- [Gordon] A thrill-seeking stockbroker

makes piles of money andis secretly miserable.

- [Nate] There was literally no joy in it.

All I thought about was losing it.

- Find out how an old giftgot him what he really wanted.

Plus, the best selling authorsof the Godwinks series.

Squire Rushnell and Louise DuArt join us

to discuss their latest Christmas movie

on today's 700 Club Interactive.

Well welcome to the show.

Last week, a California woman was arrested

on suspicion of murder afterher baby was stillborn.

The autopsy confirmed thebaby had lethal amounts

of methamphetamine in his system.

- Investigators said the woman

not only had been usingmeth her entire pregnancy,

but had been told what the drug could do

to her unborn baby.

Some pro-life advocates have pointed out

the hypocrisy of thecharges, suggesting that,

if she had gotten a legal abortion

in the state of California,

she wouldn't be arrested for murder.

- I just think this underscoresthe two-sided nature

of the debate over lifein our culture today.

If a lawyer representing herin court, I'm going to claim,

"Well, this is abortion by another means."

At the same time,

when you have pregnantmothers intentionally,

'cause if you're of it,then it's intentional,

I know addiction is a compulsion

that you really don't have control over,

but if you're harming yourchild, that should be crime.

So I'm absolutely pro-life.

I want a culture wheremothers want to give birth.

I want a culture where mothersdon't want to be addicted

while they're pregnantand get all the help

that they possibly can to keep them off

these kinds of drugs.

But at the same time,we've got to recognize

there's a duality.

You can't have it both ways.

There is an absolute duality here,

where, on one hand, youhave a very vocal group

saying, 100%, this should be legal

and right up until the day of birth,

which is absolutely astounding to me.

If we're going to hold herresponsible for her actions

as a mother in takingchemicals that harm her child

and result in a stillbirth,

why shouldn't we have thesame standard regardless.

- Then the whole argumentthat's now entered

into the fray of even afterthey're born, and born alive,

we have choice aboutwhat we're going to do.

So it's like we've lost common sense

in this whole thing about what life is

and how- Well, I think it's,

- responsible we are.- we've lost

the sense of sacred.

- Yeah.

- I think it's more than common sense.

We've lost the sense that life is sacred,

- Yes.

- that life is a gift, thatwe're made in the image of God.

If you follow the line ofreasoning, it's a blob of tissue,

if you follow that line,

if you follow that, somehow orother, we're all an accident

and there was some kindof random selection

or random mutation, all of those things,

if you don't see design and purpose

and if there's no designand purpose to life,

then, you know, where do you go?

- And I would add that

sometimes, it's not if you don'tsee, it's if you won't see,

because you have to pay a price for that.

- So it's willful blindness.

- Yeah.

- She's... (laughs)

- I'm going with that.

- Willful blindness, all right.

Well here's another one thatmay be willful blindness too.

Climate scientists arenow calling for bold

and drastic population control policies

in an effort to solve what they're calling

a climate emergency.

Last week, an article in Bioscience

claimed a moral obligation to stop people

from procreating at the current rate.

- [Terry] The article goeson to discuss the impacts

of population growth on CO2emissions and the solution

of making family planning available to all

by removing barriers to their access.

- Well, this one isn't,

- Yeah.- what is it,

willful blindness.

Let's go back in historyto the early 1970s.

There was a book that cameout from The Club of Rome,

which is an interesting book author,

but it was called "Limits to Growth,"

and what it predicted is,

by the end of the millennium, by 2000,

the world was going to run out of food

and that there was an absolute emergency,

that we were going to see mass starvations

on a global scale, and their solution

and why they called it "Limits to Growth,"

is that we needed todrastically limit population.

That book curiously became

an intellectual defense to abortion,

and I believe that was thepurpose of the book, that lets,

we have a Supreme Courtruling, Roe versus Wade,

and so now we're gonna come in with,

"Oh, by the way, it reallyhelps all of us living

"if we don't have so manychildren running around

"because they're justgoing to consume our food."

The book was obviously proven false

because there wasn't mass starvation.

If anything, there was mass innovation

and the world's food supplyhas increased exponentially

because of all the wonderfultechnological change.

For the climate change crisis,

and regardless of your viewof it, you have to recognize

that there's this observatory in Hawaii

that's measuring CO2 levels,

and CO2 levels have gone up significantly

since the measurements started in 1958.

