- [Narrator] An experimentalCovid-19 treatment.

- It was my last hope and ifit were not for that drug,

I truly would not be here today.

- [Narrator] See why adrug used to treat HIV

helped save this woman's life.

Plus, how a word from PatRobertson 34 years ago

set this man on a new path.

That and more on today's"700 Club Interactive".

- Welcome to the show.

Researchers across theworld are developing

potential treatments andvaccines for Covid-19.

- About 200 drugs arecurrently being tested.

One was first developedin 2007 to treat HIV.

Health reporter, LorieJohnson, introduces us

to one coronavirus patientwho says it saved her life.

- [Lorie] Samantha Mottet tested positive

for Covid-19 in March.

Two weeks later she appeared near death

in an intensive care unit.

- I had moments of, gosh55 years went by so fast.

I'm not gonna see my children again.

I'm not gonna see my parents,

my future grandchildren.

- [Lorie] As a liver transplant recipient,

Samantha was consideredhigh risk for complications.

- I had an overwhelmingsupport from my friends

and family praying for me.

They were all praying for a miracle

that I would survive this.

Her doctor tried a number

of experimental drugs without success.

- She certainly had not improved.

She'd been on a ventilatorfor several days already

and her condition was still critical

and not improving at that point,

so I thought that wedidn't have much to loose.

- [Lorie] Then he injectedher with Leronlimab,

a drug originally developed to treat HIV.

- About a day or two days later,

the amount of oxygen she required

on a ventilator started to go down,

so the amount of oxygen being exchanged

in her lungs started to improve

and then a couple more days later,

she was actually able toget off the ventilator.

- And then what happened to her?

- Then she went home.

- It was my last hope and ifit were not for that drug,

I truly would not be here today.

- [Lorie] Dr. Yang hasalso given Leronlimab

to several other patients.

- Yes.

- How'd they do?

- It's been a mixture

and you know many of themhave improved, not everyone.

- Leronlimad is amonoclonal antibody designed

to calm the often deadly sidacine storm,

an extreme immune system overreaction.

- If we can stop the death,

this is just a flu.

It won't do anything, thewhole country can be re-opened

and everybody gonna be save,if this works the way we think.

- [Lorie] The FDA designated Leronlimab

as an emergency investigational new drug.

- That requires the physician personally

to contact the FDA, producecertain types of information

and get approval.

So, it's fairly time-consuming

and it's a barrier to giving it.

- People are dying right now.

They're asking us for drugand when we send it to them,

couple of occasion they got the drug

and they were dead already.

- [Lorie] CytoDyn, thedrug's manufacturer,

is requesting the FDA upgrade Leronlimab

to compassionate use status.

Studies testing Leronlimabon patients with mild

and more severe cases likeSamantha's, are also underway.

- Every morning since I've been home,

the first thing I do when I open my eyes,

I look up, I put my hands together

and I thank God for giving me another day.

And I go to bed at night, thanking Him.

- [Lorie] Lorie Johnson, CBN News.

- Well, it's amazingthe number of treatments

that have come up recently.

We featured a testimonyof a man down in Florida,

who was given Chloroquine and he recovered

and attribute that to a miracle.

Remdesivir is another one,

treatment for arthritis that has turned

into a Covid-19 treatment.

But one of the problems with all of these,

is that some people recoverafter getting these drugs

and some people don't, soit's not a complete cure.

We don't have a vaccine, wedon't have a complete cure,

so I continue to advise people,

please observe social distancing,

please continue to washyour hands regularly.

Please avoid any kind of crowded space,

particularly in an enclosed area.

These are all things that will keep you

from getting this virus

and the virus seems to be hit or miss.

Some people get deathly ill with it,

some people can get strokes.

Some people have no symptoms at all

and why that is, we don't know,

that's why we call it a novel virus.

It's brand new to us.

The human race has neverexperienced this before.

We don't know all the effects of it.

We certainly don't know the cure

and we don't have a vaccine.

- Yeah, wisdom dwells with prudence,

isn't that in Proverbs?

- That's in Proverbs.

