The 700 Club - July 27, 2011

Have you ever had a bad week? Very empty on the inside. Meet Henry Youngblood. I just wanted the pain over with. He lost his best friend, his wife, his job . . . . Everything you worked for is gone. . . . . and almost his life. So I took a loaded .38, pulled the hammer back, and stuck it to my head. Well, welcome to The 700 Club. I hate to say I told you so, but at the beginning of this year I told that I felt the Lord was saying to me that our leaders weren’t going to be able to get together on what they needed in terms of stopping our spending and that the status of the United States as the world’s primary reserve currency is going to be lost during this year or so. And we’re going to see some serious difficulties. Well, those difficulties have just magnified in these current budget negotiations. It is just amazing when we’re broke, the Democrats won’t really give on spending. And when the president insists on, quote, “tax fairness,” when 50 percent of the people don’t pay any taxes at all, it’s kind of crazy. But they’ve got a week to go before the deadline. I think that deadline is arbitrary, and it doesn’t look like those guys are going to get a deal done from what I can see. Well, you know what, Pat, one of the reasons why we’re in whatever is President Obama is insisting on tax increases, but the White House and Senate aren’t going along. In fact, Charlene Israel has the story. Both House Leader John Boehner and Senate Leader Harry Reid may be making progress toward a compromise. But one key problem remains: President Obama’s insistence that any deal on the debt ceiling includes an increase in taxes. Boehner’s plan and Reid’s plan have no new taxes. Instead, both focus on spending cuts. That leaves some people saying the president is alone in his call for new taxes. Financial analysts say the government will have enough money on hand to keep going well past the deadline next Tuesday. But outside the beltway, the American people are tired of the wrangling. Furious. Frustrated. I just want it done and over with. Tuesday, they inundated the Capitol Hill switchboard with phone calls demanding a solution. I’ll be happy to pass it along to the senator, all right? We should not be raising the debt ceiling. Do you believe that the president should also compromise? But with time running out, no solution is in sight. I would ask all of my colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans, to look at this common sense plan, this common sense way forward, that will avoid default and put America's fiscal house back in order. Democrats will not vote for it. Democrats will not vote for it. Democrats will not vote for it. It's dead on arrival in the Senate. House Speaker John Boehner is reworking his plan, postponing a vote till Thursday, that after the Congressional Budget Office reported it doesn't cut as much from the exploding federal deficit as first thought. The president has already said he doesn’t like Boehner's plan, because it only raises the debt ceiling until next year.  This is no way to run the greatest country on earth. Obama prefers Harry Reid's Senate bill, that raises the debt ceiling through 2013. But others say it's not so much about the debt ceiling as it is about ending the trillions in deficit spending that could one day bankrupt America. We know you want to get this done before the next election. But it's not about the next election. It's about the next generation. It's sad that we've reached the point that the crisis isn't that we're borrowing 40 cents out of every dollar. The crisis we're told is that we aren't going to give ourselves permission to continue doing so. That to me is a little absurd. Charlene Israel, CBN News. Well, it’s a question how the rest of the nation is faring on this thing. But it has great consequences. But I said before, I said early at the beginning of this year we had two years. Now we’ve got about 18 months or less to get everything together. And we’re not doing it. And even if any of these bills are passed that they talk about, it will not solve our problems. If you cut the debt spending, the deficit, by a trillion dollars over 10 years, you’re still running up 0.6 trillion in deficits. So you’ve got another six trillion over the time and the debt regardless keeps going up. We’ve got to have a major, major overhaul, and nobody is talking about a major overhaul, except possibly Paul Ryan. It’s got to be done. We have to have major, major cuts in defense, major cuts in entitlements, major cuts in wasteful spending by the government. And it’s Republican and Democrat, because George Bush was a big spender. He was a big government spender, and he started this process, and Obama has kicked it into overdrive. So what’s going to happen? Well, unless, unless, unless there is a miracle of God in the next two years, America is going to wind up losing its primary status, and the nations of the world will be saying, “Let’s find some other currency. Let’s go to gold.” And, by the way, gold, I’m understanding, went to about 1,626 dollars an ounce. Silver is up to about 41 dollars an ounce. People are saying, “Let’s get out of dollars, and let’s get into hard assets.” So that’s the way it is. We’ve been telling you. It’s sad, but will they make a deal? They’ve got to make a deal sooner or later. It’s just a question of who blinks first. Lee Webb has the rest of our top stories from the CBN Newsroom. Lee. Pat, the Obama Administration is being pushed now to make a decision on a proposed seven-billion-dollar pipeline project. The House voted for a November 1st deadline on that decision. A Canadian company wants to build the 1,900-mile pipeline. It would stretch from Canada to Texas, carrying crude oil extracted from tar sands. The November deadline now heads to the Democrat-controlled Senate, where it’s unlikely to pass. Many analysts say natural gas is one of the brightest hopes for America's energy future. But some industry insiders believe natural gas may not be as cheap and profitable as some claim. Mark Martin examines the controversy. The New York Times reports that hundreds of industry emails, internal documents, and data analysis from thousands of wells show drilling for natural gas in shale rock may not be as successful as drilling companies claim. The newspaper says documentation shows that natural gas may be more difficult