Trump’s Administration Is Beginning To Signal A Move On Cuba | The 700 Club

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:03]Well, welcome to the 700 Club. A US aircraft carrier is parked off the coast of Cuba. Yesterday, the Justice Department indicted former President Raul Castro for the murder of three Americans.

[00:00:16]>> It's the latest move in the United States pressure campaign against the communist government. George Thomas reports on the growing calls for change inside Cuba.

[00:00:30]In Miami, Cubanameans took to the streets chanting freedom after the US government accused former Cuban President Rahul Castro of murder.

[00:00:40]>> Today, the Cuban people are finally getting their justice. They're going to bring him over and try him as the murderer he is. A Florida grand jury indicted Rahul Castro, the brother of longtime dictator Fidel Castro, and five others for their alleged role in the 1996 shootown of two planes carrying humanitarian aid. Four people died, including three Americans. Castro, now 94, was Cuba's defense minister at the time. For the first time in nearly 70 years, senior leadership of the Cuban regime has been charged in this country, in the United States of America, for acts of violence resulting in the deaths of American citizens.

[00:01:22]>> President Trump has threatened military action against Cuba after US forces captured Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro, a longtime ally of Havana.

[00:01:32]>> We have Cuba on our mind. Very important.

[00:01:35]been a lot of problem for a lot of years and uh this was a big I think it was a very big moment.

[00:01:41]>> The USS Nimtt strike group is now off Cuba's coast raising questions about whether US troops could go in and take him by force.

[00:01:50]>> The message is for the Castro family.

[00:01:52]Understand this well that your days are over.

[00:01:57]>> Cuba's leaders are said to be preparing for a military confrontation. Actually reports they've obtained more than 300 military drones and discussed possible attacks on Guantanamo Bay military vessels and targets in Key West. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Cubans to reject communist rule and embrace a new relationship with the United States.

[00:02:47]The developments come days after CIA director John Ratcliffe reportedly met with Rahul Castro's grandson in Havana, saying the US was open to talks If Cuba makes major changes, >> we want freedom for Cuba, but what we don't want is a negotiated freedom that leaves much of the brutal regime intact.

[00:03:09]>> Meanwhile, a new report from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, criticizes Cuba for decadesl long violations of religious liberty.

[00:03:19]Experts say a regime change would be monumental. And what could that mean for the issue of religious freedom today on the on the island?

[00:03:28]>> Uh it's it's it's freedom. They'll be able to go back to practicing their faith that they've had. This is a very faithful people and faith oriented people. They haven't been able to practice that. They can pursue their faith again.

[00:03:41]>> George Thomas, CBN News.

[00:03:44]>> Things I never thought I'd see. It would be wonderful if if Cuba were finally away from that dictatorship and they could have the freedom that you and I enjoy. That's a that's a definite dream and I know the entire Cuban community here in America shares that and is looking forward to it. Well, turning to the conflict in the Middle East, President Trump warns that Iran may just have days remaining to strike a deal before the fighting resumes. CBN Middle East News correspondent Julie Stall reports from Jerusalem.

[00:04:19]>> President Trump said Iran may only have days left to agree to a deal, warning the situation has reached a critical moment and could escalate rapidly if Thran refuses to meet US demands.

[00:04:31]>> It's right on the borderline. Believe me, if we don't get the right answers, it goes very quickly. It would have to be a complete 100% good answers. And if we do, we save a lot of time, energy, and lives.

[00:04:43]>> While Iran is said to be considering the latest proposal, media reports citing US intelligence say the regime is taking the time to rebuild its drone and missile launching capabilities. Trump said the negotiating window could close swiftly.

[00:04:59]>> Could go very quickly or a few days. It could be a few days, but it could go very quickly. Iran is a defeated nation.

[00:05:07]The president also dismissed talk of conflict between himself and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after reports surfaced of a heated phone call.

[00:05:17]Trump insisted Netanyahu remains fully aligned with Washington's approach.

[00:05:22]>> He's fine. He'll do whatever I want him to do. Very, very good man. Don't forget, he was a wartime prime minister and he's not treated right in Israel in my opinion. Trump also confirmed the United States and Israel continue coordinating closely on the conflict in the Middle East. In Lebanon, a new poll suggests the overall majority of the population wants peace with Israel with majorities of its Jews and Christian communities supporting a peace agreement. Support among Sunni Muslims was narrowly favorable, while overwhelming opposition remained among the Shiite community. Although most supported a peace deal with Israel, 59% still opposed normalizing ties with Jerusalem. Even so, support for normalization is growing, rising from 13.2% to 41% since August of 2025. Meanwhile, Israel's national security minister, Itamar Benvver, sparked international criticism after posting a video of himself confronting detained Gaza flotillaa activists at Ashod Port.

[00:06:30]>> Welcome to Israel. We are the landlords.

