest balanced budget effort. Congressman Bob Goodlatte believes the only way to hold Congress accountable for its spending habits is to make the law part of the Constitution. We're on the edge of a rocky coast right now, and if we don't pull back, we're going to crash and destroy this great country. The public appears to agree with all the states except Vermont, having some type of rule requiring a balanced budget. The one way we can bind a future Congress, one that's not in power now, is through a constitutional amendment. But so far, the measure has never made it past Congress, much less to the states for ratification. We don't need a constitutional amendment to do our jobs. The Constitution already tells us to do our jobs. Of course, the White House obviously doesn't want it; and hill Democrats argue that the GOP plan will hurt Social Security and Medicare. But conservatives backed by the Tea Party see a balanced budget amendment as a nod to the voters who helped them increase their clout and influence in 2010. Americans have said very clearly what they want us to do is to rein in spending, bottom line. So we have to start where the American people are. And they're ready to change the way Washington thinks about votes on Capitol Hill, especially on tough issues like raising the debt ceiling. This is not about the next election. That's what frustrates many freshmen. It frustrates the American people. They don't care about the next election; they care about the next generation. Can we solve this problem now? Now we have reached the point in impasse. We can solve this problem; it's still within our grasp. John Jessup, CBN News, Washington. Well, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah is joining us now from Washington. His new book is called The Freedom Agenda, Why a Balanced Budget Amendment is Necessary. Senator, it’s nice to have you with us. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me on your show. It’s good to be with you. What do you want to ask for in a balanced budget amendment of the Constitution? You’ve got to get two thirds votes of Congress, and you’ve got to get three quarters votes of the states. It’s a 10-20 year process, isn’t it? It doesn’t need to be a 10-20 year process; and, in fact, I don’t think it would be in this case, because Americans overwhelmingly support this idea. And let’s face it; our country needs this, and it needs it right now. We don’t have too much more time to continue to borrow at the rate of an excess of 1.5 trillion dollars every single year before this causes us to reach the end of our practical borrowing limit. That’s why we need to amend the Constitution right now. And that’s why I wrote The Freedom Agenda. What would happen in this amendment? How would it be phrased, and what would be the consequences? Well, once it’s ratified by the states, the version that has been sponsored by all 47 Republicans in the Senate would take effect five years after ratification. Once it took effect, it would tell Congress that it may not spend more than it takes in, in a year, that it may not spend more than 18 percent of gross domestic product in any given year, and that to overcome these requirements, it would take a super major vote in Congress; it would also take a super majority to raise taxes. Super majority being two thirds? Two thirds in most cases. It would take three fifths to raise the debt limit. And then in the case of a declared war against a nation state, we would be exempted to the extent necessary to fund that war. Well, people have said if you have this amendment, the big spenders will keep on spending, and all they’ll do is raise taxes to balance the budget. How do you obviate that problem? Well, that’s exactly why we have the super majority requirement for raising taxes. We want it to be very, very difficult to do that. Because we, of course, understand, those of us who love liberty, and understand that the purpose of government is to protect life and liberty and property. Understand that every time you raise taxes, you undermine the very interest that government is there to protect. But perhaps more to the point, of more immediate concern is the fact that you can’t really expand your revenue stream, at least on a sustainable basis, simply by raising taxes. It doesn’t work in the long run. Because we found through historical experience that we can bring in only about 18.5 percent of GDP annually through our tax system. That remains true even at times when our top marginal rates are much higher than they are now. For example, before Reagan took office, we had top marginal rates that were at or above 70 percent in some instances. And yet we still weren’t collecting more than the historical average of about 18.5 percent of GDP. What you end up doing is shrinking GDP, having less economic activity and actually less revenue as a result of higher taxes; and that’s not right for anyone. It’s not good for America. It’s not good for our country. If I gave you a blank sheet of paper and a pen, what would be your agenda? If you’re going to cut, what top ten, top five items would you go after in the current federal spending? This is part of what I explain in The Freedom Agenda. I want Americans to feel empowered. They’re tired of feeling like they’re the victims of this large Leviathon that is the federal government. So I outline a series of questions that Americans should ask and that members of Congress ought to ask as they approach the process of looking at ways to cut in our federal government. One of the things they ought to ask is, “Is this a government activity? Is it something only government can do?” Another thing they need to ask has to do with whether or not it’s an appropriate activity for the federal government. “Is this something that was specifically authorized in Article I, Section 8, or else where in the Constitution?” If not, it should either be left to the states and local governments or to civil society, to religious institutions and families and other nongovernmental entities that can provide some of these services. And so what I’ve come up with are a series of questions that can help us get to the question of how we get to a balanced budget process through an amendment. At the end of the day, The Freedom Agenda points out that it’s not just our fiscal stability, our economic health that is at stake; it’s our freedom. Because we all know as God-fearing Americans that every time government acts, it does so at the expense of our individual liberty, and