- [Johnny] I just wantedeverything to kind of mute

and that's what alcohol afforded me.

- [Gordon] The son of theCelebrate Recovery founder

remembers his own battle with addiction.

- I think I still feltI can just grit my teeth

and quit and I just couldn't.

- [Gordon] Find out how he got free.

Plus Lysa Terkeurst shareshow to let go of the lies

you've been telling yourself.

All on today's 700 Club Interactive.

Well, welcome to the show.

Recovery efforts continuethis week in Alabama

after an EF4 tornado toucheddown earlier this month

destroying everything in its path.

Wind of 170 miles anhour killed 23 people.

March 3rd is now the deadliestday of tornadoes in the U.S.

in almost six years.

- [Terry] Some buildings andhomes managed to withstand

the powerful storm including

a local grandmother's prayer closet.

Chaplain Jason Smith was out

with Billy Graham's Rapid Response Team

when he saw a house torn apart,

but one room still standing.

He spoke to the family andshared this on Facebook saying,

I just left a family who survivedthe tornado in this house

and the only thing leftstanding is this closet.

It's the grandmother's prayer closet,

and the whole family survived.

My God is awesome!

Shout somebody!

Wahoo, worth it.- That is a shout out.

- Yes.- You look at

that picture--- Oh my word.

- What a place of refuge,a place of prayers,

now the place of refuge for the family.

- Neat statement.

Well March 21st isWorld Down Syndrome Day.

It's the day that celebratesthe lives of people

with Down Syndrome ensuring they have

the same freedoms andopportunities as everyone else.

- Laura Klassen, founder and director,

of the Pro Life Advocacy Group, Choice42,

recently posted a satirical YouTube video

breaking down the pro-choice argument

for aborting unbornchildren with Down Syndrome.

Here's the video.

- I love people who have blue hair,

but like, after they're born though.

No offense, I totallyrespect and value you

as a human being now,but before you were born

it was a completelydifferent story, just saying.

Thanks to prenatal genetictesting we can now off

all the people who have blue hair before

they ever see the lightof day, that's compassion.

I literally don't knowwhat that word means.

Uh-huh huh, you don'tneed to say anything.

I don't have blue hair which means I know

what's best for peoplethat do have blue hair

which is that theyshouldn't be born, sorry.

If we stop all thepeople who have blue hair

from being born the worldwill be a little more perfect

and a little less colorful andisn't that what we all want?

Can someone look up that word.

What was it, eugenics.

- Laura says she likesto use humor to show

how ridiculous most of thepro-abortion arguments are

in hopes that people will watch and share.

- And they're remarkably

effective--- Yes.

- To get eugenics front andcenter that we don't have

the right to pick andchoose who should be born.

When you get into cultures that do

you find they tend to pick male babies

over female babies andthat creates huge problems.

And then in some countriesanyone with Down Syndrome

just does not have a

right to exist.- Yeah.

- And you just recoil inhorror, what have we done?

- Well, I also love thefact that in what she wrote

and spoke, you know, shecauses us to think again

about the fact that, thatall of the differences

that make up who we all are is part of

the beauty of the world, notsomething to be monitored

and determined and segmented out,

it's just a great spot, very creative.

- Well do yourself a favorgo look up that word eugenics

and find the history ofthat word and how it led

to Arian supremacy, rememberthat, how it led to Nazism

and how there is a masterrace and inferior races.

That's the basis of a lot ofour pro-abortion arguments.

We have to look squarely at that

and call it for what it is, it's racism.

Well a Kenyan teacher gives away

most of his earnings to thepoor won a million dollar prize

for his work teaching ina government-run school.

- Peter Tabichi is a scienceteacher in the remote village

of Pwani where almosta third of the children

are orphans or have only one parent

and where drought and famine are frequent.

People were selectedout of 10,000 applicants

and awarded the Global Teacher Prize,

during a ceremony hostedby actor, Hugh Jackman.

Here's the clip.

- Peter Tabichi.