You got it right.

- I remember.

Well, a federal judge has ruledCalifornia governor Newsom

can ban church gatheringsto protect public health.

A growing number ofpastors however say Newsom

has gone too far and needsto allow churches to reopen.

Heather Sells has that story.

- We love you, we bless you.

- [Heather] On Sunday,Pastor Sam Rodriguez

stood in the parking lotof his Sacramento church,

preaching to hiscongregation in their cars.

He had gone online earlier in the week,

calling on church members to show up.

- It may be selfish, whatever,

I wanna see you.

I miss you.

- [Heather] Rodriguez,one of the president's

closest faith advisors hasa plan to reopen his church

in early June, at one third capacity.

- We're gonna maintainour social distancing,

we're gonna do everything right.

- [Heather] Rodriguez is one of hundreds

of California pastors makingplans to get back to church.

Pastor Jack Hibbs of CalvaryChapel in Chino Hills

is organizing a movementto open on May 31st,

Pentecost Sunday but thatthinking doesn't mesh

with governor Newsom's,

who currently has delayedopening of churches

until the third wave of his plan

which is likely months from now.

Pastor Matt Brown,founder of Sandals Church

is directly appealing to Newsom.

- What I want from governor Newsom,

is I want him to sit down with me

and I want him to look overour plan at Sandals Church

and we believe the churchcan meet together safely.

- [Heather] Brown is worried about

the extended physical separation.

Sandals' leaders havecalled 20 000 attenders

and found many struggling.

- We have all kinds of emotional issues

that are going on in our church,

we have marital issues in our church.

We're seeing a spike in depression

and suicides and drug addiction.

- [Heather] Dr John Jackson,

the president of a Christiancollege near Sacramento

says churches must be allowedtheir first amendment rights.

- If it continues for months and months,

I find it very inappropriate that I can go

to the grocery storeand buy a loaf of bread,

be with all kinds of other people,

I can go to the hardware store

and buy supplies for my home maintenance

but I cannot go to a church.

- [Heather] But a federal judge disagrees.

During a church lawsuit,he said that shoppers

going to businesses for specific items

is different from churchgoers communing together.

Southern Baptist leader,Russel Moore warned churches

should not be treated differently.

- The issue has to be safety

and so I think there are some areas

where churches are treatedin a different category

that sees churches as beingsomehow less essential

than other means of gathering

and I think that's a real mistake.

- [Heather] President Trump recently said

he wants churches to reopen.

- We have to get outpeople back to churches

and we're gonna start doing it soon.

- [Heather] In this new Covid world,

churches and governmentleaders must figure out

how to protect first amendment rights,

while balancing spiritualand mental health needs

with physical safety.

Heather Sells, CBN News.

- Well it's not often I get to disagree

with a federal judgebut I'm gonna do it now

and that is the first amendmentdoesn't have exceptions,

the congress shall make no law prohibiting

the free exercise of religion

and here's somethingthat's rarely litigated

but it's also a right contained

in that same first amendment,

the right to assembly.

Now, what we're dealingwith here is a pandemic,

we're dealing with an epidemicthat is killing people

and unfortunately in bad fact situations

you can end up with bad decisions

because a judge is trying tobalance first amendment rights

against well what does thismean for the people involved

if they get infected, they could die.

I want to prevent them from dying.

I urge churches, pleasepractice good, safe distancing

during this time, realize that something

as simple as singingactually has been shown

to transmit the virus much further

and more completely than just mere talking

and so the fact thatyou're assembling together

and everybody picks up their hymnal

and has a song together.

There's the case coming out of California

where a church choir hada church choir practice

and this was in the early days

and the infection rate wentthrough that church choir

because one person inthat choir had the virus

and because they were all singing together

it spread the virus.

That's different, you don't see people

at grocery stores singing.

You know, you try to getin, you're wearing a mask,

you're trying to stay safe,

I've got to get this foodand I gotta get out of here.

You're not staying for anextended period of time,

so I'm all for the first amendment rights

but please, use safety.

Wisdom dwells with prudence.

- Yes, wisdom dwells with prudence.