[00:06:33]>> US Ambassador Mike Huckabe joined the criticism, noting that nearly every senior Israeli official condemned what he called a stupid stunt. The incident prompted Italy and Spain to summon Israeli ambassadors for reprimands while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly rebuked Bengir, saying the behavior did not reflect Israel's values. Julie Stall, CBN News, Jerusalem.

[00:06:59]>> It shouldn't reflect Israel's values. It is a stunt. The flotilla itself though is a is a um it's a stunt. It's not designed to do anything to really help the people of Gaza. is just trying to provoke Israel. Um, in all of this, let's keep in mind the ideology underlining both of the conflicts and and whether you're talking about Hamas, actually all three of the conflicts, Hezbollah, Hamas, Iran, there's a deep ideology in the Islamic world that is not really based on territory. It's based entirely on ideology. And that ideology is Israel shouldn't exist. And it has been a fairly steady state uh in that belief pattern for decades since before 1948. That was all part of the British mandate and the Brits couldn't get the Arabs to agree to it. Uh and you look back at that and say, well, th this is a pretty obvious choice. Do the Israelis have a right to exist? Do the Jews have right of self-determination?

[00:08:06]Uh, I think the Arabs have the same right, but why won't they recognize that the Jews have that same right too? They haven't to so to see the the change in Lebanon where public opinion now 41% that is uh in incredibly unusual and and marks a real turning point. So the Abraham Accords a turning point. This new pole out of Lebanon a turning point.

[00:08:32]Can the regime in Iran be replaced with a democratic uh republic instead of this theocracy? That would be a gamecher. And you'd stop the funding of the radicals.

[00:08:46]And in that, could we actually have peace? That would be something to pray for, to plead God, can we please have it? And can we please have it now? Well, since the October 7th attacks and the war in Gaza, Israel has faced international accusations ranging from apartheid to genocide. Israel supporters say those claims distort history, international law, and the nation's right to self-defense.

[00:09:14]The legitimacy of the Jewish state faces increasing challenges in the media, college campuses, and international institutions worldwide. That includes the United Nations and the International Criminal Court, where Israel now faces growing diplomatic and legal pressure.

[00:09:31]Supporters of Israel argue this legal battle combined with boycots and protests has become part of a broader campaign to undermine the country's very right to exist.

[00:09:41]>> You know, we are in the front line, but ju just look at the at the hoodies in Yemen. Look at the flag. You know the flag says death to America also to Isra and Allahbar and other things but they write it to America. So they're coming after us but also after coming after the American people. So I think the West must wake up and fight back. In his book, Israel on Trial, federal district judge Roy Alman examines the claims against the Jewish state through the lens of legal reasoning while evaluating accusations of apartheid, genocide, international law, and more.

[00:10:18]>> Well, the author of that book, Federal District Judge Roy Alman, joins us now from Miami. And welcome to the 700 Club, Judge. It's it's an honor to have you with us.

[00:10:28]>> Thank you very much for having me. It's my honor to be here. Uh uh why did you write the book? Why does the approach over the debate over Israel through the lens of a courtroom, why does it matter today?

[00:10:39]>> Well, I I wrote the book not as a judge, I should tell you. I wrote it as an American who came to this country with my family from Venezuela when I was a little boy with nothing, knowing no one.

[00:10:50]And I was welcomed with open arms uh by this community and this country that taught me that in this country if you work hard and treat people with respect you can be and do anything because we were a meritocratic society that was built above all else on the rule of law.

[00:11:07]And the rule of law requires a citizenry that is virtuous and free and able to discern truth from fiction. And the problem was that in the aftermath of the horrendous Hamas attacks of October 7th, I looked around and saw that so many people in the country I loved, the country that had taken me in had become incapable of discerning truth from falsehood on their cell phones and on the internet. And so I took it upon myself to travel all around the country to almost all 50 states to churches of every denomination, high schools, colleges, law schools all over this country to talk about Israel, its ancient past, its painful present, its hope for a brighter future for Arab and Jew in the Middle East alike. And I came to recognize that the entire debate we're having about Israel around this country is premised on six main claims.

[00:12:02]And actually each of those claims is a legal claim at its core. Is Israel committing genocide? That's just a violation of the laws of war. Is Israel discriminating against its minority citizens? That's apartheid. Is Israel taking land that doesn't belong to it?

[00:12:18]Uh colonialism or occupation. And so I thought, why not just apply the same legal methodology that we judges, lawyers, and juries apply every single day in courtrooms and law offices across this country. It's a time-t tested methodology that's been around for hundreds of years. And it's a methodology we know we trust because we use it where truthtelling matters the most in the courtroom where our lives are at stake and apply it to each of these six claims about Israel and see what happens. And so that's why it's called Israel on trial. We put Israel on trial. We analyze each of the six claims in a separate chapter. Six chapters, six claims. We apply the relevant legal methodology and issue a verdict one way or the other.