(clapping and cheering)

(uplifting music)

- I feel great, it'sa, I can't believe it,

is so happy, to be among thebest teachers in the world,

being the best in the world.

This one I'm going to giveit back to the society, okay,

because myself I'm a, a brother, okay,

our needs like food,clothing, and everything.

So I'll be so happy, infact it is great moment

that the societies doing for p-en-i-veet.

- Well, the 36-year-oldis the first African,

and the first maleteacher, to win the prize,

and let me add to the that,the first Franciscan monk

to win the prize.

Peter plans to use themoney to help feed the poor

and improve the schoolwhich has only one computer,

no library, no laboratory, but all of that

is about to change.- Yeah.

- A million dollars goes along way in a Kenyan village

and hats off to you.

That's a wonderful, wonderful,wonderful achievement.

- A really inspiring story.

I mean it's just so fun tosee him be so blown away

by the honor, and as yousaid, the opportunity

to truly make an even greater difference.

- And that was his first thought.

- Yeah.

- You know, you get thatprize, his first thought,

and it just goes with

his whole life--- Yes.

- Where you give 80% of your income back

so that the children you'reteaching have enough nutrition

and your first thoughton receiving the prize

is how can I help even more.

What a wonderful thing.- Talk about

changing the world.

Well, in other news Nebraska continues

to deal with record-breakingriver flooding.

It's already caused more thana billion dollars in damages

and led to at least three deaths.

- In a remote area of Fremont, Nebraska

we heard about the need of a single father

whose cabin was floodedalong the Platte River.

Thanks to viewers like you we were able

to assist Jack Myers andhis son, take a look.

(easy guitar music)

- My son and I havelived, lived here since

he was two days old when hecame home from the hospital.

And you love this place,you love your little spot

in the world and to have it be destroyed

by a natural disaster,20 years that I've been

in this little maintenanceapartment, cabin,

I've never had it get upinto the cabin but it did.

The flood just came throughand did a lot of damage

to a lot of houses around here.

We kinda seen it comin',but as it was starting

to melt and break up we knew

we had to like evacuate.

Nobody really told us.

We barely were able to drive out.

We drove out in oh, my vancould've got stalled out,

but I was surprised thatit kept going and it.

We pushed mud out of thehouse for a couple days

with snow shovels andjust tried to quickly

get as much mud and gunkout of there as we could.

We're so appreciative toOperation Blessing for coming

and helping us just tearing allthe drywall and flooring out

and just everything that needs to be done

to try to make, save this little cabin

and make it a livable residence again.

We can't thank all thepeople enough that have made

contributions to Operation Blessing

'cause this is just awonderful feeling in my heart.

- If you wanna be a partof the relief effort,

and it's an ongoing tragedy in Nebraska,

and we're expectingflood waters to continue

to flow down that river allthe way to the Mississippi,

so we need your help.

Right now we're helping peopleafter the cyclone in Africa,

our OB Team is there in Zimbabwe.

We're also helping the refugees coming out

of Venezuela on the border of Columbia.

We're stretched a little thin right now.

So if you wanna help ushelp others we'll do it

in your name when you giveto Operation Blessing.

We have a special fundset up for disaster relief

where your gift goes entirelyto our Disaster Relief Fund.

You can write us, OperationBlessing Disaster Relief Fund,

CBN Center, VirginiaBeach, Virginia, 23463.

You can call us right now, 1-800-700-7000

or you can go to thewebsite, OB.ORG and your gift

can be designated to these disasters.

Be a part of it, be a part of the answer.

When disasters strike welike to say, we strike back

and we strike back withlove and compassion

and very tangible help to people in need.

If you wanna be a partof it give us a call,

1-800-700-7000.

Well still to come his father got sober

and founded a recoveryprogram never suspecting

that his son had already followed

in his alcoholic footsteps.

- He wasn't able to controlit, but I'll be fine.

I can white knuckle it and Ican just grit my teeth and quit

and I just couldn't.