and expensive to extract and the wells less productive than what industry leaders are reporting. Our drillers can control this within inches. Matt Pitzarella disagrees. He works for Range Resources, a company drilling in the Marcellus Shale Formation in Pennsylvania. He says Range, like other energy firms, is increasing its natural gas production target because of an abundant supply. The company plans to triple production to 600 million cubic feet per day by the end of 2012. Trillions of cubic feet of natural gas are believed to be trapped in the Marcellus shale, and recent advances in drilling technology are freeing the gas from its rock prison. Drilling companies say they're getting better at removing it all the time and getting more natural gas from each well than originally anticipated. We're entering a golden age of natural gas right now. We were on a one-way ticket to becoming just as dependent on liquefied natural gas from Russia as we are on imported oil from the Middle East and other parts of the world. We now have a 200-year supply of natural gas and growing in the United States of America. Pennsylvania is a growing contributor to that supply, with the number of wells jumping from just four in 2005 to nearly 1,500 last year. Chesapeake Energy Corporation is another example of a company reporting better-than-expected results in the Marcellus. Chesapeake now predicts that each well will yield more than seven billion cubic feet of natural gas over its lifespan, more than double the original estimate. However, potential productivity isn't the only issue raising the eyebrows of skeptics. (Harrisburg, PA): The Marcellus Shale drilling boom is not below the surface when it comes to controversy. In fact, its regulation is the subject of debate by lawmakers here at the state capitol in Harrisburg. The natural gas industry is also on the radar of environmental groups, who are concerned about the impact of the drilling on the water, air, and landscape. Yet, in spite of the doubters, there is common ground. Both environmental groups and industry leaders are quick to share how natural gas burns more cleanly than coal and oil, producing less emissions. Mark Martin, CBN News, Pennsylvania. Pat, I know you’re in favor of this sort of exploration. Well, Lee, there is no question about it. Natural gas is the answer. It is much cleaner than coal. It is certainly a lot cheaper than oil. You can’t use oil to burn boilers with. It’s just too expensive. So you have to have something to provide your electric power. We’ve been using coal, and coal does pollute the environment. But natural gas doesn’t. It’s clean burning fuel that we have hundreds of trillions of cubic feet locked in shale all over this nation. We’re the Saudi Arabia of natural gas. The prices have been low. They’re running about 450/1000. And it needs to be up seven or eight dollars to be as profitable as it should be. But nevertheless, it does cost a lot of money to drill one of those things. The drillers have to go down say 6,000 feet, and then they sidetrack, and they go horizontal into the formation. And then when they get through, they have to put some pipe in there, and then they punch holes in the pipe, and then they do what’s called a frack. And they might take a million and a half gallons of water, plus 50,000 pounds of sand into it to prop this formation over, so that the gas can come out. When it comes out, it comes out in big quantities. And Pennsylvania is just wallowing right now in wealth because of it. New jobs. People are getting money from leasing their land. The state is getting several billion dollars a year in new taxes. It’s quite the boom to Pennsylvania. And they are just delighted at what’s happening. But this will obviously undercut windmills and solar panels and some of the pet projects of the greens. But it will do it and do it efficiently. So that, and, of course, there’s a pipeline that Canadians want to sell us some of their oil that comes out of those beds up there in Athabasca, tar sands in Canada. And the Senate is thinking it will block it. The Democrats, they want to block everything that makes this country energy independent. It is just unbelievable. Do they love this country, or are they just playing games? The environmentalists are fanatics, many of them. Many of them, fanatics. And although we all are concerned about the environment, we all think the water supply is important. We all think the green woods and the air is important. But on the other hand, you don’t destroy your economy in order to save a few owls. Lee. Pat, tucked away inside President Obama’s health care law are new regulations requiring most restaurants to post calorie counts on their menus. Many restaurants already post the information, but are those calorie counts really that accurate? Here is Heather Sells. The FDA estimates one-third of all calories are consumed while eating out, and the majority of Americans are battling to lose weight. But does knowing how many calories are in that juicy Big Mac really matter? It wouldn’t phase me one bit. I’m still going to go out to dinner and treat myself. If something says a lot of calories, I usually tend not to get it. Experts say knowing calorie counts will help slim down waistlines. Susan B. Roberts, PHD (Tufts University): We know that consumers make healthier choices when there are posted calories on the menu. But are the numbers on the menu accurate? Dr. Susan Roberts put the posted calorie counts of several popular restaurants to the test. The food was ordered and sent to a lab. Researchers chopped it up; freeze dried it, and turned the meals into powder. This helps get an accurate calorie count. So how do the restaurant numbers stack up against the lab tests? Typically the foods that were stated as low calorie on the menu contained more calories than they should, which is really bad for dieters. The high calorie foods on the menus actually contained fewer calories than they should. One meal actually came in 1,000 calories higher than the posted menu amount. The test shows soups and salads with large calorie variations. Sit down restaurants were the worst offenders. The fast food restaurants are doing pretty well in terms of quality control. It’s really the sit down restaurants that need to examine their quality control and step up to the plate better. The most accurate calorie counters, pizza restaurants. In the end, keeping these numbers correct is key to helping consumers make smart choices and keep downsizing America’s waistline. We’re expecting consumers to go and look after their own weight, and this is really tying their hands. Heather Sells, CBN News. Pat, do you pay attention to those calorie counts on the menus? No. You don’t? But I pay attention to what I know about them. I just don’t eat a lot of that stuff. But we had a guest on the show some years ago who wrote a book called Skinny Chicks Don’t Eat Salads. