- Well, welcome to the 700 Club.
Let's go over to the CBN newsroom
for today's top stories.
- Thanks, Gordon.
Good news for Americanssuffering financially
from the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Donald Trumphas signed a $900 billion
pandemic relief package.
While it will keep the government funded
and send checks to many Americans,
the president is still asking for more.
Dale Hurd reports.
- [Dale] President Trump'sSunday night decision to sign
the combination COVID reliefgovernment spending plan
averts a government shutdown tonight.
But he's still seeking cutsto government spending,
and more money for individual Americans.
The president at firstrefused to sign the bill,
because it included aid to other nations,
and extras that had nothingto do with the pandemic.
The president wants $2,000payments to individuals,
much more than the $600 now in the bill.
Trump tweeted Sunday,
"Increase payments to the people,
get rid of the pork."
Democrats also supportlarger checks to Americans.
- Given the terrible economiccrisis facing this country,
yes, we do need to get $2,000 out
to every working-classindividual in this country.
500 bucks for their kid.
But you can't diddle around with the bill.
- [Dale] The bill he signedincludes the $600 payments.
But he's still calling on Congress
to cut wasteful spending
and send a list of provisionshe wants eliminated.
The bill also providesenhanced federal jobless pay,
at about $300 per week,
and loans for small businesses.
It also gives $25 billionfor rental assistance.
The House is set to votetoday on separate legislation
to increase direct paymentsto Americans to $2,000.
But many Republicansoppose any stimulus checks
because how the debt coulddamage the economy longterm.
Earlier Sunday, PennsylvaniaSenator Pat Toomey
encouraged the president topursue the two-bill track.
- I think what he ought to do
is sign this bill, and then make the case
that Congress can pass another bill.
I don't agree with $2,000 checks
to people who have had nolost income whatsoever,
which is the vast majority of Americans.
But the president'sfree to make that case.
Democrats will agree with that.
- [Dale] But for those Americans
who have lost jobs and businesses,
and now face evictions from their homes,
$600 isn't enough.
- The American people are literally dying.
They are starving.
You're holding us hostage to this bill.
Please sign the bill.
We know it's not enough.
We know it's not going tomake up for everything.
But it gets us by.
- I worry and I care aboutmyself and my family.
We need COVID relief so bad.
- [Dale] And relief insome form is on the way.
Dale Hurd, CBN news.
- Investigators say the suspectin a Christmas Day bombing
in Nashville died in the blast.
New traffic cam footage shows the moment
the bomb went off on adowntown city street.
At about 1:00 a.m., thisRV was parked outside
the AT&T building.
Police are checking intoAnthony Warner's psychiatric
and medical history.
They searched Warner'shome over the weekend,
carrying out bags of evidence,
trying to determine if hetargeted the AT&T building,
possibly motivated byparanoia over 5G technology.
Meanwhile, the officerswho evacuated residents
from nearby buildings arebeing hailed as heroes,
one giving credit to God for his survival.
- As I was literallygetting ready to walk back
toward that RV, and you watch the video,
you can see that moment of clarity for me,
when I heard God say,
"Go and check on Topping."
And so I was peakingaround, looking like this,
and then it was like,
"No, turn around, go check on Topping."
And so I turned around and started walking
in the opposite direction,
and then three seconds later, boom.
- One officer temporarily lost hearing,
but he is now recovered.
The coronavirus pandemic has upended lives
across America this year.
And in a time when peopleneed their churches the most,
many of them have been labeledhotspots and shut down.
So how are these ministries reaching out
to their communities?
CBN's Tara Mergener has that story.
- Experience in helping people deal
with tragedy and disasterallows the faith community
to gain trust, reduce fear,
and spread hope where it's needed most.
- And religious gatheringsare emerging as hotspots now.
- [Tara] As COVIDrestrictions ramp up again
across the country.
- We also put out new guidelinesfor places of worship.
- [Tara] Churches must remain creative.
- How is that for you?
- In the 20 years I've been ministering,
so I just had to imaginethat they were out there
and try to ignore all the empty seats.
- [Tara] To ensure meaningful worship
while encouraging hope and fellowship
amid a relentless pandemic.
- In a great solidarity,we too shall rise.
- [Tara] Still, we find our social
and spiritual interactions limited,
not by choice, but in many cases, by law.
- Church services have resumed here
in New York City, butwith limited capacity.
- [Tara] Since COVID first hit,
we've seen how loneliness,fear, and stress can overwhelm.
- The church is oftentimeswhere people turn first
when they're in a crisis,and looking for help.
So that one of the immediatethings the churches can do
would be to providecounseling or other types
of support services.