Amen, good stuff.

All right well up next,

how to be a witness in asocially distance world.

I'm gonna be one-on-one with Gordon

and he's gonna be answering that question

and more, so stay with us.

All right, well welcome backto "700 Club Interactive".

We are, yet again, in the hot seat,

gonna ask Gordon some questions.

- Not the hot seat.

- You're in the hot seat.

- You're the wisdom, I'm the prudence.

- Well I think you lookout for me, we got this.

But all right, this is a question--

- [Gordon] Plus I'msitting here with wisdom.

- That's right and I needyour wisdom and prudence.

- [Gordon] Nah you got it.

- No, we're gonna worktogether on this, teamwork.

All right, so what advicewould give fellow believers

who aren't sure how to reach out to others

with the gospel with the new normal

of social distancing and quarantine,

how can we be a witnessin this kinda crazy time?

- Well, it's the same advice I give

whether we're in a quarantine or not

and I quote St Francis of the CC,

"Preach the gospel alwaysand on occasion use words."

How you act is moreimportant than anything else

and people are absolutelylooking at your actions

and they are going to not so subtly notice

that if you're doing thingsin conflict with your beliefs,

well they're going tonow reject your beliefs

because of your behavior.

Right now, in the environment we live,

how can we show love to people?

And there are a lot ofpeople out of work right now

and a lot of people need food,

a lot of people need caring for.

A lot of people are shut in right now,

so how do we have concern for them,

how do we reach out tothem and do that safely

and do that so they're protected

and you're protected all at the same time.

But the mere fact thatyou show that you care

is one of the best sermonsyou can ever preach.

Same time, we can get on these wonderful

social media platforms,I've yet to be on TikTok

but there are people on TikTok,

there are people onInstagram, I have been there,

there are people on Facebook

and they're looking for answers

and they're looking forhow do I move forward,

is there a God, how do I reach Him?

And so be there for them andpreach the gospel all the time.

Occasionally use words andyou can use pictures now

on the internet and so do that.

- Yeah, now I think that it's in a way,

there's a silver lining in all of this

because I think exactly what you said,

more people are, I think,willing to hear the gospel

because they're desperateand they need hope

more than ever before

and I found even in myown social media presence,

like I'm doing what Ican to give people hope

and share the gospel.

I mean, I think it's a way kind of easier

to do that right now, so.

- Yeah.- Yeah.

- And you can check out Ashley.

- That's right, on Instagram and Facebook,

follow me guys.

- And just let me tell you what she's--

well I don't think you can imitate it,

you can say well if Ashleycan do it, I can do it.

- Yeah and if you can--

- Do it your own way

and come up with your own idea.

- Exactly yeah and if youcan do it, we can do it.

All right, next question.

Okay, so what are your thoughtson all of these protests

that are going on in states like Michigan

and other states now who are protesting

the stay-at-home orders and quarantine,

what are your thoughts on all that?

- Well the underlying thought is,

everybody's gone a littlestir crazy right now,

we call it cabin fever

and so we want life verymuch to get back to normal.

At the same time, we alsoand this isn't cabin fever,

I have to earn money,that's happening right now.

And you hear from thatwonderful barber who says,

"I've never, ever in my lifetaken public assistance.

"I have skills, people want my skills

"and I'm going to usemy skills to earn money

"because I need to earnmoney in order to eat food."

And so, these are reasonable things,

these aren't unusual things.

What I think is really triggering

the protests is this patchworkof different standards

for being sheltered in place

and what can be open and can't be open

and when you look at Sweden that said,

"We're not gonna lockdown, "

you look at Florida, wellwe're gonna partially lockdown,

we're gonna take care of nursing homes

and those facilities,those people that are most

at risk for dying but theother areas of our economy,

other things that people want to do,

like go to the beach,we're gonna open that up

and what we're seeing is this patchwork

and so you get into a state that says,

"Well if you wanna take out a canoe

"and go canoeing you can,

"but if you wanna use amotorboat, you can't."