it’s only by restricting government’s access to an unlimited pool of money, which it has when it deficit-spends at a rate of excess of 1.5 trillion dollars a year, that we can protect our freedom. Senator, thank you so much. Mike Lee. It’s the book called The Freedom Agenda, a very attractive cover. It’s available where books are sold. The future of this country is at stake, and I appreciate strong voices in defense of freedom and liberty. So it’s The Freedom Agenda. Thank you very much for being with us. Thank you. Good ideas. Yes, it is. Terry. Well, still ahead, they’re a pair of natural born grillers. We’re going to go tailgating with Paul Deen’s sons, Jamie and Bobby. That’s on today’s 700 Club. And then later we turn the program to you, our viewers. If you have a question or you have a comment for us, just go to CBN.com. Click on our event page, and we’ll bring it online from our live chat room. So stick around. Some people think that Uncle Sam is getting too old and tired. They want to change America and the values that made this country great. They don't mind that almost half the population doesn't pay a dime in income taxes to Uncle Sam yet still feel entitled to all these wonderful government programs. And they hope you won't notice some big changes coming, that Uncle Sam won't be able to afford a military or that the U.S. dollar won't be the world's currency. But there are some things that they don't want to change, things like increasing regulations, special interest group influence, spending much more than they earn, and greater entitlements. Right now Uncle Sam is losing $3.9 billion a day. It's time to stand up before it's too late, America. We're still the land of the free and the home of the brave. Call Congress and tell them to stop spending your future over a cliff. Tomorrow . . . . . . . . in the 1st century, it was place where Satan dwells. In the 20th, it was Hitler’s podium. From the first burnt sacrifice . . . . Believers will kill for this. . . . . to the final solution . . . . Jewish people in Germany were subjects of the Reich but not citizens. Discover the mystery of the Pergamom Temple. Tomorrow on The 700 Club. Well, welcome back to The 700 Club. In 1996 Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act, or “DOMA” as it’s called. It defines marriage as between one man and one woman. But now some in Congress are trying to get rid of DOMA. Here’s Paul Strand. Those who want to get rid of the Defense of Marriage Act said real people get hurt when federal law labels their same-sex marriages as not legal. For those lucky enough to live in states that do permit them to marry, they still face a federal government that treats their marriages as if they do not exist. But those who want to keep DOMA say Congress needs to listen to what the American people want. Americans have unanimously voted that marriage should be one man and one woman. That should be a resounding statement to Congress that the American people, the experts on marriage, believe that marriage is one man and one woman; and that should be preserved in federal law. Those who want to repeal DOMA say despite what the public feels, they're changing minds in Congress, as could be seen by changed votes among Senate Democrats at this hearing. Seven of the eight members had voted for DOMA before, and they've changed their minds. Conservative groups at the hearing argued many in society are forgetting how important having both a mother and a father is to children. They don't understand the systemic importance of marriage in serving the interests of millions and millions of children who deserve to be raised in the best possible environment. But a lesbian testifying pointed out that when DOMA keeps same-sex couples from getting financial breaks offered in federal law, it hurts the children of those couples. Children are this country's most precious resource. They're our future. And the kids of same sex couples deserve exactly the same protections and benefits and that sense of security that every other child in this country deserves, and they're not getting it with DOMA. Congress may soon be voting on a bill called the Respect for Marriage Act, which would kill DOMA. And defenders of traditional marriage believe the law will lead to legal attacks on states that want nothing to do with gay marriage. If this act is passed, there will be litigation to try to force states to recognize same-sex marriages or other things called “marriage” that are other than the union of one man, one woman. Paul Strand, CBN News, Washington. Israel may seem isolated and surrounded by those who seek it’s destruction, but a group of Christians wants that nation to know she’s not alone. Christians United for Israel held its 6th annual summit in Washington this week, and Erick Stakelbeck was there. From U.N. declarations to Mideast revolutions and Iranian nukes, the threats against Israel appear to grow with each passing year. Christians United for Israel, or CUFI, has kept pace, expanding dramatically since its founding in 2006. (Washington): CUFI is the largest pro-Israel group in America, over 700,000 members. This year's Washington summit, which was emceed by CBN President Michael Little and featured leading policy analysts, drew over 5,000 committed supporters of the Jewish state. At the event, keynote speaker and CUFI member Glenn Beck pledged $10,000 to CUFI On Campus, a student movement dedicated to fighting back against anti-Semitic and anti-Israel propaganda on college campuses. Beck said when it comes to the persecution of the Jewish people, enough is enough. It is time that the world declares clearly, in a unified voice, that Israel not only has a right to exist, but exist as a Jewish state, that the Jewish people have a right to live. They have the right to defend themselves against all threats, foreign and domestic. And for once and for all, the good people of the world must remember that there is a difference between good and evil, and we must choose. CUFI's founder, Pastor John Hagee, had tough words for the Obama Administration over its treatment of Israel. President Obama told the Jewish people in Jerusalem that they could not build homes in east Jerusalem. The truth is Barack Obama has absolutely no authority to tell the Jewish people what they can and cannot do in the State of Israel. The attendees wrapped up the summit on Capitol Hill, lobbying members of Congress to stand with Israel. From the CUFI Summit in Washington, Erick Stakelbeck, CBN