[00:13:01]>> This may be more of a psychology question than than a legal factual question, but it seems like claims of apartheid, colonialism, genocide, all that you just listed uh are are going around the world as slogans through social media, through propaganda, um and and it seems that the slogan is trusted more than the actual evidence.

[00:13:24]Why is that? Well, a lot of it has to do with the inability of people in modern society to revert back in evolutionary time and analyze questions of truth and falsehood the way we've been trained to do for hundreds of thousands of years.

[00:13:40]Human beings developed our brains on the plane in Africa over hundreds of thousands of years. And it was really important for us to be able to tell whether somebody was telling the truth.

[00:13:51]Right? If somebody in our clan said that they tested the water well and they didn't and it was poison, then we all, you know, die and don't pass our genes on to the next generation. That's a real problem. So, we developed a toolkit, a toolbox to be able to discern truth from fiction. We made decisions as a group, right? So, that diffused prejudice along uh multiple people. We did it face to face. We did it one issue at a time. and we had a methodology that we applied over time to be able to figure out whether somebody was credible or not.

[00:14:23]But of course, when we look at information on our phones, we don't use any of those tools. We are not deciding as a group. We're doing it by ourselves, usually in our rooms or our homes or our offices. Second, we don't do it face to face. We do it through a a screen.

[00:14:38]Third, we don't do it one issue at a time. In fact, we're being overwhelmed with hundreds of thousands of bits of information that are being micromanaged through an algorithm that's being run by the most sophisticated scientific minds in the world who work for the most powerful corporations the world has ever known with one goal. To manipulate our perspectives and our brains into getting us to feel toxicity because that gets us addicted to our phones. But by the way, there is one place in our society where we do train a free and virtuous citizenry to continue to think the way our brains have been trained to think for hundreds of thousands of years. And that's in the courtroom. When we bring jurors in, they're the same people biologically, psychologically, physically who were terrible at the breakfast table on their own at discerning truth from fiction when they were getting it through Tik Tok. But now we bring them into the jury box and guess what? We revert hundreds of thousands of years in evolutionary time.

[00:15:39]They make decisions all as a group. They do it face to face. They do it one issue at a time. And the judge gives them the toolbox they need developed over hundreds of years to tell truth from falsehood. And that's why I'm always amazed. You bring in 12 everyday citizens, 12 everyday Americans, nurses and teachers and ma mechanics and retirees. You give them the most complicated and m momentous disputes in our society and they almost always get it completely right. Why is that?

[00:16:10]Because they're applying the toolbox that I use in Israel on trial in my book to analyze these contested claims.

[00:16:18]>> Well, let's let's take a look at the evidence. What what piece of evidence do you think is most often overlooked when people discuss Israel's history and the current situation with the Palestinians?

[00:16:29]Well, the the the most obvious thing to understand is that you can't call somebody a colonist if the person who's being called the colonist has been there for thousands of years. You know, one of the basic legal principles that we apply in the book, it's a basic notion of fairness and justice in Western civilization is that a word or phrase has to mean the same thing with respect to one group as it means to all other groups. Right? This sounds very simple, but we never do it when it comes to Israel. The word genocide has to mean the same thing when it comes to Israel as it means in Rwanda and Sudan and everywhere else. The word colonialist has to mean the same thing when it comes to Jews as it does with everybody else.

[00:17:13]So what is a colonist? Well, there are really two kinds of colonists in history. There are extractive colonists.

[00:17:18]These are, think about the Spanish Empire that comes to South America, extracts minerals, resources, people for the benefit of the home empire. And there's settler colonialists. These are, think about the English who came to America to displace the local population here. What do they all have in common?

[00:17:36]Every colonist in history has been foreignists, has been foreign to the land that they occupy. But there's obviously no ancient lineage of English kings who practiced Christianity and spoke English and gave their kids names like George and Thomas and John that ruled Virginia and North Carolina thousands of years ago. There's obviously no ancient lineage of Spanish kings and queens who practiced Catholicism and spoke Spanish and named their kids Simon Bolivar thousands of years ago ruling in Peru and Bolivia and Venezuela. But there is all the objective neutral independent evidence shows through rocks in the ground.

[00:18:20]That's archaeological evidence black and white going back thousands of years.

[00:18:25]words on the page, documentary proof, again going back thousands of years, and blood in the veins. DNA evidence of all the major Jewish populations of the world. All three buckets of this independent, untampered with evidence shows that the people who have lived between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea going back thousands of years were Jews who practiced the Jewish religion, who spoke Hebrew, and who passed on to their children the very same names the Jews still pass on to their children today. Names like David and Moses and Benjamin. So if we care at all about the rights of indigenous people, if we care at all about true decolonization struggles, then we have to recognize that if we go back 3,200 years ago to ancient Egypt and we look at all the different people who existed at that time and we fast forward to today, there is only one people in the entire world who still speaks the same language, still practices the same religion, and still lives and governs in the exact same land as they did 3,200 years ago. And those are the Jews who live and govern the modern state of Israel. It's the great decolonization success story, the great revival of an indigenous people's sovereignty over its ancient homeland is the creation of the modern state of Israel in the modern in the middle of the 20th century.

