"I felt that I heard God (speak) to me, and not audibly. It wasn't a weird thing. It was a magnificently sweet and simple thing. 'I love you, Kathie, and if you'll trust me with your life, I will make something beautiful out of it.'" -Kathie Lee Gifford

(New York, NY)—Well known television host Kathie Lee Gifford broke down and cried on the Today show Wednesday as she recounted how God used Billy Graham to her, and her family's life.

When she was 12-years-old, she said she came home one day to find her mother and sister kneeling in front of the television set, sobbing in reaction to a televised Billy Graham Crusade.

"Both of them had come to faith by watching the power of his message through a television screen," said Gifford, who became a Christian later that year after watching a Billy Graham produced film called The Restless Ones.

"I felt that I heard God (speak) to me, and not audibly. It wasn't a weird thing. It was a magnificently sweet and simple thing. 'I love you, Kathie, and if you'll trust me with your life, I will make something beautiful out of it.'"

Describing her reaction to the movie, which invited people to step forward in the theater and make a commitment to Christ, Gifford said, "I could not get out of my seat fast enough. I flat-out believed the whole thing, [and] I've never stopped believing it."

Gifford, who later became friends with Graham, also addressed an episode in her life in which her husband, Frank, was unfaithful to her.

"It was a terrible time," she said. "You know who Billy called first? Frank. He called Frank first. Then I got on the line. He wanted to talk to both of us. He knew that healing had to be from both of us."

To watch Gifford share her testimony in her own words, Click Here.

After the Typhoon's "direct punch," the statue is still intact; a "symbol of hope and comfort to those fighting to stay alive."

(Tanauan, Philippines)—In what some may consider a miracle, a statue of Jesus Christ survived the massive damage and destruction caused by typhoon Haiyan in the city of Tanauan.

With as many as 5,000 feared dead in the hard-hit region, the statue of Jesus, with his hands raised, provides a symbol of hope and comfort to those fighting to stay alive.

Tanauan hugs the coastline, and received a direct punch from Haiyan, so residents have been forced to forage for basic rudiments including food and clean water.

As many as 600,000 people have been affected by the typhoon, according to local authorities, but many remote areas are still inaccessible due to landslides and fallen trees.

Relief workers sent into the area say as many as two out of five victims is a child.

"We are witnessing the complete devastation of a city. In Tacloban everything is flattened. Bodies litter the street, many, many of which are children. From what I saw, two out of every five bodies was that of a child," according to Lynette Lim, who works with Save the Children.

"Children are particularly vulnerable in disasters. We fear for how many children have been washed away in floods, crushed under falling buildings and injured by flying debris," she added. "Many are separated from their families amid the devastation, and all are in desperate need of food, water and shelter."

Some say as many as 25 million people have been affected by the ferocious storm, with local reports describing homes damaged, trees uprooted, and a storm surge of over 20 feet that pushed ashore, fueled by gusts over 200 mph. Authorities estimate 500,000 may be homeless in the aftermath.

Study finds increased spirituality in teens associated with abstinence, increased positive social behaviors and reduced narcissism.

(Akron, OH)—If the spirit is truly willing, perhaps the flesh is not so weak, after all.

Increased spirituality in teens undergoing substance abuse treatment is associated with greater likelihood of abstinence (as measured by toxicology screens), increased positive social behaviors, and reduced narcissism, according to a study by researchers from The University of Akron, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) and Baylor University.

The study—part of CWRU's "Project SOS" and "Helping Others Live Sober" research initiatives, two ongoing studies of adolescent addiction—explored changes in daily spiritual experiences of 195 substance-dependent adolescents, ages 14-18, who were court-referred for treatment at New Directions, the largest adolescent residential treatment facility in Northeast Ohio.

New Directions provides a range of evidence-based therapies, including cognitive-behavioral therapy, motivational enhancement therapy, group therapies, and relapse prevention and aftercare. New Directions uses the 12-step recovery program of Alcoholics Anonymous, which does not require participants to hold any particular religious beliefs.

Researchers measured "daily spiritual experiences" independently of "religious beliefs and behaviors." Daily spiritual experiences are not bound to any particular religious tradition and include reported feelings of a divine presence, inner peace or harmony, and selflessness and benevolence toward others.

The researchers found that, on the "religious beliefs and behaviors" scale, adolescents reported a range of belief orientations at intake, including atheist, agnostic, unsure, non-denominational spiritual or denominational religious. The researchers also found that most of the adolescents, regardless of their religious background or denomination, reported having more daily spiritual experiences by the end of the two month treatment period.