- See how a wake up callsets this young man free

when we come back.

Well Johnny Baker moved to LAto pursue becoming an actor,

that never panned out.

What did happen was something Johnny swore

would never take place,he became an alcoholic

just like his father.

- My family had been the perfect family.

My friends would alwayssay, oh, you're so lucky

that your parents are still together,

or you've got this perfectfamily and I knew at home,

behind the scenes, whatreally was happening.

- [Narrator] What was happeningin Johnny Baker's home

was his parents constantfighting caused by

his dad's drinking.

- I hated it when my parents argued.

I would always settle things with humor

or I would disengage soI spent a lot of time

in my room when I realized that the jokes

and the peacemaking wasn't gonna work.

- [Narrator] Despitebeing an alcoholic his dad

was a good provider and even coached

some of Johnny's youth sports teams,

but emotionally he was somewhere else.

- As he would begin todrink throughout the evening

he just would kind ofunplug and just be gone.

- [Narrator] Johnny's momtook him and his sister

to church every Sundayand Johnny gave his life

to Christ at a young age,

but instead learning abouta loving, forgiving God.

- You do something wrong you get punished,

you do something right you get rewarded.

I just felt like I neededto earn God's love,

but I never felt like I could.

- [Narrator] Self-criticism and doubt

would shape Johnny's life and decisions

for years to come.

- I was somebody who struggledwith worry and anxiety

my entire life.

I think, well Johnny, thisis how bad you screwed up

and no one's gonna loveyou or forgive you.

- [Narrator] So after hisparents separated when he was 14

Johnny found something tosilence his inner critic.

- I just wanted everythingto kind of mute,

just kind of turn thevolume down and that's what

alcohol afforded me isjust sort of would turn

pressure, stress, everything down.

- [Narrator] Meanwhile his dad got sober,

rededicated his life toChrist, got back with his wife,

and started a Christ-centeredrecovery program

called, Celebrate Recovery.

Johnny even volunteereddespite falling into

the same trap his father had.

- He wasn't able to controlit, but I'll be fine,

I'll kinda of learn from his mistakes

and I'll perfect it.

So when it became aproblem I would handle it,

or if it became a problemI would handle it.

- [Narrator] But it didbecome a problem as alcohol

took over his life throughout high school

and into his 20s.

By then he had movedto LA to pursue acting

and married, Jenny, a Christian.

She knew he enjoyed the occasional beer,

but had no idea thedepths of his addiction.

- I didn't know how to stop, you know,

and to not have it it wasn't an option.

It wasn't like, oh, maybeI just won't drink tonight,

you know what I mean, it was like, no,

this is, this is what Ido this is how I do it.

- [Narrator] The actingcareer didn't pan out

and he started working nights as a waiter.

It was the perfectcover for his addiction.

He could drink during the day

while Jenny was at workand she would never know.

By now he had also completelywalked away from God.

- I wasn't asking Jesus to do anything.

I wasn't following him.

It wasn't, oh, this isn't working here

I'll go find somethingelse, I was just deciding

to go my own way.

- [Narrator] Then Johnny found out

he was going to be a father.

- I remember kinda ofopening a celebratory beer

and I had this moment of thinking,

if I were to start drinkingand Jenny went into labor

I wouldn't be able to driveJenny to the hospital.

I really didn't wantto continue this cycle

of dysfunction in our family.

I really didn't want mykids to watch me drink

the way that I had watched my dad drink.

- [Narrator] Finally he admittedto Jenny he had a problem,

but afraid of whatother people might think

he convinced himself hecould quit on his own.

- If I don't do this then I'm exposed,

this facade that I've put up for people

will come crumbling down.

I wasn't drinking, but Ithought about it all the time.

I think I still felt justlike I can make this decision,

I can white knuckle it, and I can just

grit my teeth and quitand I just couldn't.

- [Narrator] Once hisdaughter was born he knew

he had to swallow his pride and get help.

He did, at Celebrate Recovery.