[00:19:51]>> Uh let's talk about some of the press coverage that Israel is experiencing.

[00:19:55]You just wrote an opinion about the New York Times uh opinion page about mistreatment, sexual mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners. Uh just at the same time, Israel is coming out with an extensive study of sexual violence being used as a weapon of war on October 7th.

[00:20:16]That all of it was planned, all of it was approved by the highest levels of Hamas. Uh what is it? What what's going on here? There seems to be an unusual alliance. Is is it some kind of conspiracy against Israel that that the major news organizations of the world are participating in? The UN is participating and this whole narrative that the Palestinians are an oppressed people. All of these things seem to be coming together with a continual stream of propaganda against Israel. Wh why is that? A lot of it has not that much to do with Israel or the Jews. And it's very important to understand that the principal target is us America. You see, when most of the young people in the western society, including here in the United States, report that they're getting most of their daily news, if not all of it, from Tik Tok, which is run by the Chinese Communist Party, our principal geostrategic enemy, and where hundreds of millions of people all across Western civilization are getting another large segment of their news through the tentacles of Alazer, through the AP and Reuters, which gets its news through news sources that are funded or actually facilitated through Al Jazzer networks and reporters and correspondents which is run by the Muslim Brotherhood. You can begin to see that if you look around the world and you ask yourself who are America's two principal geostrategic enemies in the conflict that's arising and coming in the 21st century. It's those two entities, right? It's the Chinese Communist Party and it's the Muslim Brotherhood. And so is it any surprise that the vast majority of the negative information that we're seeing on those two platforms, Tik Tok and the Muslim Brotherhood's mouthpiece, Al Jazzer, is negative about the one ally or two allies in the world that have demonstrated themselves to be resilient.

[00:22:16]What do I mean by that? When our geostrategic enemies look at our side of the 50ard line, I like football analogies because I played football lots of years ago. They see the United States, that's a big bad wolf, right?

[00:22:28]We're the biggest, most powerful army and economy the world has ever known.

[00:22:32]But who's going to stand with us in the geostrategic conflict that's coming? I don't think they're so afraid of the Belgians or the Irish or the Spanish anymore who have proven themselves to be mostly obsolete on the global stage.

[00:22:46]They don't innovate. They don't produce.

[00:22:48]They don't have economies that are powerful. Their militaries are either unused or in desolitude. Who are the two? There really are only two allies of the United States that have proven not just that they're willing to fight, but that they're able to win the wars that are coming in the 21st century and that have done it against much bigger and supposedly stronger foes. And that's Israel against Iran and its many tentacles. Remember, Iran is nine times the size of Israel when you combine it with all of its Muslim allies. It's up to 20 times as big and supposedly powerful as Israel and Ukraine fighting a much bigger and supposedly more powerful foe in Russia. So, is it any surprise that the vast majority of the negative information we get on our phones through Tik Tok and the Muslim Brotherhood's mouthpiece are negative about those two allies? Who benefits? We always ask in the law, right? by someone who is peeling away our most important allies and closest friends from the United States at this inflection point in the history of Western civilization.

[00:23:56]Is it just a coincidence? Probably not.

[00:24:00]>> Well, Judge, uh, thank you for being with us. Thank you for the book. Uh for you at home, I I encourage you to get this if you want one single source that will help you frame the facts and the evidence of all the allegations coming against Israel today. It's Judge Alman's book. It's called Israel on Trial: Examining the History, the Evidence, and the Law. And you can find it wherever books are sold. Judge, again, thank you for being with us.

[00:24:31]>> Thank you for having me. Derek >> Benjamin Hall is an awardwinning journalist and war correspondent who's covered breaking news stories from around the globe. He's also a best-selling author and his latest book is for children.

[00:24:48]>> Benjamin Hall is a senior correspondent for the Fox News Channel. He's also the podcast host of Searching for Heroes with Benjamin Hall. In 2022, while covering the war in Ukraine, [music] Benjamin was catastrophically wounded, losing both his feet. Two of his colleagues were killed. Following 30 plus surgeries, he returned to journalism and penned two books.

[00:25:12]Benjamin's most recent work [music] is a children's book, Read All About It, inspired by the little toy his daughters gave him to carry throughout his travels.

[00:25:24]>> Benjamin Hall joins us now by Zoom. and we welcome you to the 700 Club, Benjamin.

[00:25:29]>> Oh, thanks for having me, Terry.