News. A heat wave has the U.S. trapped in what feels like a pressure cooker. A high pressure system is compressing hot moist air over much of the country. Meteorologists call it a “heat dome.” Americans just call it “hot.” Temperatures well over 100 degrees in many areas are breaking records. At least 22 people have died from the extreme temperatures. The heat is also putting major stress on the nation's power grid as homes and businesses crank up the air conditioning. And people aren't the only ones feeling the heat. The Humane Society stresses that pets are just as vulnerable to the heat as we are. Candy Lash from the Humane Society says leave your pets at home if you're out running errands; and keep them off the sidewalk, because the hot pavement can hurt their paws. And you should never leave them in the car. If a pet is left in a car with the windows open, even parked in the shade on a moderately hot day, the temperature of that car can heat up internally to more than 100 degrees very quickly. Experts also say to take water for them wherever you go. The water should be cool but not cold. Always be on the lookout for warning signs of heat stress in your pets, heavy panting, staggering, or weakness; and if you notice any of those signs get your pet to a cool spot and contact your vet. Pat, what is Blue doing these days in these hot temperatures? Well, he's staying in the house, but yesterday I took him out. Unfortunately, it got a little too hot, and he started panting and salivating. They cool out through their tongues, so poor old Blue has been knocked out in this heat. Terry. Well, Blue may be inside but I'm outside; and I'm salivating because I'm with the Deen brothers, Jamie and Bobby Deen. And guys, what's on today's menu? We are grilling. Well, speaking of "hot dogs.” We’re fired up with the Deen brothers. We'll be right back after this. Got a question for Pat? Send us yours now on CBN.com. We'll bring it online with your questions from our live chat room, later on today's 700 Club. 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. Well, Jamie and Bobby Deen may be Paula Deen's sons, but don't call them mama’s boys. What Paula has done in the kitchen for home cooking, they have done with their grill and the great outdoors; and they're with us today. Twenty years ago southern food Queen Paula Deen started a home meal delivery business with her sons Jamie and Bobby. Since then Paula has become one of TV’s most popular cooking moms. When the Deen brothers hosted a cooking show of their own on the food network, they quickly attracted a hip and younger audience. More stuff to cook. You’d better hurry. In their cookbook, Get Fired Up, Jamie and Bobby combined their southern cuisine know-how and love for cooking outdoors in recipes that will make your next backyard barbecue a breeze. Well, Jamie and Bobby are with us. Thanks for being here. I'm from the Green Bay area, so I'm a tailgating girl. And you've got some great fare for that, for tailgating, but also just for having fun in the outdoors in the summertime. And if you like to grill, your family’s in for a treat. Your first foray into the food industry, I understand, was sandwich deliveries? Is that right? Our business started very humbly and very much out of necessity, out of our home in Savanna when I was 18 years old. My brother was a couple of years before me. You don’t have to bring that up. And our mom had a really great idea of doing a door-to-door food delivery service to businesses. It was a really sharp idea that was sort of ahead of its time in my estimation. It did really well and that's what led us to here, 21 years or so later. We've got a beautiful destination restaurant in downtown Savanna, in a gorgeous city. Just wonderful, we've been really blessed. Just really blessed. And a lot of people who just really just love your style and love what you do. Now your mom’s got her style of cooking, and you guys have kind of developed your own. What's the difference between the two? Well, mom is more of a traditional southern cook, and Bobby and I do a little bit of that as well. You use a lot of heavy creams, a lot of butter. You fry a lot of things. And my wife, Brooke, and I have our two sons at the house, Jack and Matthew. So I don't cook that way for them. I’ve become kind of more aware that . . . . A little bit lighter? Yes ma'am, a little bit. And my brother is not yet married, and he enjoys working out; so he even eats . . . . Now, was that a plug? No, no, no! He has a beautiful girlfriend . . . . She's right inside. Hello, beautiful girlfriend. . . . . that’s way too good for him! It’s true. She’s a great girl. But our eating the way that we eat is all kind of individual to what we do. Mom does what she does, and Bobby in I eat with her and love it. But just from our culture and our heritage, we enjoy food so much. (To Jamie): And I've seen exactly what you're saying and happened with you. I've seen the way that you eat and what you cook and eat on a daily basis change with your children. And I get it, that you would want to prepare things that are better and healthier for your children instead of it being chicken nuggets or something through the window all the time. You know, one of the great things about the grill is you get all of that taste and all of that flavor. It's not fried, which in fried food there is a lot of flavor a lot of taste. So, what is it that makes grilling so special to people do you think? Everybody seems to like it. I think for me I just enjoyed being out of the box, outside of the kitchen. When you're outside, the foods you prepare, the conversations you have, even the cleanup and just enjoying the meal outside changes all of it. People gathering together. Well, today we're going to make a dish called, “Bad doggies.” So, tell us about that. Well, I'm in charge of all the bad dogs. We have a lighter dog that we’re doing here, but this is super simple. What makes this a bad dog y'all, is I've got a beef hot dog. We’re using real bacon, and I've got a chipotle sauce that's going to add a little bit of heat. Pray for us because this is sinful. And I'm going to use a real cheddar cheese. Now Bobby’s got turkey dogs, turkey bacon, and Boursin cheese with shredded lettuce. This is a great dog. That's the good dog. This is the bad dog. So I'm going to put a little bit of heat in there. This is so easy to do. I'm not going to cut all the way through here. But if you just crack this open, I'm going to spread some of this chipotle