- I began to go into thosecircles for the first time

and say, I'm Johnny,I'm a believer in Jesus,

who struggles with alcoholismand I was met with grace,

I was met with acceptance.

- [Narrator] He alsolearned what he needed

was a personal relationshipwith Jesus Christ.

- In the beginning it was,

the problem in my life is alcohol,

but I was always gonnabe looking for something

to take care of that holethat was inside of me.

Jesus had to become, notjust my Savior in my mind,

but really the higherpower that keeps me sober,

the higher power that keepsme on the right track,

the higher power that'sin control of everything.

- [Narrator] Johnnyrecommitted his life to Christ

and for the first time understoodGod's unconditional love.

- There's so much freedom in that

then realizing that insteadof trying to earn God's love

to just accept it, tojust allow God to love me

the way that he loves me.

- [Narrator] Today raisingthree children with Jenny

Johnny works alongsidehis dad as the co-director

of Celebrate Recovery.

He's living on the promisethat God's love for him

will never change.

- Knowing that at the endof the day I could keep

a spreadsheet of all the good things I do

and all the bad things Ido, and that doesn't earn

God's love or it doesn'tforce God's love away from me,

but God's grace covers all of that.

It's such a more freeing place to live.

- And it is a more freeing place to live

when you understand thathe came to give us life

and life more abundantly.

What he's laid out in theBible isn't to keep us

from good things, it'sto keep us from falling

into bad things.

But here's the key, andit's an absolute key

to who you are as a personand Solomon wrote it,

he wrote it 3,000 years ago.

God has put eternity in our hearts.

And so with that eternalperspective that we all get

to contemplate infinity,we all get to contemplate

what's next, what'snow, what's the purpose,

we all have this understandingthat there's something more

and we have that eternity in our hearts.

St. Augustine called it a God-shaped hole

and God shaped it and made usfor a relationship with him.

When we don't have thatrelationship that eternity

doesn't get filled up.

Not all of us turn intoalcoholics or drug addicts,

but I guarantee there'ssome kind of compulsion

in your life, your go-towhen things get bad

when you need some kind of emotional fix,

you have some kind of go-to.

When that go-to is God,and it gets filled up,

and then it gets satisfied.

When the go-to is somethingelse like your position,

your power, your influence,your money, your fame,

when it gets filled up with a chemical

like alcohol or somedrug, you already know

it doesn't satisfy.

It's there for a momentand then it's gone.

But with God you havethis tremendous promise,

I will never leave you,I will never forsake you,

I will be with you in times of trouble,

I will be your all-in-all,

I will be the God of all comfort.

When you turn to him thenyou find your purpose,

then you find that you were created

for a relationship with him.

And when you have that, whenyou have that in your heart,

in your life, day-to-day, every day,

not some on-again,off-again, only on Sunday,

but every day you have him as your go-to,

well then life gets tobe a wonderful adventure

and you wake up in the day saying, God,

what do you wanna do today?

What good things can we go outinto the world and do today?

And you find that fromthe beginning of time,

from the foundation of the earth,

he mapped out good thingsfor you and I to do,

he was thinking that far ahead.

He was thinking to you in this moment,

how can I satisfy thedesires of your heart.

What a wonderful thing.

It's the best news theworld has ever heard.

How do you get this, how do you get it?

Well, it's very simple,you humble yourself,

you bow down and you pray,God, I've been trying

to live my life on my own and I need

to live my life with you.

And if you wanna do thatbow your head with me,

pray a very simple prayer,and what Jesus has done

for others he will do for you.

He is able to break any compulsion,

he's able to turn your life around,

he's able to forgive you ofanything you've done wrong,

he's able to do it all.

All you have to do is ask.

So right now bow your head let's pray

and let God do all the rest.

Pray with me.

Jesus, that's right, sayhis name, say it out loud,

Jesus, I come to you andLord I don't wanna live life

on my terms, I want to livelife according to your word

and your presence in my heart.

So Jesus, forgive me of all thethings that I've done wrong,

forgive me for every timeI've turned to other things

and not to you for youare the source of all life

and all being.