The study, funded by the John Templeton Foundation, is the first to include detailed measures of both spirituality and religiosity as independent variables at baseline and over the course of treatment, while controlling for background characteristics and clinical severity, says Co-Investigator Dr. Matthew T. Lee, professor and chair of sociology at The University of Akron. Professor Lee also is vice president of the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love.

Participants, most of whom were marijuana dependent (92%) with comorbid alcohol dependence (60%), were interviewed within the first 10 days of treatment and two months later at treatment discharge. Outcomes assessed included urine toxicology screens, alcohol/drug craving symptoms, clinical characteristics, global psychosocial functioning, spiritual experiences and religious behaviors.

Co-Investigator Dr. Byron R. Johnson, director of the Institute for Studies of Religion and distinguished professor of the social sciences at Baylor, notes that "although about a third of the teens self-identified as agnostic or atheist at intake, two-thirds of whom claimed a spiritual identity at discharge, a most remarkable shift."

More important, these changes strongly predicted toxicology, narcissism and positive social behavior, Lee says.

"The key message is that changes in spiritual experiences are associated with better outcomes, including lower toxicology, reduced self-centeredness, and higher levels of helping others," Lee says.

The study, one of the few involving teens participating in Alcoholics Anonymous, "supports the AA theory of addiction—which views self-centeredness as a root cause—and suggests that this approach would be helpful in designing treatment options for adolescents," Johnson adds.
The adolescents' capacity to become more spiritual, and overcome self-centeredness, evidences the malleability of personality and belief orientation, Lee says.

"Contrary to the conventional wisdom," he says, "personality is not relatively fixed by late adolescence, and Axis II disorders such as narcissistic personality disorder can improve. What this means is that belief orientation, like personality more generally, is malleable. Just because an adolescent is not spiritual prior to participating in the treatment project, does not mean that they are incapable of becoming spiritual. Our results demonstrate that if they do become spiritual, they will tend to have much better outcomes."

Principal Investigator Dr. Maria Pagano, associate professor of psychiatry at CWRU's School of Medicine, suggests that "changes in spirituality during treatment may serve as the 'switch' that moves youth off of the track of substance dependency and onto the track of recovery and enhanced well-being, thereby countering harmful social trends like youth unemployment and decreased volunteering that have worked against addiction recovery."

"In other words," she adds, "change is possible and spiritual experience may be the key. Hopefully our results will encourage other researchers to further explore this thesis."

"With more than 71 million claiming Christianity, India is now the eighth largest Christian nation in the world." -Dick McClain, The Mission Society

(Norcross, GA)—Christianity in India is growing at a rapid rate among middle and high caste Indians and young people, according to the latest issue of "Unfinished" magazine, which examines social, economic and cultural trends in the "new India."

The current "remarkable receptivity to Christ" across the entire spectrum of Indian society, which had been traditionally among only lower castes and marginalized communities, is one of five dominant themes identified by Indian anthropologist Prabhu Singh that define today's India and its missional challenges. In his article "Welcome to the New India" in the current issue of "Unfinished," Singh also explores new eras of "glocal" complex connectivity, heightened cultural sensitivity, alarming religious animosity and widening economic disparity.

"With more than 71 million claiming Christianity, India is now the eighth largest Christian nation in the world," said Dick McClain, president and CEO of The Mission Society, publisher of "Unfinished." "Yet with 456 languages and more than 2,611 distinct people groups, India still has more people groups unreached with the gospel than any other nation—88 percent of its population."

Considered the most ethnically diverse country on the planet, the "new India" is experiencing rapid change, diversity and complexity. According to Singh's identification of the five top trends, with great receptivity to Christianity also comes alarming religious animosity, resulting in persecution and violent resistance to Christianity. With greater "glocal" (both global and local) complex connectivity come both new economic opportunities and widening economic disparity between the newly wealthy and members of the lowest castes who cannot rise above their status.

Multiple articles in "Falling in Love with India," the latest issue of "Unfinished," offer insights on how these trends in the emerging "new India" require changes in missiology. "Glocal" complex connectivity has led to focus on urban missions, a shift from solely rural and tribal, the growing middle class and youth.

India's Christian history has come full circle from colonialism, in which the West jumped in to "help India's poor," to the "new India" that sends out thousands of its own missionaries and is home to hundreds of self-supporting ministries. "Give Us Friends" in the fall issue encourages American Christians to reexamine their relationship with brothers and sisters around the world as equals in God's kingdom work and to share in partnership.