sauce. And that makes it so good. I love that smoky flavor. It gives it a good flavor. It's not necessary to, you're not going to be able to . . . . How's that working for you? How’s that slide working for you, brother? Pretty good. I'll tell you what, there's nothing like being in a parking lot on live TV to help you do something good. I’m going to be standing right here watching! But look how quickly I can cover up my mistakes with a piece of real bacon. Now I don't see a sink out here, either, so I really got myself in a spot. And you won't! My hands are in my back pockets! Once you put these on the grill, they’ll split open a little bit better, and if you want to put some more in there. You could put more of that chili inside or the chipotle. You just want to coat it, and then you cover it up with the bacon. And then once you get the grilled, it'll take you about five minutes, so you just roll it when the bacon gets crispy. And the same thing for Bobby here. We're going to roll it with the turkey, and it's just delicious. Its great flavors. It kind of changes out something that people are used to putting mustard and ketchup on. So it's just a small change, and that's what Bobby and I do, is kind of take traditional foods and put a little bit of a different slant to it. And you give some options like this, a little more caloric, a little less caloric, right? Well, the idea for this is you’re picnicking, or you’re tailgating, or you're out having a good time with your family and friends; and that's not really the time you want to think about—you want to have fun and be able to eat. But if you are so concerned, then you can change things. This is just a good way that you could make something a little better. You know, one of the things I see is once you do the prep, the grill kind of does the work, doesn't it? Yes it does. And you can sit and enjoy the friends. Let's go over to the chairs and look at what you've got. I'm going to grab this book while we do that; because it's just so pretty, I want to be sure folks get to hear about it. The only thing about when you're working on the grill, it's not like if you're at the house and you put something in the oven, and you know it's got an hour or so. You've got to stay close. You've got to keep nursing at a little, right? Yes, ma'am. You can't ever tell what the fires going to do. We've got some beef kabobs here with some fresh peppers. And we love prosciutto-wrapped asparagus. This is one of my favorite things that my wife actually does inside the house as well. This is super good. It's got a great flavor. It looks almost a little fancy. If you serve this as a little finger food or company that you have over. You could broil it you're saying, rather than grilling it. That's an awesome idea. If you're in Green Bay, you might want to put it in the oven in January. But down in Savanna we’re still wearing short britches. De-thawed by December. As you can see here in this cookbook, we do everything from the entrées to the deserts. When we were growing up, our mama, we would always have pound cake at the house. Yes. Mama would make a fresh pound cake. And she would take a big hunk of it after we would eat, and she would butter it. Imagine that. And she would put it in a black skillet and make it nice and brown and just get it nice and warm. And we would make homemade ice cream too, and you would just put the homemade ice cream right over the top of that pound cake. Yes, goodness! Such a great dessert. So, we're taking that and we do a grilled pound cake. We like to do vegetables on the grill. You could even grill tomatoes. You could do zucchini and squash, all that stuff works. Grilled green tomatoes instead of fried green tomatoes. Yes ma'am, that's right, that's right. And it's really good this way. You mentioned it earlier, people gathered around food and the grill, and it's just . . . . Yes. Well, it is, I’ve had friends that have come from other parts of the world, and in America we really do celebrate food in a different kind of a way than they do in some other countries. But no matter where you’re from, gathering around food and enjoying family is sort of the name of the game. And we see that in your family, in you guys and in your mom and in the things that you do, and it makes it fun for the rest of us. Inspires us to do the same thing. We share our love through food and our family’s heritage and where we’re from. My son will know my grandmothers and my great grandmothers through food and recipes. Their recipes and things, yes. Absolutely, that is awesome. You can see we’ve got wonderful things here. I hope it inspires you to go out and use the back of your truck or car and tailgate this summer. Or just sit out at the grill with your friends and have a good time. If you’d like more great recipes, this is an awesome book. I was actually going to give mine away; but it’s so good, I’m keeping it. So check out Jamie’s and Bobby’s book. It is called The Deen Brothers get Fired Up, and it’s available in stores nationwide. For more with the Deen boys, you can head to our website, because we’ve got a behind-the-scenes exclusive. All you have to do for that is log on to CBN.com and then click the “In the Green Room” link, and you’ll be able to enjoy that. Guy’s, thank you so much. It smells fabulous, and it’s been great just sitting around the fire with you. What a pleasure. Thank you all very much. Pat. My goodness, that looks good. Terry, one thing I’ll tell the Deen boys, they didn’t mention it, is the Green Egg. I don’t know if any of you have cooked with a Green Egg. We have a Green Egg, and it’s a smoker, and a cooker, and it’s just incredible. You put meat on it, and it smokes. You put hickory chips in the fire and oh my, it’s so good. The great Green Egg, my contribution to the Tailgate party. I don’t think you can carry your Green Egg with you on a tailgate; it’s too big. But it’s fun to have at home. Well, coming up, time for your questions from our live chat room. Some of the things are a little way out but Mary says, “I heard the new health care bill requires everyone to be implanted with a RFID chip.” Well, we’ll dispatch that question very quickly when we bring it on. Don’t go away. Still ahead . . . . Little by little I began to notice him just perk up when talking about her. A lot of texting and a lot of calling. . . . . they call him “The Ambassador.” I’m in trouble. I don’t know what to do. And before long, this rapper-turned-pastor would need diplomatic immunity - from his wife. You could tell the foundation was cracking. 