So Jesus, forgive me, come into my heart,

give me the joy of salvation.

Set me free from anycompulsion and be with me.

And Jesus if you'll dothis I want to follow you

all the days of my life.

Hear my prayer for I prayit in Jesus' name, amen.

If you prayed with methere's one more thing

I want you to do.

I want you to pick up thephone and let somebody know

that you prayed.

Call us, 1-800-700-7000.

When you call and say, I prayed,

we wanna send something for you, to you,

it's called, A New Day,what do you do now?

It's a CD teaching onwhat Christians believe,

what are the next steps for you.

There's also a booklet init filled with Bible verses,

what do Christians believe, all free,

no financial obligationat all, all you have to do

is call us, 1-800-700-7000, Terry.

- Well, still to come do youbelieve things about yourself

that simply aren't true.

Well, when we return bestsellingauthor, Lysa Terkeurst,

says it's time to let go of the lies

you've been living with, so don't go away.

Lysa Terkeurst haswritten bestselling books,

made dozen of TV appearances, and has been

the featured speaker at countless events.

Even though she's had a successful career

Lysa was haunted by something else,

lies other people had spoken over her.

- Hi, I'm Lysa Terkeurst,and one of my favorite verses

is Psalm 34:18, the Lord isclose to the broken-hearted,

those who are crushed in spirit, he saves.

I like that verse so much because I know

what it feels like to be broken-hearted,

I know what it feels liketo be crushed in spirit,

and often times it's because rejection

has come into my life.

And I believe that rejection is something

that we all deal withwhether we're male, female,

old, young, it doesn't matter,rejection effects us deeply.

We're all either dealingwith a past rejection,

trying to heal from apresent day rejection,

or fearing that an unexpected rejection

is right around the corner.

Someone speaks a line to us,a statement of rejection,

and that line, L-I-N-E, turns into a lie.

That lie that I believeabout myself turns into

a label that I put on myself.

That label becomes a liabilityin all future relationships.

Well I think it's timethat, that we really tackle

some of these lines thathave turned into lies

that have turned into labels

that have turned into a liability.

We ask the Lord, Lord, what are some

of the dysfunctional dancesthat I'm doing in my life?

What are some of theliabilities that I'm bringing

into my day-to-daybecause of the rejections

of my past.

Lord will you revealthat lie to me so that

I can let you speak.

I know you are close tothose places in my heart

that have broken and I knowLord that you want to save

those places that havecrushed me in spirit,

so Lord speak truth over those lies.

Where can you Lord untangle some lies

that I can take the labelsthat they've created off of me

so that this will nolonger be a liability,

but rather a source oftransformation in my life.

- There's so much truthin what Lysa shared there

and in all of our lives it happens.

But there's such power inthe spoken word, you know,

it was by the spoken wordof God that the earth,

the world was created,the galaxy, the universe,

everything that we know.

It says God spoke and it came into being.

And there is power inevery word that's spoken

whether it's a positiveword or a negative.

Sometimes the world tellsus that we're not enough,

we're not smart enough,we're not rich enough,

we're not beautiful enough,we're not wanted enough,

I mean, and the listsgoes on and on and on.

And when we open our mindsand our hearts to that

it sits resident within us.

But I wanna tell you what theword of God says about you.

It says, you are blessed of the Lord,

you are redeemed, that God loves you.

I love this, it says thatnow your new name is,

my delight is in her,my delight is in him,

God delights in you.

Don't receive the word of the world

or those who don't know him.

Get into the word of God.

As Lysa talked about all of that

know that when you'refeeling that lostness,

that need for identify, goto the love letter of God

and find out what he has tosay about who you are to him.

Gordon.

- Well here's the New LivingVersion of that Psalm 34:18,

it's just a differenttake on the same verse,

The Lord is near to thosewho have a broken heart

and He saves those whoare broken in spirit.

Come to him today let himsave you from whatever

you're going through.