The issue also examines how to pray for the "new India," sensing God's call to serve in India, "20 Things that Might Surprise You about India," and statistical trends, including demographics on religion, hunger and suicide, and the rise of social media.

The Mission Society's award-winning quarterly magazine "Unfinished" informs and inspires readers about worldwide mission trends and issues. Free subscriptions can be obtained atwww.themissionsociety.org/go/subscribetouf.

On November 26 the Supreme Court will decide whether or not to hear our German homeschool asylum appeal, Romeike v. Holder.

I am asking you to join me and thousands of others in a special day of prayer and fasting on November 17 to ask God for favor on behalf of this precious family.

In 2010, a federal immigration judge granted the Romeikes asylum. He recognized that, for this family, returning to Germany would mean certain persecution with outrageous fines, criminal prosecution, and—every parent's worst nightmare—the physical seizure of their seven children just because they homeschool. This judge rightly said that America should be a refuge for those who are persecuted.

But the Obama Administration revoked their asylum protection in 2012. HSLDA appealed their case to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. In April 2013 a three-judge panel upheld the administration's ruling and told the Romeikes that America would not be a shelter for them.

In Romeike v. Holder, we are asking the Supreme Court to uphold America as a place of refuge for those who are persecuted for their faith. I feel good about our argument, but we must all recognize that the Supreme Court takes a very limited number of cases—so please pray that the Court will agree to hear our appeal.

This is not the only important case being examined that day. The Justices will also decide whether to hear cases involving the strength of our constitutional religious freedoms in the ObamaCare-related cases, Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood v. Sebelius.

Will you please join me on Sunday, November 17, asking God's mercy on our nation, protection for religious freedom, and that the Supreme Court will hear the Romeike family's appeal? They are, in my opinion, modern day pilgrims.

Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. May God bless you!

Travis tweeted, "Thank you for 'My Hope.' Three of my friends got saved!"

After a prayer campaign that began in January by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association for their My Hope America event, which extended throughout the year and culminated with Graham's 95th birthday message, "The Cross," thetestimonies are pouring in.

Reports of lives touched by Billy Graham's message and the groundwork laid by Believers in prayer and outreach include…

• A 12-year-old, whose father is in prison, coming to Christ and finding hope
• Family members having conversations they've never been able to before—about faith.
• Rededications and first-time commitments to Jesus Christ
• "just the beginning" of opportunities in reaching out to neighbors

…And much more. Click Here to read the many testimonies and positive reports from Billy Graham's message and outreach.

…while U.S. Secretary of State tells Congress not to listen to Israelis.

While U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has been trying to dissuade Congress from imposing additional sanctions on Iran, going so far as to tell congressional leaders that they must "ignore" and "stop listening to the Israelis" on the matter, yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the following remarks to the Knesset plenum:

"There are not just two possibilities on the Iranian issue: A bad deal—or war. This is incorrect. There is a third possibility—and that is continuing the pressure of sanctions. I would even say that a bad deal is liable to lead to the second, undesired, result.

"There is no reason to submit to Iranian [dictates]; neither is there any reason to be hasty. Iran is under very harsh economic pressure and the advantage is with those applying the pressure. It is possible to achieve a good deal to dismantle Iran's military nuclear capability. This cannot be achieved by the proposal now being discussed in Geneva. That proposal would make a gaping hole in the sanctions through which the air could escape from the pressure of the sanctions. Iran is being asked to do very little.

"All of its centrifuges would be left intact; not even one centrifuge would be dismantled and the underground facilities would also remain. This is not necessary because it is possible to continue the pressure."

On November 26 the Supreme Court will decide whether or not to hear our German homeschool asylum appeal, Romeike v. Holder.

I am asking you to join me and thousands of others in a special day of prayer and fasting on November 17 to ask God for favor on behalf of this precious family.

In 2010, a federal immigration judge granted the Romeikes asylum. He recognized that, for this family, returning to Germany would mean certain persecution with outrageous fines, criminal prosecution, and—every parent's worst nightmare—the physical seizure of their seven children just because they homeschool. This judge rightly said that America should be a refuge for those who are persecuted.

But the Obama Administration revoked their asylum protection in 2012. HSLDA appealed their case to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. In April 2013 a three-judge panel upheld the administration's ruling and told the Romeikes that America would not be a shelter for them.