You know, when you get tothat level of specificity

on restrictions, peopleare naturally gonna say,

"Why, this doesn't make any sense,

"this has no health benefit,

"if I'm on a motorboat on a lake,

"I'm not about to getexposed to the virus,

"why can't I take my motorboat out?"

And so that's whatleads to the frustration

and leads to people saying,

"Well we have to standup for our liberty."

So it's up to government to be rational,

it's up to government to be reasonable

and I urge anyone in a position of power,

please listen to what people are saying

and say, "Well how canI give them an avenue

"where they can make money,they can participate in society,

"we can have some levels of activities,"

and let's do it that way.

- [Ashley] Yeah.

- What do you think about it?

- Well, you know, I think we live

in a free country obviously.

We are able to protest and--

- Well it's not as freeas it was two months ago.

- Yeah well, that's true.

I think you need to be careful,

like maybe don't showup to a capital building

with a rifle in yourhand if you're protesting

but that's just--

- Well people did thatright here in Virginia

when the governor was signing bills

that restricted guns and sothere was a peaceful protest.

- Yeah, exactly.

- And I'm hearing reportsthat sometimes the agitators

are plans, that they're notreally part of the movement.

How can we be peaceful?

Some of those protests,

clearly people are notobserving social distancing

and yelling is another way like singing,

yelling is a way to spread the virus.

So, you know, I'm finewith the free speech,

I'm fine with the assembly,

I'm fine with the right topetition your government

for redress of grievances.

We have that right underthe first amendment

but please be safe.

- Yeah be safe and give grace

and don't be so judgmental of others.

- Okay, those are words to live by.

Wisdom, right there.

Well up next, this man's lifewas changed while watching

"The 700 Club", see whatmy father said 34 years ago

that helped set him on anew path, right after this.

34 years ago, Paul was a hopeless drunk.

Well today, he is Wisconsinstate representative.

What changed the course of his life?

Take a look.

- [Narrator] On November 12th 2019,

the Wisconsin statelegislator overwhelmingly

passed a resolution, declaringthe week of Thanksgiving

to be National Bible Week.

State representative, PaulTittl sponsored the resolution.

- It was first done in 1941by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

He wanted to do this as encouragement

to people all over the state of Wisconsin,

to actually read their Bibles.

- [Narrator] But years ago,

Paul was the least likely candidate

to be pushing a Bible resolution.

- There wasn't a day that I didn't drink.

- [Narrator] Paul was broughtup in Manitowoc Wisconsin,

the youngest of four children

in a devout Catholic blue collar family.

- I was kind of an introvert as a child.

I kept to myself.

Kind of always been a little bit heavier

so I didn't have a very good self-image

and I didn't reallythink of myself as much,

I didn't think of myselfas worthy of anything.

- [Narrator] Despite beingin church in every Sunday,

Paul never felt connected to God.

So when he became a teenager,he left religion behind.

- It just didn't feel real to me.

I wanted something that was solid

and something that wasn'tjust being forced upon me.

I wanted to live and party and escape.

- [Narrator] Paul soondiscovered that drinking

gave him confidence.

- I was very outgoing then

and I got out of my shell.

It was different.

It was not the sameintroverted person that I was.

- [Narrator] By the timePaul reached his 20s,

he was still in his hometown,selling vacuum cleaners

and living in an apartment downthe street from his parents.

- I was unhappy with my life

and I was not doing very well

and in the type of sales that I was in,

if you didn't sellanything, you didn't eat.

But yet, I always seemed to find enough

to get that high every night.

- [Narrator] But now drinkingwasn't the escape it once was,

it was something Paul had to do.

- It just becomes old,

waking up everyday with a hangover,

going through the day,

waiting for the end of thenight so I could drink.

- [Narrator] Miserable and depressed,

Paul tried to stop drinking.

At 25 years old, he felthis life was hopeless.

- Anything that I did, did not last.

And I couldn't do it on my own.

It was about as low as I could get.

I was looking for probablymore meaning to my life.

I knew that I needed more knowledge.

I didn't know what to do.

- [Narrator] It was then he came across

a Christian TV program thatwould become his source

of hope and encouragement,

"The 700 Club".