So we're absolutelychanging the CO2 level,

and that's all natural.

It's because of the cars and the factories

and everything else.

So, what's the solution?

And for me, it's not, well,it's stop having people.

The solution is how do we find technology

to do carbon sinks and howdo we find the technology

to have energy withoutburning fossil fuel.

That's the solution.

It's not saying we don'tneed people around.

People are not the problem.

People are here and they're wonderful

and they're sacred andwe need to honor them

and say yes, yes to people.

- And they're often the very source,

the gifted source from a creator

of the answer to these things

you're talking about.- 'Cause we're made

in His image.- Yes.

- He's a wonderful creator.- Yes.

- We are wonderfully creative,

and let's apply wonderfully creativity

to the problems that we have.- Amen.

- Well Pastor Francis Chan

is known for his bestselling book, "Crazy Love,"

about breaking free from the status quo

and loving God with an authentic faith.

Well last week, Chan revealed

he would be taking his own advice

and leaving the US to becomean overseas missionary.

Take a look.

- A few months ago, we were in Myanmar

and my wife and I and kids,we're just with a translator

going from hut to hut in these slums

and trying to explainto people who Jesus is,

and these people hadnever even heard of him.

And the eagerness, the way they listened,

and seeing people get baptized,

it was just like, "Whoa,what do we do on a normal day

"that even compares to this?"

And so, as we got on the plane home,

I'm like, "Honey, I just,I think it's time to move."

It's kinda like, I describe it like this.

I feel like I've been fishingin the same pond my whole life

and, now, there is likethousands of other fishermen

at the same pond and ourlines are getting tangled

and everyone's fighting over stupid things

and one guy, you know, tries some new lure

and we go, "Oh, he caught a fish.

"Let's all try his method."

And it just feels likewhat are we all doing here?

What if I heard of a lake that'slike a five mile hike away

and no one's fishing it?

And they're saying, "Man,the fish are biting.

"Just throw a hook in thereand they'll go for it."

Man, I'll make that fivemile hike if I love fishing.

- Well, I absolutely hope this catches on.

- Yeah.

- It's been sort of the heartcry ambitions

for two centuries that we'vegot plenty of fishermen here

in the Christian part of the world

and very few fishermen inthe non-Christian part.

And so congratulations.

- Yeah.

- Please go.

Encourage others to go.

If you can't go, please send.

The Great Commission is a commandment.

It's not a suggestion.

Let's go into all the world.

And just like the apostlePaul, when you resolve,

"I will not build onsomeone else's foundation.

"I want to go to areaswhere the name of Christ

"has not been heard, wherethere aren't any churches,

"there aren't any Christians,

"and I will be all things to all men

"so by any means win some of them."

That is a wonderful thing.

Congratulations.

- I know his church is gonna miss him,

but they'll be sending and going.

- God will make a way.- Yes, He will.

He will.- God will make a way.

And more churches need torealize it's a sacrifice.

Send your best.

Send your best.

And when you do that and you have that,

God deserves our best, thepeople deserve our best,

that's a wonderful thing.

- Kudos to him.

Well up next, their "AGodwink Christmas" movie

drew rave reviews and millions of viewers.

Squire Rushnell and Louise DuArthave another one on the way

and they're gonna tellus all about it next.

(uplifting music)

- So, when is the coincidencenot a coincidence?

When God Himself sends aperson-to-person message

of hope and encouragement.

Thanks to our next guests,

many of us have seen theseGodwinks in our own lives.

- [Andrew] Well known for theirpopular Godwink book series,

Squire Rushnell and Louise DuArt

were thrilled that one of their stories

was produced as a HallmarkChristmas movie in 2018.

12.5 million viewers tuned into see "A Godwink Christmas."

Squire and Louise arenow eagerly anticipating

the brand new movie inthe works for this year.

It's the true love story

of a couple named Alice and Jack,

and once again, stars Kathie Lee Gifford.

"A Godwink Christmas II"premieres Sunday, November 17th

on the Hallmark Movies& Mysteries channel.

- So excited to have Squire Rushnell

and Louise DuArt rightback here with us again.

This is--- And us too.

- Like coming home,

I hope, for you.- Yes, it is.

- Well, we're just, last year,

we all enjoyed the very firstGodwink movie that came out,

12.5 million viewers.