[00:25:30]>> You are a renowned journalist. You've written a great deal. You've covered international conflict. Why a children's book? [laughter] >> I'll start off by saying that I thought writing a children's book would be pretty easy, and it wasn't. I thought I could write a little kids book. It'll have some good values, but it was one of the hardest things I've done. um you know not only do you have only a few pages to do it but you want to convey values and morals you've got to work with the art um so I got to say first of all it was pretty difficult but probably the most rewarding and you ask why I wanted to write it and it did come down to the hedgehog you mentioned um and to give you a bit of the the backstory I'm actually holding the hedgehog now because I carry it with me everywhere I go so if you can see that it's this tiny little hedgehog that I carry and I've always carried to war zones and it would send messages back to my children. I I have four daughters and everywhere I went, I wanted to tell them where I was, what I was doing, the stories I was covering, while obviously staying away from some of the more brutal stories that I was covering. I carried it around the world. And four years ago in Ukraine, I was there with Fox News. We were right there at the beginning of the war. We were covering this bombed out village that the Russians had hit. Um, and on our drive back to Kev itself, our car was attacked by Russian artillery.

[00:26:48]And um I was very badly injured. The the other four people in the car, including two of my teammates, died that day.

[00:26:57]But I had this little hedgehog in my body armor, as I always did. It was right in there. And as I struggled to stay alive over the next couple of days while people were trying to find me, while I was just gripping to life, I held on to this little hedgehog.

[00:27:12]>> And it gave me the strength to keep going. It reminded me of my family. It reminded me of my children and I hugged it and I held on to it and I said, "I'm going home no matter what." No matter what. And I honestly I wrote the book because of all the things I've done and all the coverage I've done and the conflicts I've been to and seen. Nothing nothing matters as much as your family and they give you strength and they give you reason and um and so [clears throat] I got home and I brought this little hedgehog back with me. It was with me in hospital for 7 months >> and it would send messages back to my girls again from inside hospital because I didn't want them to see my facial injuries at the time. So the hedgehog continued to tell them my story of what I was going through and give be this link between us. And I said to them eventually I go home and I said I think this hedgehog needs to tell its story.

[00:27:57]We got to write a book about it. And that's where it began. And um think I'm just so immensely proud that read all about it is now out. The hedgehog goes off on an adventure and it's also just become a New York Times bestseller. So, I'm I'm just immensely grateful.

[00:28:10]>> It's wonderful. And that powerful little hedgehog is carrying a message. What do you hope children are going to gain from reading this?

[00:28:18]>> Yeah. There are a lot of things that I wanted to put into this book. You know, um [clears throat] the hedgehog I'm not going to ruin the story exactly. The hedgehog goes off into the forest and he he he saves the day. But I wanted to send the message that, you know, give kids the courage to stand up to what's wrong, even if it feels bigger and scarier than you. And I teach my kids that all the time. You know, you go out into the world and something bad may be happening or you can help someone, you do it. You get involved. And I'm so annoyed nowadays where you see people just filming on their phones when something's happening.

[00:28:50]What about saying stop doing that?

[00:28:52]That's not right. So, I really believe we got to teach that to our children.

[00:28:55]Stand up. Save the day if you can. Um, I also wanted the hedgehog to teach the ideas of adventure. Love curio. Be curious. Be adventurous. And again, that's what the hedgehog does. He heads off and he uses his adventures and his curiosity to help save the day.

[00:29:10]The strength that we get when we work together. The hedgehog eventually ends up having to work with other animals to find the strength to get through the worst moments and to again to save the day and stop the bear. And um and then the importance of journalism and truth and you know the hedgehog's dad is a journalist and he effectively ends up also spreading the news throughout the forest to to to warn them about the bear. And look, I'm a journalist through and through. believe it's the most important job out there and I think if we don't know the truth we can't change the things that are wrong and so I wanted to educate our children about that as well and I really hope that kids will read the book go home and say hey I want to write a little story about this or what would I write that the hedgehog wrote so I'm hoping kids will get engaged uh with the book as well so those are the messages that I wanted to try and convey >> Benjamin following your injury you wrote when there's nowhere to run the safest place you can be is in a conversation with God. How has what you've endured changed your priorities and even deepened your faith?

[00:30:07]>> Oh, in many many ways um faith in particular. Look, I was raised a Catholic, very strict. I was educated at a Benedicting monastery and um up until 18. Then I I started traveling and covering conflicts. And to be honest, I drifted slightly away from my faith. You know, I was I've always been a Catholic, but I didn't go to church that often.

[00:30:23]And I saw many things that had happened around the world. And I had those questions many people do when they're when they're younger. you know, how could God allow some of these things to happen? And then I was injured and I was in Ukraine and I was lying on the ground. No one knew where I was. I was barely alive. And I thought of my family. And the next thing I did is I thought of God and I talked to God and I said, "Lord, please, Lord, help me get home. Help me get home." And that was this moment where all of the questions I'd had sort of disappeared. And the place I went back to in that moment is to my family and to God.