- And I knew that "700 Club" was there

and had the knowledge andI was yearning for it.

- [Narrator] But Paul still wasn't sure

God really care about him.

That changed one day in February of 1986.

- But ladies and gentlemen,

I wanna tell you right now, there's hope,

there's hope in Jesus andhe can work out the problem.

- And at that point I said,

"Lord, if you wanna dosomething with this life,

"first thing you gotta do istake care of this drinking."

And I opened up my Bible, thereat my eyes immediately fell

to Proverbs chapter 20 verse one.

Where it says, "Wine is a mockerand strong drink is raging

and who so ever is deceivedthere by, is not wise."

And at that point, I knew God was real

and I knew he was listening to me

and it was life-changing.

God wanted to do something with my life

and I was excited about that.

- [Narrator] Paul prayed with Pat

to ask for God's forgiveness

and gave his life to Christ.

- The thing that I understoodafter watching "The 700 Club",

is that Jesus Christ would've died for me

if I was the only onethat needed dying for

and that was real because I knew all along

that Jesus died for the sins of the world

but I'd never understoodthat he would've done it

just for me, if I was theonly one that needed it.

And that's real personal and that's real

and that's the real that Iwas looking for in my life.

I felt insignificant andChrist made me significant.

- [Narrator] Paul says he never

had the desire to drink again.

- He healed me and thatemptiness is not there anymore

because it's filled with Christ.

Every aspect of my life has changed.

- [Narrator] Now goingto church wasn't a chore,

it was a joy.

The following year heleft door-to-door sales

and started his own successfulvacuum cleaner business.

He later married beforegetting into politics in 2004

and being elected to theWisconsin state assembly in 2012.

Since that time, he hasorganized the first Bible study

in the Wisconsin state capital.

- He is right there withme, each and every day.

He gave his only begottenson for me and for you,

that's huge.

God wants to something with allof our lives, if we let Him.

- And that's the key, ifwe let Him, if we let Him.

I'll give you the same messagethat my father gave Paul,

there is hope in Jesus.

If you're listening to me right now

and you're wondering, is therehope, is there a way forward,

how do I make it, how do Imake it through this crisis,

how do I just live?

There is hope in Jesus.

All you have to do isput your trust in Him

and you can do the samething that Paul did,

where he said, "Jesus,if you can use my life,

"if you can do anything with my life,

"you first have to takeaway this drinking."

And then he opens his Bible

and the very first verse hereads, "Wine is a mocker."

He gets the answer, heknows that God is listening,

that God is respondingand when you know Him

and you know you can havea relationship with Him,

you know that He will speak through you

through the Bible and youknow He can speak through you

through an audible voice,through a still small voice,

through a vision, through a dream

and you know that He speaks and He cares.

You know that He will always leave the 99

to come for the one, to come for you,

that He knows you by name,

that He numbers the hairs on your head,

that He created a life for you,

good works for you, thingsfor you to literally walk into

that will overwhelm you andfulfill your heart's desire.

He will do all of that,He has done all of that.

Why?

Because He loves you infinitely.

And to experience that andto know that, it's real easy,

just pray the sameprayer that Paul prayed.

Jesus if you can do anything with my life,

here it is.

Come in.

If you pray that with all of your heart,

He'll answer and He'll come to you

and He'll go, "Yes, you'reMine, you're my child,

"here I am."

Let's do that.

Let's pray right now andlet Jesus do all the rest.

Jesus, that's right, say His name.

Bow your head, closeyour eyes, say out loud,

Jesus if you can do anything with my life,

here I am, I surrender all to you.

Come into my heart, make me new.

Forgive me of the thingsthat I've done wrong

and Lord if you do this,

I want to live for Youall the days of my life.

Hear my prayer, for Ipray it in Jesus' name.

Amen.

If you prayed with me, let me know.

Call us, 1-800-700-7000.

Got a free packet foryou called "A New Day",

it's all free.

Here's a word from Psalms,

"Give thanks to theLord, to God of heaven,

for His mercy endures forever.