In Romeike v. Holder, we are asking the Supreme Court to uphold America as a place of refuge for those who are persecuted for their faith. I feel good about our argument, but we must all recognize that the Supreme Court takes a very limited number of cases—so please pray that the Court will agree to hear our appeal.

This is not the only important case being examined that day. The Justices will also decide whether to hear cases involving the strength of our constitutional religious freedoms in the ObamaCare-related cases, Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood v. Sebelius.

Will you please join me on Sunday, November 17, asking God's mercy on our nation, protection for religious freedom, and that the Supreme Court will hear the Romeike family's appeal? They are, in my opinion, modern day pilgrims.

Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. May God bless you!

…whether labeled as "secular" or "religious," "for-profit" or "non-profit," corporations have the right to hold religious principles and to act upon them.

Today, as announced here, the ACLJ has taken a challenge to the HHS Mandate directly to the United States Supreme Court. Last Friday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, often referred to as the second most powerful court in the land, ruled in our Mandate case brought on behalf of Frank and Phil Gilardi and the two companies they own and control, Freshway Foods and Freshway Logistics. Like our other clients for whom we have filed suit and obtained preliminary injunctive relief in six other cases, the Gilardis cannot in good conscience comply with what the Mandate requires of their companies: to pay for and provide in a health plan drugs and services to which they religiously object.

In last week's opinion, the court of appeals could not have been clearer regarding the effect of the Mandate on the Gilardi brothers' religious freedom: it "trammels the right of free exercise—a right that lies at the core of our constitutional liberties." In addressing whether the Mandate satisfied what is called "strict scrutiny," defined by the Supreme Court as "the most demanding test known to constitutional law," the court of appeals was equally clear: the Mandate does not serve a compelling governmental interest (the court called the government's arguments on this score, "sketchy and abstract") and it is not the least restrictive means of achieving the government's alleged interests (the court called the government's arguments here, flawed and "self-defeating").

Based on these holdings, amounting to an unquestionable legal victory for business owners who want to manage their companies consistent with their religious beliefs, the court reversed the decision of the trial court that denied the Gilardis a preliminary injunction.

Though the court of appeals vindicated the religious rights of Frank and Phil Gilardi individually, it declined to our accept our argument that the Freshway Companies themselves have a right to challenge the Mandate on religious freedom grounds. The court said it had "no basis for concluding a secular organization can exercise religion."

We respectfully disagree. While it is true that the Supreme Court has never explicitly held that a "secular" corporation has a right to operate under binding religious norms, it is equally true that the Supreme Court has never rejected that argument either. Moreover, as explained in the petition, what the Court has held regarding the exercise of religion in the corporate form and in the commercial context amply supports the idea that, whether labeled as "secular" or "religious," "for-profit" or "non-profit," corporations have the right to hold religious principles and to act upon them.

In fact, the Supreme Court has made clear that all corporations—no matter their mission, nature, or purpose—are protected by the First Amendment when engaging in free speech activity.

To restrict religious freedoms only to "secular" corporations would mean that though such a corporation is free to speak on issues of religious concern, any decision to act on those concerns is wholly unprotected. It would mean that though the Freshway Companies have a First Amendment right to display signs on their delivery trucks stating, "It's not a choice, it's a child," they do not have a right to act upon this belief by excluding abortifacient drugs in their health plan.

Such a result would rank religious freedom secondary to free speech, even though the First Amendment provides for the free exercise of religion before naming the freedoms of speech, the press, assembly, and petition.

What's interesting to note about the D.C. Circuit's opinion is that though it refused to extend free exercise rights to what it called "secular" corporations, the court openly opined that the Supreme Court might eventually think differently—perhaps in this very case. Judge Janice Rogers Brown, writing for the court, stated that though the Supreme Court "has never seriously considered such a claim by a secular corporation or other organizational entity [this] is not to say it never will."

Over two years ago, well before the onslaught of litigation against the Mandate, the ACLJ submitted formal comments to the Department of Health and Human Services on behalf of the Dominican Sisters of the Congregation of St. Cecilia of Nashville, Tennessee. We told HHS that the Mandate imposed a stark choice upon the religious order: "Obey Caesar, or Obey Christ." In a country dedicated to religious liberty, that is a choice the government may not lawfully require any person or group to make.