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You remember? Because the salads had so many calories. All the dressing and stuff you put them add to it, but you feel so virtuous, because you’re eating a salad, and it’s 1,500 calories. Anyhow, those greasy fried foods that they serve are loaded in calories. Do you count calories? I do. Well, I don’t really count calories, but I’m at the point now where I can kind of assess better choices, good versus bad. But at the same time, if you’re going to go to a restaurant—and this is how I am: if I go to a really nice restaurant, I’m going to eat. And I want my chocolate cake with a little bit of ice cream and have that . . . . You’re supposed to be an example to tell people how to get thin. I’m an example, but I believe I’m an example of balance. I believe that from Monday through Friday you eat your salad and your soup, and you work out. But come on, brother, on Sunday, let somebody take me to a restaurant. You want to pig out on chocolate cake? I don’t call it pigging it out. I call it enjoying nature’s chocolate in cake form, with a little dollop of ice cream right next to it, and a little caramel wouldn’t hurt, Pat. How much do you work out to burn off all that crud you eat? I work out enough to fit into this outfit. I know. All right. Well, the average person listening to this show doesn’t work out as much as you do. They don’t run marathons and stuff. All right. You work out an hour a day, don’t you? No. Believe it or not, half an hour. Half an hour. But I interchange between strength training and cardio. Well, that’s why you’re so fit. Well, praise God for it. All right. But you’re still advising people wrong. I’m still going to say eat your chocolate cake. You’re never going to let me break on that one. Chocolate is good, dark chocolate. You get the bars in the health food. They’ve got about 72 percent chocolate, and boy, they are good. They open your blood vessels. They lower your blood pressure. See, it’s beneficial, Pat. Dark chocolate, not the stuff you put in that chocolate cake. Okay. It could be a dark chocolate cake. It could, but it’s not. All right. All right. And, Lee, we’ll never solve this. There’s no way of reforming her. She’s just the way she is. But she’s thin, because she runs and works out. This morning I was riding a horse. I was riding a big horse. Yes, but here’s the deal. The horse did all the work. No, he doesn’t. The way I ride, I work. My horse; I work. Okay, I believe you. It takes a lot of work to do dressage. I believe you. Big dressage. We’re going to get some more pictures. Hey, by the way, tomorrow . . . . Okay. . . . . tomorrow America’s dog is coming on this show. Ginger? Not Ginger. Ginger? My dog, Ginger? Blue. Blue. Twenty-two hundred fans on Facebook, and tomorrow Blue will be here with a vet telling us how to make our dogs healthy and happy. Ginger is coming, too. She is. My cute little puppy. Now, what was that face, Pat? Are you scared that Ginger is going to take your thunder from Blue? I’m afraid Blue will eat Ginger. Okay, Lee, back to you. Well, speaking of health, Pat, we want to get your blood pressure up this morning. An atheist group wants the World Trade Center cross removed from the 9/11 memorial and museum in New York. The group American Atheists has taken its case to court, according to the publication known as the Christian Post. The group’s spokesman says the cross should not be the only symbol at the site. He wants other religious and philosophical displays, including their own, allowed at the site. Many New Yorkers, though, consider the cross a beacon of hope since 9/11. As you can see here, its intersecting steel beams that survived the collapse in the form of that cross. It was placed inside the memorial museum during a ceremony over the weekend, Pat. You see jet planes, and they go through the air, and you get those contrails that come out of them. I imagine if a couple of them crossed in the air, the atheists are going to say they want to ban them, and ask the FAA to ban the contrails from jet airplanes. Oh, anyhow. Lee. Pat, don’t give them any ideas. The new nation of South Sudan is getting a little help from one of its friends: CBN’s Operation Blessing. Right now, we’ve got tents, blankets, anti-parasite pills. That’s Operation Blessing President Bill Horan loading a plane for a flight to the capital city of Juba. Teams are distributing relief supplies to refugees from the Juba Mountains. These are the families of the fighters who were defending their homes from attacks by the north. At the request of the South Sudanese government, Operation Blessing is providing medicine, vitamins, food, and blankets to those refugees. We spoke to Bill Horan on the ground in Juba. They are so happy that Americans are demonstrating their Christian compassion by actually showing up and helping them. They are energized by this. The people of South Sudan are really courageous, strong people. There is a high percentage of Christians here, living here, and they have been just oppressed and slaughtered by these folks from the North, which is a situation that the world should know more about. But the gratitude of the Sudanese people is absolutely overwhelming. That’s great. Operation Blessing is also bringing enough medical supplies to operate two field clinics, each capable of serving 10,000 people for 90 days. It is also providing a chlorine generator that can disinfect 360,000 gallons of water each day. Operation Blessing has been at work in Christian South Sudan for years. Government leaders invited ministry representatives to the country's Declaration of Independence earlier this month. Pat. Lee, that’s a great move forward. You heard what the north, the Muslims, did to those people that lived in Darfur. They slaughtered them. There were over two million people that got killed