[00:31:00]>> Yeah.

[00:31:00]>> And from that point on, I started rebuilding my faith and going back to church more often. And it didn't happen immediately, I will say. First of all, I was taken to the Brook Army Medical. So, first to Germany, to the military hospital, then to Texas, to the military hospital there. And it took a couple of months when I was finally out of the ICU. Um, I was going past the chapel on this military base all the time. Kept going past it. And I kept thinking, is now the right time? Is now the right time? And finally, then to be honest, the truth is the chapel was right next to the the mesh hall. And the the line was too long to get food. And I said, "Today's the day I'm gonna go into the chapel." But boom, that moment I walked in just changed it. And the chaplain was there and we sat down and we started talking. And you know, some people would say that this would turn you against your faith. Something terrible happens.

[00:31:45]I'm on prosthetics and, you know, badly injured. It did the opposite for me. It gave me someone to talk to. It gave me a place to go. And um I think that if you look at things, you know, in a positive way, I think God has given me an opportunity to spread the message I have learned, to talk to others, to help others if they're going through something difficult. And that's a great gift for me. So that's been my my journey uh through life to where I am now back with my faith. And you know, I I couldn't be happier because of it.

[00:32:12]Well, you know, it's often those challenging things in life. In fact, most of the time, those challenging things in life that build character in us and that take us to a deeper place away from some of the stuff we get caught up in just every day. I want to thank you for your book. I want to tell people about it. Benjamin Hall, read all about it is the latest and I think you'll enjoy it. I think your children will enjoy it. Benjamin, it's always great to find a good children's book.

[00:32:36]Thank you for being with us today.

[00:32:39]>> Thanks for having me on, Terry. I appreciate it. Uh-huh.

[00:32:46]>> Welcome to Washington for this CBN News Breakak. An update on the American missionary doctor infected with the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Dr. Peter Stafford is receiving treatment at a hospital in Berlin, Germany. His wife and children who tested negative for the virus are being monitored and remain symptom free.

[00:33:05]One of Dr. Stafford's colleagues told ABC News that he is weak but making improvements now able to eat and even text with friends. Well, in the West African Nation of Nigeria, US and Nigerian military forces are striking terrorist targets. The US released this footage reportedly showing air strikes on the Islamic State group. Recently, a joint operation eliminated the second in command of the terror group. ISIS is responsible for attacks against government forces as well as Christians and Muslims. International religious freedom groups say Islamic radical groups are carrying out a genocide against Christians in Nigeria. Well, you can always get the latest from CBN News by going to our website at cbnnews.com.

[00:33:52]>> Well, Janet is a senior citizen on a fixed income. She struggles to make ends meet. Yet, thanks to you, she's never had to go without a healthy meal.

[00:34:05]Retired and living on a fixed income, Janet discovered just how quickly life can change.

[00:34:11]>> Well, you don't always have the funds to take care of those drastic problems such as that [music] HVAC system when my heat went out and it's winter time. I hope nobody ever has to experience that because that was terrible. [music] Despite a lifetime of hard work and saving, Janet found it hard to keep up and food became a constant concern.

[00:34:33]>> The prices are ridiculously high and that's where my shortcoming is, where I can't afford what I would normally go out there and [music] buy.

[00:34:43]>> Needing help with groceries, Janet turned to First Baptist Church East End, a partner of Operation Blessing.

[00:34:50]>> There's some of everything in there.

[00:34:51]You've got the bread, you've got the meat, you've got the canned goods, you've got the veggies. And I sat down there and I enjoyed whatever I made.

[00:35:02][laughter] It was just a blessing.

[00:35:05]>> Thanks to you, Janet now has the food she needs, bringing relief and stability.

[00:35:11]>> It's made an a big difference in my life. It put me at ease because I didn't have to worry about, okay, what am I going to cook? I don't have anything in here to cook.

[00:35:21]It It really did.

[00:35:23]>> For Janet, that [music] support meant more than food. It meant she wasn't alone.

[00:35:28]>> I just want to say thank you. It's much appreciated what you do for people. You never know what anyone is going through.

[00:35:36]And it's hard. It's hard nowadays. And what may seem to be a little help for some is a world of help to others.

[00:35:48]It's been a world of help to me. Thank you.

[00:35:53]>> That thank you goes to you. If you're a member of the 700 Club, you're part of the incredible outreach that Operation Blessing does every single day right here in the United States, delivering millions of pounds of food to people in need. People who have a whole lot more month than they have money. And it's wonderful to know, well, we can take that piece for you. we can make sure that you have enough food to eat. For disaster victims, when disasters strike, we want to strike back with love and compassion. And whether it's uh cleaning kits, tarps, a hot meal, a place to stay, whatever the need is, we want to be there for them. For people who can't afford surgeries, we want to be able to provide for them. for people that have no hope of livelihood and no way to earn the the dignity of earning their own living. We want to provide for them, too. You're a part of all of it when you join with us. So, if you're not a member, I encourage you. Call us and say, "Yes, I want to join the 700 Club."