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The debate over teaching evolution in schools is heading to the Texas State Board of Education. Today, the Republican dominated board is meeting to discuss supplemental science materials for future school years. This is the second time the evolution debate has drawn attention to Texas. Back in 2009 the State Board actually encouraged schools to scrutinize all sides of scientific theory. Ohio is the latest state to crack down on abortions. Governor John Kasich has signed a bill limiting a woman's access to the procedure if the fetus could survive outside of the womb. The bill requires women who are 20 weeks pregnant to have a doctor test their baby’s viability. Now if the test yields a positive result, performing an abortion would then be illegal. The bill has no exceptions for the health or the life of the mother. Pro-choice groups are calling the new bill dangerous for women. Well you can always get the latest from CBN news by going to our website at CBNNews.com. Pat and Terry will be back with more of The 700 Club right after this. Look, like I to read and all but who has the time? It was killing me that I didn’t have time to read the new book everyone was talking about. So, about a year ago, a friend told me about audible.com. At first I was like, “Are you kidding me?” My grandmother listens to books. I just couldn’t see myself doing it. Then I found out I could download books to my iPod and listen at the gym. I tried listening to business books on my morning commute. I loved that Elizabeth Gilbert reads, “Eat, Pray, Love. It was great to finally be ahead of the curve. Now I go through 3 books a month just at the gym or while I’m doing errands. Now I’m the one recommending audible.com. With audible.com you can enjoy the books you want in the time you have available. Choose from over 85,000 titles, many read by the authors themselves. Now you can try audible.com free. 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If you’re going to buy gold, buy it from a company you can trust. I did. And I’ve been a satisfied Swiss America customer for over 15 years. They are as good as gold. Call or log on right now. Tomorrow . . . . . . . . in the first century, it was the place where Satan dwells. In the 20th it was Hitler's podium. From the first burnt sacrifice . . . . Believers were killed for this. . . . . to the final solution. Jewish people in Germany were subjects of the Reich but not citizens. Discover the mystery of the Pergamon Temple. Tomorrow on The 700 Club. Well, we love to hear from you. Many of you have sent questions in that you would like answered on the program. So, Pat, this one is from Mary who says, “Last week, I heard that the new Healthcare Bill requires everyone to be implanted with an RFID chip. Have you heard about this? Is there any truth to it?” None whatsoever. I wonder where all this stuff gets going. It's so absurd. And that one is absurd. It's kind of like the mark of the beast and so forth. Well, it ain't happened yet, not that it couldn't; that bunch in Washington could do anything stupid, so I wouldn't put it past them, but nevertheless . . . . Not today. . . . . not today. Not today. All right. Okay. Here's Laura who says, “Recently you said you wanted to abolish the Department of Education. As a public school teacher, this comment bothered me. Our students are lagging behind every other developed nation in math and science and reading comprehension. How would cutting funding to our schools help narrow that gap?” Education should be at the state level. By all means, we should have rigorous education, science and so forth. But that monster has grown to about $80, $90 billion dollars. It started at 10. It was set up as a payoff to the National Teachers Union by Jimmy Carter. That's the truth of it. It has grown and metastasized. A good portion of the money goes to pay salaries of administrators, not to put teachers, not to get curriculum. What good has it done with spending all of that money? We spend as much money as any other nation on the earth, and yet we’re falling farther and farther behind. And still dropped behind, yeah. Why? We don't teach phonics. We're not teaching kids how to read. We’re not teaching the basics of math. We've got this new math. We've got all these experiments and all these social scientists decide that our schools are laboratories for their nutty ideas. It's ruining us. We need to get back to the basics and teach kids the fundamentals of reading, writing, arithmetic, and science. We're not doing it. So yes, we're far behind, but not because we're spending $90 billion dollars a year on the Department of Education. It's 80 or 90; I don't remember the exact numbers. It’s in that range. All right what? Okay, here's a question from one of our viewers. “Pat, what's your opinion on the Casey Anthony verdict? Do you think it indicates that we need to make changes to our judicial system?” I don't think so. What's my opinion? I wasn't in court. I didn't hear all the evidence. In order to convict somebody of a crime, you have to establish it beyond a reasonable doubt. It isn't just public opinion is against her, or she's gone out to go-go partying a few months after the baby was missing. What it means is that in the court they have to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the accused is truly guilty of the crime. And if not, they go free. So I wouldn't change a thing. I think American justice was served in that. Just like the O.J. Simpson verdict. I disagreed with that totally, but nevertheless he's out playing golf, and he didn't go to jail at least for that. I think they got him for something else later on. Later on. Well this might be a first for me anyway. Here's a question from someone close to you Pat. “Pat, can you do me a favor? Can you wish a happy birthday to Duke who’s one of my Facebook friends?” Signed, Blue. Blue says hi! Happy birthday to Duke. I don't know whether he typed that in or wrote it in, but nonetheless. We've got to have Blue. We've going to have a vet who does a book and what's he on, ABC? Wherever he is, he's going to come on and tell us how to have happy dogs, and I'm going to have a happy dog and Blue’s going to be here to show all the wonderful things he does. Blue’s a good dog. We'll look forward to that, he is a good dog. Marilyn says, “I am struggling financially and emotionally. As a Christian, I want to tell my family, but