by those Janjaweed. They were Muslim warriors who came into these unarmed villages and just slaughtered people. It was horrible. So after all this confusion, the south, which is primarily Christian, some Christians in animus there, I might add, have gotten freedom from the Muslim north, and they’re starting their own country. It’s called South Sudan. And we were there to help those suffering people to form a new nation and to have a better life. And if you want to help, by the way, it’s Operation Blessing, CBN, Virginia Beach, Virginia, 1-800-759-0700. You can call in. There’s the Operation Blessing, and Bill Horan is there on the scene delivering supplies right now to those suffering people. They have hope finally, and I’m just delighted. Well, Kristi, what’s next? You know what’s next? We are one of a news organization. Well, check this out. Coming up, a veteran reporter actually reveals a side of Israel not seen in the news. So many people used to call me up and say, “Hey, is it safe to visit Israel?” And I’d say, “Yes, of course it is.” Then they’d call me back a week later after they arrive and say, “Wow, it’s a great place.” We’re going to take you literally step by step on a tour through the Holy Land. That’s up next. Coming up later . . . . It was a day just like any other. August 1, 2007. I heard a big boom. On the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis. And the bridge starts to move. A survivor tells her story, on today’s 700 Club. And I thought, “We’re having an earthquake in Minnesota? Really?” The 700 Club, see it as never before. The stories, the places, the people. The 700 Club, now in HD. We’ll take you to India, China, Africa, Thailand, and across the USA. So close you will feel as if though you were there. Look into the eyes of the people you’ve helped and see the hope you’ve given them. Experience what God is doing in the world today in high definition. The 700 Club, now in HD. Do you have money to burn? If not, you need to know that the paper dollars you've invested your life savings in are being consumed right now in a growing blaze of inflation and declining value. Economists know why the dollar is burning and at risk of crashing. It's because politicians and central bankers keep printing them, and this makes the dollars you've worked so hard for, worth less and less. The politicians and bankers hated the gold standard, because it forced them to be honest. That's why the US dollar keeps losing value and could soon crash. The good news is that you can create your own personal gold standard and keep your savings protected when the dollar crashes. Call or visit online now. Find out more about the best performing assets of the 21st century from the best company in the country, Swiss America. Tomorrow . . . . . . . . first, the rally to restore honor, now the rally to restore courage. Glenn Beck gives us the inside scoop on why he’s taking a stand for the Jewish state. Plus . . . . . . . . The 700 Club is going to the dogs. Vet Marty Becker shares his top tips for keeping your pet looking like a champ, with a little help from Blue and Ginger. Tomorrow on The 700 Club. Have you wondered what it’s like to walk the coast of Israel? Well, veteran NBC correspondent Martin Fletcher did just that, discovered an Israel he never knew. Our reporter Chris Mitchell has that story from Tel Aviv. Living in Israel for 30 years, NBC's Martin Fletcher has covered wars, disasters, and other events throughout the Middle East. He assigned himself, however, to walk the entire coast of Israel along the Mediterranean Sea, from Lebanon to the Gaza Strip. I started up there, and I finished down there. Fletcher gives his step-by-step account: Walking Israel: A Personal Search for the Soul of a Nation. I had a very clear goal in mind when I wrote the book. I wanted to show it's a great place that makes tremendous contributions to the world, that has tremendous problems that need to be solved very urgently. But we don't need to focus only on the problems. We should focus also on the good things about Israel. Like many Israeli residents, Fletcher hears the same questions. So many people used to call me up and say, “Hey, is it safe to visit Israel?” And I'd say, “Yes, of course it is.” Then they'd call me back a week later after they arrived and say, “Wow, it's a great place. I had no idea.” And I wanted to write a book about that great place about which people so often don’t have any idea. Fletcher wanted to reveal a side of Israel most people don't see, because the media usually tells a one-sided story. We present a country that's always in conflict, and therefore the story of Israel is the war, the brutality, the occupation, the Jewish settlers, the fighting, the bombs, the killings. That's the Israel the world knows. But he says there is much more. For anybody who had spent time here realizes mostly it's a very peaceful, wonderful country, and that peaceful, wonderful country rarely gets shown. And that's what I wanted to do with the book, is to show that peaceful, wonderful place. Fletcher believes Israel has gotten a raw deal in the world. I think Israel is the only country in the world whose very existence is in question. Its right to exist is in question. Nobody says about Zimbabwe or North Korea, “Hey, should that country exist?” Israel is the only country in the world that people say, “Should that country exist?” Israel has a right to exist, and I love the country personally. And I was hoping to show in the book that it is a great place that should continue to exist. It’s got terrible problems that need to be solved, but the process of delegitimization of Israel that is taking hold in some parts of the world, in some parts of Europe, especially, I think is wrong. For Christians, it shows another side of the Holy Land. So I think for Christians who come here mostly to the Holy Land and to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and all the wonderful history and reality of the place they follow. I think to understand the context of that story, too, in modern terms, to know Israel as it is today, I think helps you to understand the past. Chris Mitchell, CBN News, on the coast of Israel. Martin Fletcher. He’s written a book about walking the coast of Israel. What a wonderful description of that marvelous land. It is true. You go there. You’re safe. There are a few incidents, but you’re