- I was like, hey, I believethat the Lord is calling us
out of the boat, like Peter.
- [Tara] Ernest Cloverof DC's Dream Center
says following that divine direction
means leaning on faith.
I don't know where the other side is.
I don't know how bad this storm will get.
Lord, we are grateful thatwe have this opportunity
to come here today.
- [Tara] With the blessing of his team,
Clover and the Dream Center
have been supporting the community.
- Seven days a week, givingout non-essential items
has been a drastic change.
- [Worker] How many?
- Just one cold, one hot.
- [Tara] Temporarily scrappingother community programs
to focus on food.
- And I get to work there on Saturdays
in the open market when theydistribute produce to everyone.
- [Tara] And other suppliesto help those in need.
- I help prepare the mealsthat go out every day
since March 16th.
- It fills the gaps.
I would say,
due to the income thatcomes in for me right now,
it's not a whole lot.
But it does what it does.
- We've had over 50,000 meals go out
of that window in that little white house.
We've had over 100,000 hygiene items
and non-perishable food itemsgo out of this Dream Center.
And something I wouldn'teven have the parameter
to pray for, which was fresh produce.
- [Tara] And much like churchesand ministries elsewhere.
- [Ernest] The structures of society
have been so thoroughlyrocked to their foundations.
- [Tara] People are coming to the center
with a hunger for more than food.
- Because even when we'renot giving out items,
they just want to talk.
- [Tara] A basic need that for some
is no longer easily met,
which health experts saycan have grave consequences.
As the government and healthcare system
deal with areas like testing,masks, and social distancing,
Dr. Stephen Grcevich saysministries play an essential role
addressing the unprecedentedsocial isolation
felt by so many.
- Being able to offer people the hope
that we have in Jesus Christ,
and being able to offerpeople opportunities
for connectedness,
we as a church are uniquely positioned
to be able to care for them
and to offer encouragement and hope.
- Experts say outreachduring this holiday season
could be more important than ever.
Even before COVID, thistime of year can be lonely
and even depressing for someof your family and friends.
In Washington, I'm TaraMergener, CBN News.
- Turning now to the Holy Land,
where the Israel Museumhas revealed a rare find
this Christmas season.
A token that was likely a memento
of a Christian's pilgrim'strip to Bethlehem,
the birthplace of Jesus
at least 1,400 years ago.
CBN Middle East CorespondentJulie Stahl explains.
- [Julie] They're called eulogia tokens,
small souvenirs that Christians collected
on pilgrimages to the Holy Land.
- I'm holding a tiny, a miniature token
that used to belong to a6th or 7th century pilgrim
that came here and do a journey.
We have here a nativity scene,
so he probably visited Bethlehem.
- Here in the archeology wing
of the Israel Museum,they have a reconstruction
of an early church from the Holy Land.
They also have itemsthat show that pilgrims
from way back thenwanted to take souvenirs
back with them, just like they do today.
Assistant curator Morag Wilhelmdiscovered this rare piece
in a large collectionthat had been donated
to the museum.
- We can see Jesus, baby Jesus,
and also the ox and the ass,
but they are insidearchitectural building,
and we think that this building
is the church of the nativity.
- [Julie] The souvenirs were made of earth
taken from holy sites.
This one is unique,because Mary and Joseph
are not in the picture,
and it's likely depicting the cave
under the Church of theNativity in Bethlehem.
That makes it a combinationof the historical event
from the birth of Jesus,and a depiction of a place
a few centuries later.
- So this combination is very rare
in the caves of Bethlehem.
We have it here in Jerusalem,
but from the Holy Sepulchre,
but not from Bethlehem.
- [Julie] Christians havebeen making pilgrimages
to places mentioned in the Bible
for at least 1,700 years.
In one historical writing,
the church father St. Jerome
relates the story of awoman from Rome named Paula.
"Then she entered the cave of the savior
and saw the stable wherethe ox knew his master
and the ass his Lord's manger.
Then she solemnly declaredin my own hearing that
with the eyes of faith she saw a child
wrapped in swaddling clothes,
weeping in the Lord's manger."
- So we guess that we are seeing here
it's the special visualizationor religious experience
that you go to the holy place
and you actually see baby Jesus
in the Cave of Bethlehem.
- [Julie] Other tokensdepict the baptism of Jesus
and the crucifixion and resurrection.
There are small vialsfor oil, and crosses,
pendants, and rings.
And while coronavirus
may have closed downinternational travel for now,
when the gates reopen,tourists and pilgrims
are sure to return toIsrael and the Holy Land.
Julie Stahl, CBN News, theIsrael Museum, Jerusalem.