I don't want them to think that I'm not trusting God to meet my needs. Please advise.” There's nothing wrong with being honest about the way you feel with the fact that you're struggling, you have emotional problems. God is compassionate, but we need one another. You know, the Bible says “not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together.” And I think we're not supposed to suffer in silence or to be alone, but that is what the church is all about is to bring us together, so we can share. Most churches, you don't do that. But these smaller study groups, prayer groups, you can share. I think you need help. You need friends. There's nothing wrong with that. This is Monica who says, “I went to a church recently, and I was appalled to see that many of the women in the congregation were wearing jeans. Isn't it wrong for women to wear jeans in church?” It's wrong to wear jeans at the Homestead dining room. And the correlation to church there, I want to hear this. I belonged for a short time to a little local golf club, and they have a rather modest restaurant. One of my associates, his wife came by to pick him up, because he was going to go eat at a country-western dining place. I got a letter from the member committee or one of the people saying that I had a guest wearing jeans. So I wrote and said I was shocked at the “offending garment” and that place [laughing]. But that she was on the way to get a steak at the Lone Star steakhouse, and so she was dressed appropriately. Nonsense! It's what's in a person's heart that's important not whether they wear jeans or not. All right. This is Desiree who asks, “Is there such a thing as a generational curse?” I think so. I think that through the generations somebody could be attached to witchcraft and involved in the occult and that would pass down. Yeah. And we have to break those curses. You can spend an awful lot of time looking for sin in your great-great-grandfather, and I think it's foolish. But you can break those curses. Okay. That's all the time we have for today, but we thank you for your questions. We love to hear from you, so if you've got any questions to submit, just go to CBN.com and let us know what you'd like to hear Pat speak about. Okay. Well the city of Memphis, Tennessee, has one of the highest crime rates in the country. Gangs there roam the streets. Marquino knew from experience. He used to be one of the gangs. Marquino Douglas was born in the Frasyer community of Memphis, Tennessee, an area notorious for gangs and crime. My mom worked about two or three jobs. I'm the third of eight children so she was never around. I used to always tell myself that I'm not going to be like my uncles, because they were all in gangs. Their friends were in gangs. Despite his decision, by the seventh grade Marquino was a foot soldier for his uncle's gang. Not having my mom around, with not having my father around, it left me with them to lead me. Then Marquino heard about an after school program called Youth Visions, a ministry supported by CBN. The program was started by Marin Thomas, a former drug dealer in Frasyer. After he gave his life to Christ, he began to reach out to students like Marquino. We teach our kids to be successful in spite of their situation, in spite of their background. And our vision for the community is for our kids to be empowered with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Today Marquino is a freshman in college, the first ever in his family to attend university. They saw something in me. They saw leadership potential in me, so they snatched me up. They began to invest in me. They began to spend time with me. They began to go more in depth in the Word with me. So they must love me. A grant from CBN helped Youth Visions keep vital programs up and running. Without the grant from CBN, it’ll cut some of the job opportunities out. It’ll cut the college tours out. It would cut different things out from Youth Vision that has helped the community tremendously. Without the money then you won't have another successful student like me. Youth Vision Students: Thank you, CBN! Do we care? Yes. Do we care in your name? Yes. Can we help people? Yes. Marquino, that's just one example of somebody who needs help. A little bit goes a long way. And in your name, we were giving to them to help them. So you say, “How can I participate? It's real easy. You can join the 700 Club. It's real easy, .65 cents a day, half of the price of a can of soda pop if you bought it at a vending machine. That's all it is, and you can change your world. So, what I want you to do is call in right now and say, “I want to help people who are less fortunate. I want to help those that try to do something in the inner cities of America.” I want to send you something. It's been very popular. The stories we had of people who died and either went to Heaven or Hell. Life Beyond the Grave. You wonder what's happening? Well, these guys came back to tell you, and it's fascinating. And will give you the DVD if you join the 700 Club. So, please call and say, “You can count on me.” 1-800-759-0700, it's a toll-free number. Terry. Well coming up later, the confession that rocked the Christian hip-hop world. It would be these one, two-hour rendezvous several times a week at its height. Little by little I began to notice just him perk up when talking about her. You could tell the foundation was cracking. The Ambassador, Duce Branch, joins us live to tell all about his affairs, so don't go away. When you look in the mirror, can you imagine erasing years of aging? That's what I used to look like. Lifestyle Lift takes only about an hour. See the difference immediately. I'm Linda. I'm 70 years old. Can you believe it? Call now for a free information kit. It's quick, affordable and takes only about an hour. Lifestyle Lift, a breakthrough medical procedure that helps remove wrinkles, frown lines and sagging skin. Call now for a free information kit. Consultations are free. Call Lifestyle Lift today. Store sales Now is a good time to get a new HD TV but, did you know you need more than a cool TV to see true HD? Thirty percent of the people watching a high def television are not watching high def programming. Why would they do that? Store sales Because you need a HD provider. Dish Network is the leader in hi def. I'm going to step up and check out Dish Network. Now get the biggest deal in entertainment for just $24.99 a month for a full year, plus get your HD channels absolutely free for life. Store