safe. But I like to go there when there’s a war going on. If it’s not a war—last time they asked me, they said, “Can you come over?” I said, “Well, I’ll go if you promise you’ll keep the war going.” So they had it going so I could shot at a little bit. Well, is it that you just like adventure, Pat, or a little bit of danger? It smelled like cordite. Of course, it’s the macho in me. All right, testosterone. When somebody is shooting a Katyusha rocket at you, you get jived a little bit. Pumped. Okay, it must be a man thing. I don’t get pumped at that. But okay. Wouldn’t you like to have a Katyusha shot at you? No. No, no. What’s the matter? Okay. I’ll pass on that one. Okay, so we were talking about walking. Now we’re going to talk about driving. Now, listen, we’ve all driven on highways and crossed bridges, but could you imagine a person who drove across a bridge just as it was collapsing? And I’m looking in my rearview mirror, just screaming, “Come on, somebody, somebody! Come on! There has to be somebody else!” And I realized at that moment there was nobody else coming. I was the last one. She was the last survivor to make it across this bridge. She’s here and actually going to tell us her story when we come back. 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. 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. It's the biggest deal in HD entertainment. Get HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, and Stars, free for three months. Packages start at just $24.99 a month. And you’ll get your HD channels absolutely free for life. Store sales Guess how much Dish network charges you for HD? Fifty bucks? Store sales Fifty 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. Man #3: I like free. I can afford free. Free for life? Store sales Free for life. Bring it. Call today and get over 30 premium movie channels free. And with Dish Network, get free HD for life. Store sales Free! Free. Store Sales Bam! Boo! 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, get free HD free for life. Call and switch to Dish Network today. To see this week’s top on demand videos, go to CBN.com. Well, four years ago, the I-35 bridge was the fifth busiest bridge in Minnesota, carrying 140,000 vehicles every day. Well, that is, until August 1, 2007, when it collapsed during rush hour. Thirteen people were killed and more than 100 others were injured. Michele McLane was driving on that bridge that day and hers was the last car to make it across. It was August 1, 2007. I left work a little bit late that day. I was getting on the 35 W Bridge, and it was a day just like any other. I heard a big boom, and the bridge starts to move. And I thought, “We’re having an earthquake in Minnesota? Really?” But it got worse. At one point, the concrete is cracking in front of me. What I now know is the bridge was already starting to collapse from behind us. And then all of a sudden I just dropped. At that point, when I dropped, I thought, “Okay, I'm falling. I'm going to hit the water. What am I going to do when I hit the water?” And then I thought, “I won't make it. It's too far. This is it.” And with all that terror and all that fear and the chaos and the noise going on around me, I just yelled out, “God, get me out of here. Help!” It was as if God and I just synced up, and all the fear was gone. And there was just an instant peace that came over, and He said, “Michele, your foot is still on the accelerator. Go!” And I realized it was. I was still running the gas a little bit, which was probably keeping me at that angle. And I floored it, climbing up the hill. I’m thinking, “I can do this. I can do this.” And I get off the bridge and pull off to the side of the road; and I'm looking in my rearview mirror just screaming, “Come on! Somebody, somebody, come on! There has to be somebody else!” And I realized at that moment there was nobody else coming. I was the last one, and it was a very lonely feeling. From the time that bridge collapsed and I fell until that moment, it was just me and God. There was nobody else. Thirteen people died when the I-35 W bridge collapsed in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota during evening rush hour. One hundred and forty-five people were hurt when pieces of the structure fell into the Mississippi River below. Rescue crews used boats like this one to search for victims. In the days following the tragedy, a city in shock gathered to remember the victims at Gold Medal Park, a nearby memorial site. There, Michele left a handwritten letter for families left behind. I just wanted those who maybe didn't know Jesus to see His Word and to see the peace that that might bring others, because I knew where I was leaning for my strength. Where were other people leaning? Where were they going for their hope, for their comfort? Five months later, the National Transportation Safety Board completed its investigation, citing a “design flaw” as the reason for the bridge collapse. The 40-year-old structure simply could not support the load it was made to carry. (Interviewing): How did you process that? Because some people could take that, and there could be a lot of bitterness or blaming or pointing the finger. This is why this happened. This is why this happened to me. This is why my loved one passed away. But how did you process that? I was relieved just to know the answer. Nobody intentionally built that bridge thinking it might collapse someday and who cares. I never really thought that. Granted, we can do a better job, and we've learned some lessons from this accident. But that's truly what it is in my mind is an accident. Nobody did this intentionally. In September of 2008, the Minnesota Department of Transportation completed work on the new I-35 W St. Anthony Falls bridge. Less than a mile away, massive pieces of the old structure are stored behind a fence. For Michele, seeing the debris and mangled metal brought back memories. I had not seen those pieces until earlier this week. So seeing those pieces was very emotional. Many of those pieces I drove over, and this manmade structure collapsed. It's not supposed to do that. Michele, did you ever ask yourself, “Why? Why did I survive?” I think that it’s natural to do that in the beginning, but you can’t stay there. In asking why, I think you can get caught up in guilt; and if you stay in that place, you’re not doing everything