Were you surprised- Isn't that amazing?

- at its success?- Yeah.

Yeah.

A huge success.- Yeah, it really was.

And that has kicked off

what I know you're hoping will be a trend

- Yes.- Well, they call it a series.

- Yes.- Yeah.

- The Hallmark

Godwink movie series.- There you go.

- Yeah.- So we're just gonna

count right on into the future.

- And this next one,

you know, I think that peoplelove the Hallmark Channel

because it's so upbeat.

- Yes.- But this next one

is a true story

from one of your books- Yes.

- and it's got the makingsof something really special.

Tell us a little bit about it.

- Well, Alice and Jack were two people

who had been not successful at dating

and they had kinda given up.

As a matter of fact, Alice said,

"God, if you want me to be married,

"you better pick him out because, so far,

"my choices stink."

(Terry laughs)

But they have their firstwonderful coincidence

when they bump intoeach other at an event.

They start jibber-jabberingand they talk for two hours,

and all of a sudden,Alice looks at her watch

and she says, "Oh, my goodness.

"I've gotta go.

"I gotta go to a wedding tomorrow

"down in Victoria, Texas, six hours away.

"My cousin's getting married."

And Jack says, "Gee, I'm goingto a wedding tomorrow too

"in Victoria and mycousin's marrying a doctor."

She said, "Well my cousin is a doctor."

- Now that's a Godwink

of epic proportions.- Oh, yes, indeed.

- But this is a true story.

- True.- Yes.

- Absolutely true.

And they jibber-jabbered allthe way, no dead air at all.

- Wow.- And that began

a wonderful, wonderfulunfolding of a relationship.

And there's a healthissue in this relationship

that Alice was very concerned about

because she'd fallen headover heels in love with him

and then she found outthat she had a health issue

and she knew that he came from a situation

where he had lost his mother, his father,

and he cared for ateenage boy that was lost

- His brother.- and she thought, a brother,

so she said, "I can't puthim through this again."

But of course, Kathie LeeGifford, as the mom in real life,

she had other thoughts andthought, you know, we can...

She was the cheerleader.- This will work.

- Kept everything on track.- Yeah.

- Louise, do you think thatthis season of the year

is one where people are especially looking

for something uplifting,something positive,

something with hope in it?

- Yeah.- Well, we look at Godwinks

as like that gift left outside your door.

You have to open thedoor and open your gift.

Everyone has them.

And I think this time ofyear, people, you know,

they're gift giving, butwhy not give a gift of hope

because Godwinks are giftof hope and reassurance,

knowing that, in all our ways,

God is gonna acknowledge our paths

when we acknowledge Him.

And there's a wonderful old evangelist.

Is it William Temple

- Yeah.- Back in the 1600s?

- 1650.- Yes, and very English,

very English, and he said,

"When I pray, coincidences happen.

"When I don't, they don't."

Well, it's interesting,'cause the more you pray,

the more Godwinks happen

- Wow.- because you open up

your spiritual eyes and your ears

to hear and see all that God has for us.

And every day, you can see Godwinks.

God wants to talk to us.

- And is talking tous, if we're listening.

You know, one of the thingsthat must be difficult

for actors in a movie like this one

is that they are portrayingreal-life people,

it's not like they're justcreating the character,

and that these two leadplayers really had a chance

to talk with the real Jack and Alice.

- Yeah, Cindy Busby and Ben Hollingsworth

are wonderful, wonderful actors.

They came out and theymatched beautifully.

But they did feel that therewas kind of an uncertainty

and they really wanted to talk to them

and to just meet them.

And so we worked it out on a Zoom call.

They had to do it during abreak during the shooting,

and so we had a limited amount of time.

But you said Alice said--

- Oh, she changed hermake-up three times that day.

She was so nervous

to meet the real actors.- Oh, she was so excited.

But they did talk

for almost an hour- Yes.

- and it helped the actors immeasurably.

- We can't wait to see it.

Do you guys have Godwinkmoments in your lives

on a regular basis?

- Every day.- Terry.

Every day.

- We expect them.

We look for them.- Yes, we look for them.

- And I see them.- Yep.

- And that's what wethink everybody should do

because they're gonna be there every day,

so you should wake upin the morning and say,

"Well, I wonder what myGodwinks are gonna be today,"

and just look for them.