sales Guess how much Dish Network charges you for HD? $50 bucks? Store sales $50 bucks! No, it’s free! Free for life. Free is better. Store sales Free HD for life. How cool is that? That is very cool. I like free. I can afford free. Free for life? Store sales Free for life. Bring it. Call today and you'll also get HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, and Stars, free for three months. That's over 30 premium movie channels free. With Dish Network, HD is free for life. Store sales Free! Free! Store sales Bam! Coo! I think I gotta get some Dish Network. Awesome. How do I sign up? Gotta go Dish. I want Dish Network. Store sales Let’s watch TV. With Dish Network, HD is free for life. Call and switch to Dish Network today. This week on 700 Club Interactive. In May of 2009 Cross Movement Records dropped hip-hop artist, “The Ambassador” from its label. The news came as a shock to his fans but not to his family who knew that he had been carrying on a relationship with another woman. it would be these one, two-hour rendezvous, several times a week at its height. I'm the pastor's wife. Little by little I began to notice just him perk up when talking about her. She held a position in the church as well. You could tell the foundation was cracking. “I'm in trouble. I don't know what to do.” And I really felt in my mind that there was no one I could tell. For Duce and Missy Branch, life wasn't always on the rocks. They were happily married in 1996, but life began to accelerate at an incredible pace. I was doing a lot of ministry. I had an album out with a group that I was with, and things were really picking up. He’s not the kind of person to sit and do nothing. I whisked her off, asking her, “Be honest with me. Do you feel called to this like I feel called to this? You do? You were meant for me, because anybody who would agree to this has to be crazy.” Known by his fans as “The Ambassador,” Duce continued building his hip-hop music career. After two years the family moved, so he could go to Bible college. Next came two years of seminary and another move back home to Philadelphia. It was a lot of transition, but how do we work this? And how do we do this now as a married couple. And now we do have issues financially. And now oh my gosh, I'm pregnant. The nonstop pace began to wear Missy down. But she didn't know how to tell her husband. Because of fear. Honestly it would take forever to build up the courage to say whatever. Rather than communicate, just avoid conflict at all costs. What that did not do is help him understand a lot of things about me. With a theological degree and four kids, Duce became pastor of a new church. Missy wasn't enthusiastic about her new role as a pastor's wife. She's tired, ready to like, “Listen, I need to chill.” “Tell you what, you chill; I’ll keep going.” That’s when the couple began to withdraw from one another. At the same time, Duce’s music career and popularity was also slipping away. What ended up happening was I began to wrestle with depression, burnout. The lack of communication made me just try to communicate with somebody that wasn't as much work as it would have been to communicate with my wife. Almost to the point we were living separate lives in the same house. Duce focused his efforts on the church, reaching out to anyone who could help him succeed. He started talking to another woman who was eager to help. Little by little I began to notice just him perk up when talking about her or her giving me information about conversations they had, but me not even knowing he had been around. You know, and me not really being able to reach him often when I would call, and I'm like, “Why you not answering your phone?” We would communicate because we were just in the same circle, a lot of texting and a lot of calling. Missy looked through Duce’s cell phone for answers. She found some alarming text messages from the woman in the deleted folder. As hurt as I was by the situation, I still was compelled to protect him and to protect us; and I knew that it was also protecting a body of people who look up to us and him. Duce excused their communication as church business. At the same time, he and the other woman began meeting. I didn't have anybody I could tell. So it was just me on this island alone feeling like, I'm in trouble. I don't know what to do. I know what I've done is heinous. I want to stop. I knew something was going on, but I'm not able to function. It got to the point where I stopped going to church. Without solid answers from her husband, Missy finally confronted the other woman, who confessed to everything. She was so angry by now, she could be honest. So, now she's brutally honest. Honestly I felt like, “I'm leaving. I'm done.” I was just so crushed. “I am so angry that we can just part company.” For more on this story, we bring on the Ambassador’s wife, Michelle Branch. MICHELLE BRANCH Michelle, it's wonderful to have you on The 700 Club. It’s a pleasure being here. This is the shock for anybody who's in a marriage, husband or wife, when they feel betrayed by the person that they love. What was going through your mind at the time you discovered this? It was difficult. I never lived in fear of this. This is not something, my husband travels the world, and I didn't live in fear of it. So it was difficult for me to embrace that this is what was going on, especially since we were in a season of, were supposed to be calming down. We're planting a church. We’re supposed to be more stable now. We've done the crazy everything life. This is the stable part, and so it was difficult. So it really caught you off guard. He said you were angry with him. How angry were you? I was enraged. I was hurt. You know, we have children, what we were building together, what we were building as a church community, as a family, what the Lord had been doing, it was hurtful without all of that. Any wife who loves her husband, who's dedicated lots of years to being one, would be hurt. Did you ever consider divorce? To be honest I did. I think a lot of women would have. We had had very difficult times for a while. We did a whirlwind, and by the time I got to this point I really did consider divorce, and I told him that. And that's probably a good thing. Well for the rest of the story, we want to bring on the Ambassador himself, Duce Branch. Duce, come on in here. Nice to meet you. Great to have you with us. Thank you for having me. Thank you for joining us today. All right. This is quite a story. You never