[00:36:53]How much is it? It's just $20 a month.

[00:36:55]That's 65 cents a day. Some of you can join at higher levels. We have those.

[00:37:00]700 Club Gold at $40 a month. Thousand club is $1,000 a year. That breaks out to $84 a month. whatever level when you call and join, I've got something for you. It's called Praying for America: Seeking the Peace of the Nation. We're going to be calling people to pray for America beginning May 25th. Uh and and this wonderful teaching will tell you how to pray for for America, how to pray for your country, how to pray for the peace of the city you live in. Uh what are the scriptures behind it? What is the what should be our motivation behind it? What are we seeking to do? And for us here at at CBN, we're trying to reestablish the covenant that was made so long ago. 250 years ago, the Continental Congress called the nation to pray. This is before the Declaration of Independence. Called the nation to pray. Called the nation to repent.

[00:37:54]Called the nation to ask for the mediation of Jesus Christ. You can read it in the declaration. We're calling that same thing. 40 days of prayer for America. leading into the July 4th, let's celebrate the 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence with a Declaration in Heaven. Lord, we need you and we need you now more than ever. If you want to be a part of it, you want to know more about it, uh, call us and say, "Yes, I'd like to join the 700 Club."

[00:38:27]Please send me this booklet. You'll also get instant access to streaming videos from all the hosts of the 700 Club talking about how to pray for America.

[00:38:36]It's yours when you join. So call 1 8007007000.

[00:38:41]Terry, >> after Carlos wrenched his hip, he could barely move. He couldn't tie his shoes.

[00:38:47]He couldn't pick up things he dropped.

[00:38:49]He couldn't even walk. So he had to crawl from room to room until he was miraculously healed overnight.

[00:38:59]If God if he wouldn't intervene [music] for me that that afternoon, uh, I don't know what what I was going to do.

[00:39:10]>> Truck driver Carlos Panero had been suffering chronic hip pain for years.

[00:39:15]The long hours spent sitting behind the wheel didn't help. you have to work so many hours sitting on that seat and holding the steering wheel that uh it gets you a stress just being in the same position. You'll be sitting there for 10 12 [music] hours, 13 hours and your body is going to take is going to take the toll on it.

[00:39:38]>> Then one day at work in February 2023, it got worse.

[00:39:44]>> I try to move a cage. It's made out of rebar. I move it from the passenger side to the driver's side and I push it. I force my body to with it. It felt like uh something I can describe like a crank.

[00:40:00]>> Afterwards, he could hardly bend at the waist or even walk. He says at times he even had to crawl from room to room.

[00:40:08]>> I wasn't able to tie my shoes. If I lose, I let go something from my hands, my keys for example, I wasn't able to [music] pick it up, like no mobility forward, nothing.

[00:40:20]>> Over the coming weeks, he tried chiropractors and even natural healing methods. But he was still in excruciating pain. And now unable to work, Carlos worried about his future.

[00:40:34]>> Because I was all by myself. I'm leaving by myself. I'm in a randed room. I have nobody.

[00:40:43]I was thinking, you know, who's going to help me if I can make it to the bathroom? Who's going to help me if I can go to work? Who's going to be who's going to pay my rent? Who's going to pay my bills? Who's going to take me to the hospital? How am I going to get to the car?

[00:40:58]>> One day, Carlos wondered how much longer he could take the pain.

[00:41:03]>> And no, the pain was increasing. It was increasing.

[00:41:07]If God if he wouldn't intervene for me that that afternoon, uh, I don't know what what I was going to do.

[00:41:18]>> Later that same night, Carlos was watching the 700 Club when host Ashley Key gave a word of knowledge he knew was for him.

[00:41:27]>> Yeah, I believe someone's watching with um a hip issue. It's almost like your something with your pelvis. It's like tilted. It's shifted and it's creating a lot of pain. You also have arthritis in your hips. And I believe God is healing this for you right now in the name of Jesus. That shifting will go back into place where [music] it should be. And you will not have to struggle with this pain. You've been feeling it every single day. I believe God is touching your body, touching your hips right now in Jesus name. Just receive it. Thank [music] you, Lord.

[00:41:56]>> She surprised me. I'll be honest with you. She surprised me. And when I heard that, I said, "Yeah, that's me." The next [music] day, Carlos was back at work, and the pain that had plagued him for years was gone and hasn't returned.

[00:42:11]>> And it doesn't hurt me at all. And I'm driving uh every day. I get up, I go to work, it I do my work, I do everything, and nothing. I'm sleeping like a baby.

[00:42:24]>> Carlos encourages others to trust God for their healing.

[00:42:28]>> You don't have to take it. [music] You don't have to carry on with that pain on your body. Just give it to him.