Six months later, we filed suit on behalf of Frank O'Brien and his business, O'Brien Industrial Holdings, the first for-profit employer to challenge the Mandate. Like the Catholic religious sisters, O'Brien faced a Hobson's choice: abandon his beliefs in order to stay in business, or abandon his business in order to stay true to his beliefs.

Since filing O'Brien's complaint in a Missouri federal court, the ACLJ has filed suit in other jurisdictions on behalf of other employers with one goal in mind: to secure, once and for all, the rights of businesses and their owners to practice their trade consistent with religious principles and beliefs. So far, we have obtained preliminary relief against the Mandate in all our cases, and we still wait for decisions from the Seventh and Eighth Circuits in the O'Brien and Korte cases.

Today, after a year and half of litigating in the lower courts, representing thirty-two business owners and their corporations, we have reached the high court asking it to rule upon issues of the highest importance. Whether the Court will grant our petition and agree to hear the merits of our case remains to be seen. No matter, however, which Mandate challenge the Court ultimately chooses to consider (three others are currently pending), we will do our utmost to persuade the Supreme Court to rule in favor of the supreme freedom upon which this country was founded: the right to religious exercise.

Please join us in prayer for Saeed's health and protection. Take actionin urging our nation's leaders to directly engage diplomatically to save Pastor Saeed's life. -ACLJ

According to the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), American Pastor Saeed Abedini, who was recently transferred from Iran's notorious Evin Prison to an even more dangerous one, was denied his medication.

The CBN News report stated that Saeed's father had attempted to visit him this week in the new location, Rajai Shahr prison, and had brought along the medication he'd been taking and other personal belongings, but he was turned away.

The prison officials told his father that Saeed was not allowed to have any of them.

There is a petition that people, concerned with Saeed's welfare, can sign which urges President Obama to take action regarding Pastor Saeed's release. Click on the following link to sign it. beheardproject.com/saeed

Saeed is an American pastor who was born in Iran, and who returned there over a year ago to help set up an orphanage. He was arrested for his Christian faith and sentenced to prison for 8 years.

"Very clearly I heard again the same voice, 'My daughter.' I look[ed] back. There was a bright light shining on the corner. Inside of the light I saw Jesus the Lord."

(India)—An amazing testimony was recently posted by Paul Ciniraj Ministries (PCM), from a former Hindu girl in India. (Photo: Sayujya on right/PCM)

Sayujya Thampuratti belongs to the Hindu Royal family of Kerala in India, and she shared recently about how Jesus came to her one day—revealing Himself to be the One Way to God the Father—and changed her life forever.

"From childhood I was an idol worshiper," says Sayujya. She describes in the posting how she had been "offering flowers to [her] idols" when one of them fell from her hand and broke into several pieces. She became very upset and "cried with a deep sorrow," she says.

"While I was crying, Somebody touched me on the shoulder. I thought it was my mother…the Person touched my shoulder [and] called me 'My daughter,'" described Sayujya.

"I was shocked because it was a gentleman's [voice]. I stood up immediately and turned towards Him; but I found nobody behind me. I looked around the corners. I was surprised to [find] nothing because I was quite sure that [Someone] had touched me and called me as daughter," continued Sayujya.

Finding no one, the girl went back to her room and tried to put the broken idol back together, to no avail. She began to weep again, until…

"Very clearly I heard again the same voice, 'My daughter,'" Sayujya described. "I look[ed] back. There was a bright light shining on the corner. Inside of the light I saw Jesus the Lord. I quickly understood it was Jesus, because many times I saw His picture several places. Jesus told me, 'My daughter, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no man comes unto God the Father, but by Me. Believe Me…and follow Me.' 

"Automatically I knelt down before Him. I confessed before the Lord Jesus and accepted Him as my personal Savior and Lord," said Sayujya. (Photo: Sayujya being baptized/PCM)

Following her amazing conversion, she took all her idols and threw them away, much to the astonishment of her parents. She explained what had happened to them, but "they became angry and began to persecute me," she said.

Sayujya was able to obtain a Bible from Pastor Paul and Mercy Ciniraj of Paul Ciniraj Ministries (PCM), and she was soon baptized.

Says Sayujya, "I asked Paul Ciniraj Ministries for more Bibles to distribute among my friends that they too will be believing Jesus Christ as their Saviour. Now I share my testimony among my fellow beings and distributing Gospel tracts and Bibles through PCM."

Sayujya added, "Every day I am becoming strong in my faith in Jesus Christ, my Lord. Please pray for my family and friends to experience this marvelous and happiest salvation."