God wants you to do. You have to come to a realization it just wasn’t your time, and to let it go, to just let it go. And just give it to the Lord and walk away from it. Michele says her faith in God coupled with counseling and group therapy has made her stronger. After coming so close to death, Michele cherishes what’s most precious in life. You will not find the peace that surpasses all understanding unless you put all of your faith in Jesus Christ. And in that moment, and we’ll all experience it, in that moment when you're about ready to leave this earth, that's where your peace is going to come from. I tell you what; she hit the nail on the head. Something that she said, Pat, which really struck me, she was talking about when she drove over the bridge. She said it collapsed. That’s not what’s supposed to happen. That’s right. That’s right. And I start thinking about the Lord and how when we put our trust in material things or in other people, they’ll always fail us, but the one person who will never fail us is Jesus Christ Himself. That’s why He says to trust in the Lord with all our heart. Lean not on to our own understanding, in all our ways acknowledge Him. And He’s going to direct our paths. And that day He directed Michele’s path, and He’ll do the same for you. That’s a beautiful testimony. And there are some other things. We’re looking at a collapse of the economy, like a bridge falls out from under you. Your economic system falls out from under you. But just from a policy standpoint, we have decaying infrastructure all across America. We’ve got many bridges that, just like that one on I-35, same thing, there are flaws in construction or there is corrosion in the support systems. They’ve been there too long. They haven’t been maintained properly. Governments have tried to cut back money. They spent money on foolish things that haven’t helped. Our infrastructure all across, we’ve got pipes that were put in, in the 1890’s, that are rotting underground. And you’ve got it all over the country. We’ve got a major problem, and we need—but we spent 875 million, or whatever it was, on the stimulus that did nothing when we could have spent that money on fixing up these roads and bridges and tunnels, because there are going to be some more. That one in Minnesota was not unique; It’s going to happen all across the country. But, anyhow, so much for that. So the thing is, you walk with Jesus. Michele was walking with the Lord. And did He send angels to help her? I think so. All right. Absolutely. We also want to encourage you that if you just want to pray with someone, our phone lines are always available for you: 1-800-759-0700. Okay, well, when Henry Youngblood was a child, his father actually committed suicide. Nearly 40 years later, Henry planned to follow in those very footsteps. All I had to do was just pull it, and everything would be fine. But hear what stopped this suicide, up next. 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 legal victory for Christians in Pakistan. A court in Punjab convicted three Muslims in the murder of a Christian businessman. They were sentenced to life in prison for torturing and killing Rasheed Masih in 2009. Masih's brother, seen here praying at the funeral, said the men were jealous of his brother’s business success. They met him in a farmhouse to discuss a potential business deal, and then demanded he convert to Islam. When he refused, they beat him to death with iron rods. In addition to the life sentences, the killers have to pay about 1,100 dollars each in restitution to Masih’s family. One man was acquitted. The American Center for Law and Justice assisted the victim’s legal team in court. Grammy nominee Dan Peek has died at the age of 60. Peek was a founding member of the popular ‘70s band America. He battled a drug addiction and left the group. In 2006, he told CBN about his addiction and his decision to return to his Christian roots. In 1979, Peek released his first solo album called All Things are Possible. It reached number one on the contemporary Christian music chart. You can always get the latest from CBN News by going to our website at CBNNews.com. Pat and Kristi will be back with more of The 700 Club after this. Coming up later, our chat room is open, and we want to hear from you. We’ll Bring It Online with your questions, so don’t go away. John Mapes is 42. Mortgage, married, two great kids. He wants to protect his family with a 500,000-dollar term life insurance policy. What do you think it will cost him? A hundred dollars a month? Sixty? Forty? Actually, none of the above. John can get a 500,000-dollar policy from a highly rated insurer for under 25 dollars a month. His secret? SelectQuote. SelectQuote is impartial. They’ll search the pick of insurers like these to give you a choice of your best prices. SelectQuote has great savings on term life for women, too. John’s wife, Carrie, can get a 500,000-dollar policy for under 16 dollars a month. SelectQuote has helped make term life insurance affordable for hundreds of thousands of people since 1985. How about you? Just call this number or visit selectquote.com. 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. Nine years ago, Henry Youngblood sat alone in his apartment. Henry had no job. His wife left him, and his best friend was dead. Henry had nothing left, except an old .38 revolver, which he pressed up against his head. I just wanted the pain over with. I wanted it to be gone. All I had to do was just pull it, and everything would be fine. Henry Youngblood had a lifetime of heartbreak. It started when he was nine, and his father committed suicide. I don’t ever recall the family or any of us ever really talking about it. You just put it inside you and lock it away. Henry felt abandoned. He thought he had nowhere to turn to for help or advice. I was always afraid to turn to my mother, because she had enough to carry. She didn’t need anything else. As a teenager, he missed his dad. It wasn’t long before he started drinking. I was turning to alcohol for the answers that I was looking for. I got to liking it. It makes you feel better, even though it’s just for a short while. In his twenties, Henry married and started a family. He continued to drink, but alcohol wasn’t the only thing he used to hide his pain. I kept working, kept drinking, kept working. I’ve always felt like there was an