- Michael Guillen grew up in the heart

of a Mexican barrio in east LA

but that didn't stop him

from dreaming big andachieving his dreams.

As a scientist and an atheist,

Michael once lookeddown on people of faith.

So what completely changed his mind?

Just watch.

(screen whooshing)

- [Narrator] Dr. Michael Guillen

is an Emmy-wining journalist

with degrees in physics,math and astronomy

from UCLA and Cornell.

He also taught at Harvard

and is the former scienceeditor for ABC News.

A former atheist, Dr.Guillen once believed

that people of faith are weak,

small minded and simplydon't understand science.

- But then one Valentine'sDay, something happened

to change my worldview forever.

- [Narrator] In his latestwork, "Believing is Seeing,"

Dr. Guillen examines theconcept the worldview

and absolute truth.

He says they can spell the difference

between life and death.

- And welcome back to The 700 Club.

Michael Guillen, Michael, good to see you.

- Hey, glorious morning, Wendy.

It's so wonderful to be with you

and happy 60th anniversary to CBN.

What an achievement.

- Amen, thank you so much for that.

Well, Michael, your dad,

both of your grandfathers were ministers.

So how did you end up becoming an atheist

by the time you were in college?

- Because at the age of seven, Wendy,

seven, that would put me what?

In second grade.

I fell head over heelsin love with science.

Don't ask me why.

I look back now and I dobelieve it was God placing

that passion in my heart

because He knew we would beliving in times like this

where we are intoxicatedby science and technology.

Excuse me.

And that dream, that passionto become a scientist

carried me all the way to Cornell

where I thought I was on top of the world,

training to be a physicist, amathematician, an astronomer.

And then I learned something

that really stunned me.

And that is that 95% of the universe,

imagine that, 95% of theuniverse is invisible to us.

And up until then,

I'd been living by themotto seeing is believing.

You know what?

I'm not gonna believeit if I can't see it.

But here I was discovering

that 95% of the universe is invisible,

so science is requiring me to believe

in something I cannot see.

So I knew I could no longer live

by this motto seeing is believing,

and I had to ditch it for what?

So I went off on this long kind

of winding spiritual journey,

and I went into Hinduism and Buddhism

and Islam and Judaism andtranscendental meditation.

And then one night,about 3 in the morning,

because I slept about three hours,

and then the rest of the time,

I was in my lab or in the classroom,

so I typically sleptfrom about 3 AM to 5 AM.

And on this particular evening at 3 AM,

I let myself into my dorm room at Cornell,

and I heard a scrapingsound under the door.

And I looked down, andthere was a white envelope

with my name on it, Michael.

And I thought okay, and I ripped it open.

It was a Valentine's Day card.

And I thought I didn't evenknow it was Valentine's Day.

And technically, it wasn't

because it was already3 AM the following day.

And it was signed by a girl named Laurel.

And I remember that I hada young woman named Laurel

in my physics class two years earlier.

And so I chased her down to thank her,

and she was a beautiful sorority girl,

and I was this uber geek with big hair

and hardly ate,

and so I was skinny, and unkempt.

And I just tracked her down to thank her.

And that was really the beginning

of a very different journey in my life.

And at one point, as I described to her

that I was seeking answers to my question

how did this mostlyinvisible universe designed

for life come to be,

seeking answers to that,

she said, "Well, haveyou ever read the Bible?

You've explored allthese other religions."

And I said, "No, not really

'cause I have the impression

that people who readthe Bible hate science.

And guess what, that's mynumber one love in life.

And then she said words, Wendy to me

that changed my life forever.

She said this.

"I haven't read the Bible either.

I'm a lapsed Catholic.

But if you read the Bible,

I'll read it with you.

And I took her up on that challenge

and it look us two years to read it,

and the New Testament justhit me right between the eyes.

And that was the beginning

when I really took theChristian faith seriously.

It took me about two decades though

to finally drop the other shoe

and become a Christian.

But here I am, Wendy.

- Hey, God will use whatever it takes,

and now you guys are married 30 years.

So praise the Lord.

Well, fast forward to September 2000.

Not long after you publiclyconfessed your belief in God,

your faith was severely tested

when you were invited to view the remnants

of the Titanic on a small submarine

at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

What happened there thatchanged you forever?

- Yeah, I'm the onlycorrespondent to this day

who has reported from the Titanic.

I had this great opportunity.

When we were movingfrom the bow of the ship

to the stern, and when the Titanic sank,

it broke in two, and so it settled

to the bottom of theAtlantic in two pieces.

And so as we went fromthe bow to the stern,

you could see the big propellor,

and I even remarked to my pilot

who was a Russian pilot,

this was a Russian sub, I said to him,

"Wow, that's really shiny and it's big."

And then all of a sudden,

I had this sensation

that our little sub was speedingup towards this propellor

and I thought that doesn't seem right.

I would think that hewould be slowing down.

Next thing I know, boom, we collided

with the propellor

and we became stuck there.

So for almost an hour,

I thought this was it.

The words in my mind came

and this is how it's going to end for you.

And then I struggled to think well,

how could we get out?

The scientist in me tried

to figure out a solution to this problem.

And then I realized, no,there is no solution.

There's no AAA we can call

to haul us out of there.

And that's when I just started praying,

and as a new kind of baby Christian,

I didn't know if this prayerwas going to work or not.

And then, Wendy, somethingremarkable happened.

I will never forget itfor the rest of my life.

Something entered that sub at that moment,

a presence, and I nowbelieve it was God's presence

but at that moment,

I didn't know, I justsensed the environment

that the sub suddenly changing.

And then I felt this enormous peace.

And I was ready to just go.

And then it was months later

that Laurel and I were reading the Bible.

And I was reading Psalm 139,

and I came across this passage,

I'll only read part of it.

And it says, "Where canI go from your Spirit?

Or where can I flee from your presence?"

And these are the keywords, Wendy.

"If I take the wings of the morning,

and dwell in the uttermostparts of the sea,

even there your hand shall lead me

and your right hand shall hold me."

Well, those are no longer words to me.

I lived that.

In the uttermost parts of the sea,

2.5 miles below the surface

of the Atlantic Ocean,

God presented Himself andgave me a super natural peace

that I will never forget the rest

of my life and that I have even now.

- Amen, well, that storywas so fascinating,

and you really took the reader,

I felt like I was therewith you on the bottom

of the Atlantic.

And it wasn't a fun place to be

but thank God, the Lord showed up,

and that's just one of the amazing stories

in your new book.

The title of Michael's bookis "Believing is Seeing."

And it's availablewherever books are sold.

Michael Guillen, thank you so much

for being on the show today.

God bless you and allthe best with the book.

- God bless you, Wendy. Thank you.