- And to know that God is present

- Yes.- in everything

that happens to you.

How many books now?

How many--

- I can't believe it's--- Well this is book 11.

- Wow.

- Yep.- We're working on 12.

- And this one and the four before that,

Louise and I wrote together,so we're stuck together here

in pages as well as life.- We have a new one

that's very different.

It's called Godwink Dogwinks.

- Yes.

- And dogs are in thecenter of all the Godwinks.

It's adorable.

You wouldn't believe allthese amazing dog stories,

how God would send thesefour-legged creatures

at just the right time to help somebody.

I mean, it's just amazing.

- That doesn't surprise me.

He seems to have a thingfor white horses too

so I'm buying that. (laughs)

- Remember, you soldthis book out last year.

- Yes, that's true.- Yes, yes.

So we want to do it again- You did it.

- this Christmas season.

"A Godwink ChristmasII," that's the movie,

premieres Sunday night at 9:00 p.m.

on the Hallmark Movies& Mysteries channel.

If you don't already know,there are two Hallmark channels,

and this one airs onthe Movies & Mysteries,

once again, Sunday night,9:00 p.m. Eastern time.

And if you want to be inspired even more,

check out Squire and Louise's book,

"Godwink Christmas Stories."

They are so inspiring to read.

You can pick up a copywherever books are sold.

Blessings to both of you.

- Thank you, Terry.- Great to see you.

- Good to see you.- Happy holidays

and much success.- Happy holidays.

- Gordon.

- Up next, a 10-year-oldhas his world shattered

in a matter of moments.

- One day, I came homeand all my dad's clothes

were stacked up on the couch.

I remember my mother telling me

that my dad wasn't gonnalive in our house anymore.

- Find out how that daychanged the course of his life

and how an unopened gift becamehis most precious possession

right after this.

(inspirational music)

Have you ever received a gift

and wondered, "What would I do with this?"

Well, that's what happenedto Nate Echelberger,

only he realized the valueof the gift he'd been given

many years later.

(soft resonating music)

- I had this ongoingjoke I'd tell my friends:

Has anyone ever told youthat God is always there

beside you or behind you to support you?

And of course, the kidswere like, "Yeah, yeah.

"I've heard that."

And I'd just punch the air behind me.

I'd punch it behind me and beside me.

Because He was always there beside you,

He was close enough tohit Him, to be mad at Him.

I should be mad at Him,what happened to me.

I had what I felt like was a perfect life.

My dad was a barber.

My mom was a nurse.

There was fighting here and there,

but to me, as a 10-year-old,

it seemed like a regular family.

One day, I came homeand all my dad's clothes

were stacked up on the couch.

I remember my mother telling me

my dad wasn't gonna livein our house anymore.

(aerosol sprays)

Could I have done anything differently

to make this not have happened?

What is it about me thatwould make him want to go?

I started to be anybody thatI needed to be to be liked,

everything my friends needed me to be

and everything teachers needed me to be

and coaches needed me tobe, my mom needed me to be.

Make sure people have a greattime when they're around you

because nobody can disapprove,nobody can not like me

'cause nobody can leave anymore.

My grandfather gave me a Biblefor high school graduation

and it was in a box in plastic,

and at the time, I wondered why.

What was I gonna do with that?

So I put it away andcarried it with my stuff.

Anything that felt like family again,

that was stuff I was keeping

'cause that's what I desperately wanted.

I wanted a wife, I wanted kids,

but the fear was that I wasn'ta person that could do that.

I wasn't worth that.

Don't allow yourself toeven dream those things

'cause you can't have 'em.

I made a promise to myselfthat I was not gonna do that.

I was gonna be richand I was gonna be wild

and I was gonna live in adventure

and family wasn't gonna be part of that.

Heading to college, it wasall about thrill-seeking,

extreme partying, anddeath defying adventure,

anything that would make me happy again.

And I got great new jobs

that felt like were gonnabe the thing I needed,

but it wasn't ever this is it.

We're into the mid- tolate-90s with the tech boom

and investing in the stock market.

I was starting to haveliterally hundreds of thousands

of dollars in an accountthat could feel like

I had something, and it didn't work.

There was literally no joy in it.

All I thought about was losing it,

which brought up all the fearI had about losing my dad

and losing the people around me

and losing my sense of myself.