emptiness inside me. And when I did get into alcohol, the alcohol was the only thing that seemed to fill it. As long as I was drinking, the emptiness wasn’t so bad. Addiction took its toll on Henry’s marriage. He was rarely home and when he was, he was drunk. Then he met Rick, a man who soon became Henry’s best friend and confidant. He was kind of like a big brother. That’s the way I looked to him. He was the first person that I’d ever really confided in, that I ever really just opened up and talked to. As a result, Henry spent less time in the office and cut back on his drinking. But their friendship came to a tragic end one night. Someone broke into Rick’s home, and murdered him and his wife. It took me back to being empty, very empty on the inside. Henry’s grief was unbearable, and once again he threw himself back into work and alcohol. Finally his wife had enough and told him to leave. Then that same week, Henry lost his job. Everything that you’d ever worked for, your dreams, your hopes, plans, everything, everything you fought for, everything you worked for, is gone. Like his dad, Henry decided to end his life. So I took a loaded .38, pulled the hammer back, and stuck it to my head. I just wanted the pain over with. All I had to do was just pull it, and everything would be fine. But there was a burning desire in here, to turn that TV on. There was a man on there. He said, “You, the one that just turned the TV on.” That man was Pat Robertson. Henry was watching The 700 Club. He said, “You just lost your job.” He said, “You just lost your wife. You’ve lost your kids.” He said, “You’re sitting on the couch,” and he says, “You’ve got a loaded gun, and you’re fixing to pull it.” I laid the .38 next to me, and I listened to him. For the first time, I actually could really believe in something that was really there, that wouldn’t leave, that wouldn’t go away. After that, Henry gave his life to God. And this feeling just engulfed me and it was—I felt so loved, so at peace, so peaceful. Henry has never been the same, and he hasn’t had a drop of alcohol since. Now his life is filled with his relationship with God and good friends from his local church. He also found a new passion: riding motorcycles with a group of Christians called Faith Riders. He doesn’t just change part of you, He changes all of you. He’s made me do a 360 turnaround. Everything about me is different. Have you felt despairing? Have you felt there’s no hope? Henry did. He felt everything had gone away from him. Nobody loved him. Nobody cared. And he thought the easy way to be to put a bullet in his brain. I tell you, somebody who is thinking of suicide, that would have launched Henry into an eternity of hell. He would have suffered forever. And thank God that he was led by the Holy Spirit to flip on a TV show and hear the truth. And right now, I can tell you the truth. God is a Spirit, and He can take everything that goes on in your life and transform it. He can come into your life and make you happy, make you joyful, and make you at peace. There is no peace to the wicked, but God says, “My peace I give unto you, not like the world gives you, but I’m going to give you peace that will be lasting, peace regardless of what goes on around you. I’ll give you deep, settled peace.” Don’t even think of taking your life. Don’t even think about it. The prospects are too awful. What’s out there for eternity is horrible if you end your life by your own hand. But God right now will give you joy, and you’ll start Heaven. Jesus says, “He that hears My word and believes on Him that sent Me has everlasting life.” You’ve got it now, and you will not come into judgment, but you’ve passed from death into life. I want you to pass into life. And I want you to live for the Lord from now on. I promise you peace. I promise you forgiveness if you’ll just turn your life over to Jesus right now. And I’m going to pray with you, wherever you are. I’m not trying to make you part of any church or religious anything. I’m just trying to get you in a relationship with God Himself. And I want you to pray, wherever you are. Bow your head, say these words, but mean them in your heart. Confess with your mouth. Say it now as I pray. “Lord Jesus.” That’s right. Pray with me. “Lord Jesus Christ, you know me, Lord. You know everything about me. You know the hopelessness. You know the feeling of despair. You know the depression that has come upon me. But Lord, I know that you died to lift me from despair and to give me part of your heavenly Kingdom. And so right now, Lord Jesus, I turn from selfishness and I turn from sin, and I ask you to come into my heart. Fill me, Lord, with your presence. From this moment on, I am yours. And thank you that you are mine.” Now, for those who prayed that prayer, I want to pray for you. Father, in Jesus’ name, I pray for the anointing of the Holy Spirit to come upon everyone who prayed that prayer with me. May your power touch them. Fill them with the Holy Spirit, in Jesus’ name. Amen. Wherever, rejoice in the Lord. Now, listen, I want to give you something. I want to start you out. You just prayed a prayer with this guy on TV, so what does that mean? Well, I have a CD, a compact disc. You can play it in your CD player, 73 minutes. It will tell you about the exchanged life, what you’ve just done, how important it is. And long with it, I’ve got a little booklet that gives from the Bible the explanation of what’s on that CD. I’ll give you this free. All you have to do is call in. Say, “I prayed with Pat.” Now, the telephone number is toll free. And we make it as easy as we can: 1-800-759-0700. Quickly call in and say, “I prayed with Pat. I gave my heart to the Lord.” If for any reason the lines are busy, please call back. But we’re here all day long: 1-800-759-0700. Time for questions. Kristi. Absolutely, Pat. Still ahead, your questions. What we’re going to do is we’re going to go to the live chat room, and we’re going to answer whatever you need. In fact, Brad asks, “When tragedy hits, why do some people live while others die?” Well, we’re going to Bring It Online with that question and a lot more, when we return. An independent report just named Jenny Craig the top diet. For me it’s always been the top, number one, the best. In my opinion, it simply works. Three years ago I lost 40 lbs on Jenny Craig and now I’m having the time of my life. It’s our