actually had a physical relationship with the other woman as I understand it. How far did the relationship go? How would you define what it was? Right, right. Well, there were physical exchanges. I always talk about where it didn't go even though there were some physical exchanges. The enslavement was so emotional, so, we want to be together. Again, really we only had two rendezvous spots. A store, or a car, just sitting and talking for hours. It got to the point where we, again, we were clearly enslaved to wanting to be with each other, always trying not to cross a new line. Hold on, this thing is going too far. And it got to the point we were saying, “Listen, if we stay in this, we're going to go all the way over the edge.” We were already violated God's command. We've already violated our marital covenant by doing the kind of things that we were doing. So let's like, let's try to get out of it. And it got to the point where we were just looking for a way out, but before you know it, we're in. We're in locked. So now Michelle finds these text messages. What was your reaction initially, and when did you begin to tell the truth about the whole thing? Well, initially, I knew it was a wrap. One, it was in the deleted folder, but it was explainable. Because we were friends, you know what I'm saying? So it could be just general concern even though . . . . “You're misconstruing this.” Right. I was spinning it. I could tell that the handwriting was on the wall, and this was the Lord's doing because of the way it kept happening. Little things kept starting to unravel. I didn't really tell the true truth till it was over, because there was a time where somebody found some things. And then she began to just rattle the story out. And at that time I knew that this time there was no getting out of it. So I was like, it's over. You might as well now just come with it. Michelle, did you find any comfort in the fact that they had never had sex with each other? I did find comfort in that fact. I did find comfort in that. It's a back-and-forth game. Part of you feels like, well if you're willing to be with somebody that desperately and not sleep with them, do you love them more than you love me? But then, you also are just grateful that there is something that has been covenanted between us that was spared. You know, a lot of couples don't make it through something like this. You could have left, Michelle, why did you stay? Godly people and godly counsel. Someone said to me, “Michelle, if you leave, people will support you and people will understand. But I want you to know that the devil would have won.” And that struck me. That struck me, and we had children; and despite it all, as angry as I was, I love this man, and we have been together for a very long time. Duce, what are some of the things that you did to rebuild your marriage? Because that's a hard thing to do. When trust is broken you kind of say, where do we go from here? I mean, did you start over from the beginning? What did you do? Well, the Lord Jesus is the hero, because He made it so that I had nothing but time and availability to rebuild. Did you step out of your position as pastor? Yeah, yeah. I was asked to resign. I understood that that was fitting from the pastoral position, and I even knew that I would have to step down from the limelight, the stage of the rap portion. But then I said, “Let me get a job and let me just spend some time being quote-unquote, “regular.” But because of this economy and I think the wisdom of God, I was unemployed for a year. So I'm just basically in the house, and I'm too ashamed to go out and just prance around the city. Some of my relationships, again, did not have the open door there, so I was literally just in the house with my wife and in the house with my laptop trying to fill out resumes and my kids, and we were just together. We ate together. We talked together. The stove broke so we were grilling every day. Wish we would have known about those hot dogs! I think we’ve got a cookbook for you. I would love it. It was just basically being together, talking, fussing, being brutally honest. Being real. Absolutely. And then under a lot of pastoral counseling. Can I ask you really quickly, do you trust your husband today? I do trust my husband today. When you get hurt, there's always scars; but the Savior has forgiven us, and he has not done more to me than I've done to the Savior. These are the things that we find where the rubber meets the road, discover Jesus is enough. Absolutely. Right. And then He is to restorer and the healer. You know, many of you as you're listening to this, I'm sure, have struggles in your own life. And you're saying, what do we do? Where do we go? How do we patch this up? You know, God's Word is full of restoration and forgiveness, and He calls us to that place. We've got a great brochure here. It's called, “Love and Marriage.” It talks about what you can do in your personal relationship. What God's Word has to say about it. And you know it of course our counseling lines are always open to you for prayer. We've got people who would love to pray with you. Some have gone through the same things that you're struggling with right now. Well, the postscript to the Branch’s story, The Ambassador was picked up by another label. He's just released a new album. So back in the hip-hop again but with a different set of values, I think. This is available by the way, wherever music is sold. But also staying close to Jesus. That's the way we all need to live. Absolutely. Thank you for being so candid in sharing your story today. God bless you both. Thank you for having us. Great to have you together here. Pat. Interesting, interesting. Well, that's all the time we've got for today’s show. Tomorrow, this is incredible. The city known as the great “Seat of Satan.” And hear how it inspired Adolf Hitler. We leave you with these words from Ephesians 2:8 . . . . “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Thanks for being with us. See you tomorrow, bye-bye. Tomorrow . . . . . . . . in the first century, it was the place where Satan dwells. In the 20th it was Hitler's podium. From the first burnt sacrifice . . . . Believers were killed for this. . . . . to the final solution. Jewish people in Germany were subjects of the Reich but not citizens. Discover the mystery of the Pergamon Temple. Tomorrow on The 700 Club. Here at CBN, we see amazing things happen when we stand together. 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