[00:42:38]>> I can't imagine the hours sitting in a cab bouncing up and down in a a huge truck not having back problems, but this was extreme.

[00:42:48]And really, it interrupted and interfered with Carlos's life on oh so many levels. He couldn't even work anymore. And then he's healed. You know, God is so good how he knows what we need. He knows what it takes to heal us.

[00:43:02]He understands our hearts in all of that. And there he was for Carlos in that moment. We want to take some time to pray for you today. I know there are many of you who may not be in this exact situation, but you're challenged by things in your life that you need God to touch and move out of the way, out of your body, healing for you emotionally, maybe even addictions of some kind. We want to take some time to pray for you today. Gordon, this is um an answer to prayer that came in um while watching the 700 Club. Carol from Oakdale, New York heard you give a remarkably specific word of knowledge. You said you have this fungal infection in your feet and I don't know if it's between the toes or in the nails or what it is, but fungal infection in the feet. You're not praying, but God's [clears throat] healing you anyway. He wants to bless you with this and just take it away from you. You said, "I'm just going to live with it." God doesn't want you to live with it. He's setting you free from it right now in Jesus' name. Well, Carol was stunned. For years, she had struggled with the persistent fungal condition on her feet. And just days earlier, she had spoken those exact words, resigning herself that this was something she would just have to endure, she immediately received her healing by faith. Soon afterward, she said she looked at her feet, was amazed. The dark discoloration between her toes had completely disappeared and the peeling was gone. Wow. Hallelujah.

[00:44:25]>> Hallelujah. For nearly two months, Julianne from Monroe Township, New Jersey, experienced persistent pain throughout the left side of her body, lower back. After visiting her doctor, she was advised to take pain relievers, attend physical therapy, but the pain remained. Then one day, while watching this show, Terry had a word of knowledge. Someone experiencing lower back pain on the left side extending down the leg declared that God was healing it. Well, Julianne claimed the word for herself. Within a couple of days, every bit of pain was gone. And she gives all praise and glory to Jesus, which is where our praise and glory belong. To him belong all honor, all glory. But here's the amazing thing, and it truly is amazing. He wants to share his glory with you and me. He wants to reach out with hands of love and compassion. Not as some kind of servant, but as his friends. Even when we're not asking for things, he wants to provide for us. Even when we don't have the faith to believe, he says, "I'll give you the faith to believe." Isn't that wonderful? It's the best news the world has ever heard that there's a God who loves, who cares, who is the creator of all things, but he still watches over all things. And he wants to provide for his children. He wants you to be in good health and to prosper just as your soul prospers. When you get that good news that God's on your side, he's with you, he's willing to forgive every single iniquity, all your sins are taken away.

[00:46:09]They're cast behind him. He doesn't even want to remember him anymore. He wants you. Ain't that wonderful? So, let's say yes to that. That's all we have to do.

[00:46:19]All we have to do is amen, God. Okay, I I'll take that. That's a wonderful thing. Let's let's do that. All you have to do is say yes. Here I am, Lord. All you have to do, let's pray. Let's believe. Let God do all the rest. Lord God Almighty, we come to you. We come to you acknowledging that we're not worthy, but you make us worthy. Acknowledging that we don't have faith, but you give us faith. Acknowledging that you are the creator. You are the allsufficient one.

[00:46:54]You are our savior. So Lord, stretch forth your hand and do miracles today.

[00:47:01]For we ask it in Jesus name. There's someone, you've got excruciating pain in your u lower right back. God's able to heal everything that caused that and break the trauma of it off of you and restore you completely. So there's no more pain at all. You just felt it leave you and you're going, "Is this really for me?" And the answer is yes, it is.

[00:47:27]You're healed. Get up and do what you couldn't do before. God has touched you and restored you.

[00:47:34]>> Yeah. There's someone else. You have a problem with regurgitating. It's like it's you're not sick. It's like something has happened to your your gag reflex almost almost daily. At some point in the day, you find yourself vomiting up what you've eaten. God's healing that condition for you right now. Just put your hand on your throat as you're going to feel a warmth come into that part of your body as God sets you free from that.

[00:48:00]>> Someone with severe pain and deep in the socket of your right shoulder, uh you've actually been told surgery can't help you.

[00:48:09]>> But God is helping you right now. So do what you couldn't do before. That pain just left and now you're going to have full mobility. You're amazed to even hear these words. In the name of Jesus, raise that right arm. Raise it all the way up. Begin to praise him because of what he's [music] done for you in Jesus name. Amen. If you've been healed, share your good report. Let us know. 1 8007007000 is the number to call. If you need prayer, we're here for you 24 hours a day. Our honor, our privilege to pray for you. Here's a word from Psalms. For you, Lord, are good and ready to forgive and abundant in mercy to all those who call on you. God bless. We'll see you again tomorrow.

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