summer special; get a six week program for just $36 plus the cost of food. Call 1-800-JENNY20. Number one, the top, the best. Either way Jenny works for me. So call it whatever you want, just pick up the phone and call. Tomorrow . . . . . . . . first, the rally to restore honor, now the rally to restore courage. Glenn Beck gives us the inside scoop on why he’s taking a stand for the Jewish state. Plus . . . . . . . . The 700 Club is going to the dogs. Vet Marty Becker shares his top tips for keeping your pet looking like a champ, with a little help from Blue and Ginger. Tomorrow on The 700 Club. Well, we’re back. We only have a couple minutes left, so we’re going to jump right in. Brad says, “I’m an atheist. I just saw your story on the bridge collapse in Minneapolis. I don’t understand why God chose to save her, but others died. Why wasn’t God with everyone on that bridge?” The Bible says, “The righteous perish, and nobody takes it to heart, not knowing that they’re being spared from the evil to come.” For a Christian, death is not a bad thing. Christian is the door to the new Jerusalem. You’re going to Heaven with the Lord forever. And you’re being spared all the evil to take place in the world. So is your death a bad thing? No. Is it a bad thing? No. You live; it may be a bad thing to stay alive. So God knows the thing about everybody, but His will is always perfect for you. He wants the best for you. And staying alive may be good for other people. Going to be with Him may the best thing for you. So He knows. Yes. And there’s a time. Ecclesiastes has a whole chapter. There’s a time for everything. A time to be born, and a time to die. A time to die. Absolutely. Well, Teresa says, “I’m a teenager, and I understand that using swear words is bad, but I don’t know why. What makes these words worse than any other words?” Well, there is a secularism where you—well, the commandment says you shall not take the name of Yahweh your God as vanity. You just cannot trash God, because God made Heaven and earth. And so using these words to damn people, to condemn people, you don’t understand the significance. And you can curse people with what you say. So it’s very important that you don’t use these words, because you are engaged in something that has eternal consequences. So to use some of the words that are from Anglo-Saxon body functions, four letter words, it’s not necessarily bad, it’s just crude. But the other has eternal consequences. All right. Yes. And I think the bottom line, the Bible says, number one, life and death comes out of the tongue. Yes. The tongue. And the other thing is, I think it’s your heart motive. When you’re saying a swear word or cuss word to someone, it’s, yes, the word itself is bad, but it’s your heart motive behind that word. That’s what makes it bad. Okay, Cathy writes and says, “I try to eat a balanced diet, but I still don’t look as good as Kristi.” God bless you, Cathy. “Kristi, what are your workouts?” Well, you know what, I was kind of lazy for a while, and I have to admit . . . . You were puffy. I got on your case about five years ago. Well, I’m glad you said five years ago. And you got mad. I was going to say about a month ago, but okay. You got mad. I did. I did get mad. You never call a woman puffy. But anyway. But you’re not puffy anymore. Well, thank you very much. I’m not puffy. But you were then. Well, how many times are you going to tell I was puffy then, Pat? Well, it was five years ago. Okay, well . . . . All right, go ahead. Tell her what you did. What I do now is I really try to—it’s all about a balance, and I say that all the time. But in terms of my exercise, I do strength training, but I actually use bands. I don’t use a lot of weights. Every other day I jump on my trampoline and I do 30 second intervals. Jump high intense, 30 seconds. I get down and I do my bands 30 seconds. Back and forth resistance. And you eat a balanced diet, too. Yes. Food is the key. Exercise really is a key, but food really is the key. Despite what you say and joke, you really do eat a balanced diet. I really do. Seriously. Now, I eat my chocolate cake. I don’t eat it every day, and I don’t eat it every week, but those are my special treats. Okay. Next question. Liz says, “I’m close to retirement age, but with all the nation’s financial problems, I’m concerned about my 401K. What should I do to protect my 401K from market fluctuations?” I tell you where I’ve got my IRA. I’ve got it in gold. There’s a gold fund. I’ve got it in a silver fund, SLV. I’ve got it in stocks that pay dividends that are based on natural resources, so I’m building up dividends. And that’s it. So you say, well, I don’t know what you’re going to do, but I know what I do, and it’s worked so far. Yes. Now, when it comes to stocks and things like that, should you just invest and then let it ride in through the ebbs and flows, or do you think you should adjust somehow? Well, no, you’ve to actively manage. You’ve got to look what you’re doing. But I think well managed companies that pay significant dividends are going to come out winners, but if they’re in the natural resource field and pay significant dividends and they have a good future, it’s even better. All right. Is that all? That’s it. That’s it. Tomorrow—I had a chance to talk yesterday with Glenn Beck. He is an interesting guy. He’s got a lot of friends, a lot of followers. And he’s got something called a Restoring Courage rally in Israel. So that’s on tomorrow’s program. And then our Code Blue . . . . Our babies. My dear friend Blue and that little thing named Ginger will make an appearance as we share tips from the dog owner’s manual, on tomorrow’s 700 Club. These words from Proverbs . . . . . . . . “Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.” See you tomorrow. Bye, bye. 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. Young Tsun Tsun was beaten by his abusive father since he was a small boy. When their house was destroyed in an earthquake, Tsun Tsun left his home and built a mud hut to live in. That’s when you rescued Tsun Tsun building him a new house and providing him with warm meals and an education. You changed his life and gave him hope for the future. So please watch for this mailing and send in your pledge. This year millions will know . . . . The love and saving power of Jesus Christ. And that only happens, because you were there.