The breaking point for me wascoming home to my mom's house

to stay with her and my lifebeing so out of control.

She said I couldn't stay there anymore.

That started the real questions.

That started real questions in my life

of where am I going, whereis this all taking me.

I remember a friend ofmine at work at that point

saying, "Why don't youcome to church with me?"

and church had never been an answer.

But I think, in mybrokenness, I said, "I'll go."

The guy speaking actually hadstuff to say about my life.

He said, "You can't be ahusband the day you get married

"and you can't be a fatherthe day that you have a baby.

"It's gotta start before then."

That spoke to me.

I started thinking about

what would my life start to look like.

Now, to start preparing for that.

It's not this.

It's not what I'm doing right now.

What I'm doing right nowdoes not lead to any of that.

But I thought there was a chance.

I felt hope.

I felt like I could be morethan me or more than what I was.

Could I, wow, I mean, could I get married?

God, could you heal me enough?

A friend of mine tookme out to lunch one day

and said, "I see youat church all the time.

"Have you ever given your life to Jesus?"

I said, "No.

"Do I need to?"

He said, "You should, and you can.

"Let's do it right nowin this restaurant."

I left that restaurant andall I can think of was:

"Do I still have the Biblemy grandpa had given me

"for high school graduation?

"Been carrying it around for years.

"Do I still have it?"

(gentle piano music)

Drove home as fast as I couldon my motorcycle, found it,

opened up the package, stillwrapped in the plastic seal.

Started reading it.

Couldn't believe it spoke tomy life right where I was at.

It was one of those momentswhere it was God and I

and saying, "I've got you.

"You don't need all that.

"You don't need anything but me."

I realized, I think I really believe this.

I think God really does love me.

I think I have hope inHim and I can trust Him.

(gentle music)

What do you got there?

Having a family of my own.

I've seen over and overagain that I can trust Him,

that He is a good Father,that he always was my Father.

I was made at Him for a long time.

Left Him for a long time.

Abandoned Him for a long time.

Didn't think of Him for years.

Yet, when I finally wantedHim, needed him, turned to Him,

He's right there.

- And He'll be right there for you.

The same thing He did forNate, He can do for you.

He can take that hole in your heart.

He can take all of thatabandonment, all that fear,

all that rejection, andHe can take it all away

and let you know how much He loves you,

how much He cares just for you.

And here's His promise.

I will never leave you.

I will never forsake you.

For Nate, when he finally turned,

he realized, well, He's always been there.

He's always there.

For in Him we live andmove and have our being.

He is our loving heavenly Father.

He will never let you down.

When we're faithless, He remains faithful.

He cannot deny Himself.

And He will be there for you.

Now, what did it take for Nate?

What was the sort ofthe signal on the way.

Well, it was hearing a messagethat you need to determine

you're going to be a fatherbefore you have a baby,

you need to determineyou're going to be a husband

before you get married.

These are things you prepare for.

And I want you to know, the future you

doesn't have to be an accident.

You can prepare for it.

You can plan for it.

And part of that planningmeans is God with you

or are you away from him?

And you already know, in any kind of plan,

if God's not part of it,

well, is that plan going to succeed?

And then, more importantly,

is that plan going tolast for all eternity?

Plan the future you.

Plan the future where you're with God.

You have hope, you have a future.

You have a plan, you have a purpose.

You're fulfilling whatGod created you to be.

You can be that husband,you can be that father,

you can be that wife,you can be that mother.

You can do all of it with Him

because, with Him, allthings are now possible

and no good thing willHe withhold from you.

If you want this, do thesame thing that Nate did.

Invite Him into your heart.

Surrender to Him and let Himrule and govern what you do.

Let's pray.

Jesus.

That's right, say hisname, say it out loud.

Jesus.

All who call upon the nameof the Lord will be saved,

so Jesus, I call upon your name.

Save me now.

Change my heart.

Forgive me of all thethings that I've done wrong.

And Jesus, come in.

Be my Father,

be the Savior,

and be it for me,

for I ask it in Jesus' name.

Amen.

If you prayed with me, let me know.

Give me a call, 1-800-700-7000.

Here's a word from Psalm 37.

Delight yourself also in the Lord,

and He shall give you thedesires of your heart.

God bless you.

We'll see you again.

(uplifting music)