A Powerful Message from A Powerful Woman

In all my years in Christian television, I’ve never met a woman like Brigitte Gabriel.

I’ve had the chance to interview some exceptional people on my shows — politicians, entertainers  from all walks of life, and a multitude of preachers and prophetic voices — but I have never heard a story as powerful as hers. I talk about how our entire world can be turned upside down in an instant, how quickly we can lose nearly everything we know, and here is a remarkable woman who has lived through it all. Continue reading

“It’s A Miracle”: Teen Survives Plane Crash, Walks To Safety

Aviation experts and rescue personnel are calling it a “miracle” that 16-year-old Autumn Veatch not only survived the crash of her grandparent’s plane but was able to walk two days through the Washington wilderness until she found a trailhead and a passing motorist.

“It’s a miracle, no question about it, ” Lt. Col. Jeffrey Lustick of the Civil Air Patrol said Monday. “Moments of joy like this can be hard to find.”

Veatch said that her grandparents were killed in the crash according to a transcript of the 911 call made from a Mazama, Washington store where the motorist took the girl.

“So tell me exactly what happened,” the dispatcher told the girl, according to a transcript of the call posted by CNN.

“I was riding from Kalispell, Montana, to Bellingham, Washington, and … well, I don’t know where, but we crashed and I was the only one that made it out,” Veatch said in a low voice.

“Made it out from the collision?”

“From the plane,” she said.

“Or survived?”

“Yeah, the only one that survived.”

“Are you injured at all?”

“Yeah, I have a lot of burns on my hands, and I’m … kind of covered in bruises and scratches and stuff.”

Officials tried to tell the media they didn’t know the condition of the girl’s grandparents until the transcript was released to CNN.

“Autumn said they flew out of the clouds, and then flew into the side of a mountain. She was able to get out, and she spent the night by a river before hiking to the highway, where she was rescued,” Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers said.

“It gets cold up there at night, pretty high elevations, so she survived not only the crash, then going through that. I will just tell you this from all of us here — we are just impressed with her, she’s like a kind of superhero.”

Veatch was being treated for her injuries at Three Rivers Hospital where she was listed in stable condition.  Hospital officials said she was suffering mostly from exposure after spending two days in the wilderness.  Veatch’s father said she was “pretty banged up.”

The hospital added she suffered from rhabdomyolysis, a muscle disorder that was likely caused by an injury from the crash.

Officials are still searching for the crash site.

“God’s Not Done With Me Yet!”

An Oklahoma Highway Patrol officer is giving praise to God after surviving a horrific accident in March.

Trooper Gary Sanders was in his cruiser when another driver slammed into his vehicle.  The impact was so strong that it sent Sanders’ cruiser into a vehicle he had just pulled over before the crash.

Trooper Sanders critical injuries included multiple broken bones and major internal injuries.  He experienced many surgeries and painful physical therapy.

“Looking at it, I should have died,” Sanders cried.

Now, with the support of his family and community and faith in God, he is already walking.

Sanders said it’s a miracle that he was alive.

“If you want to use the term miracle, yes. I just say God’s not finished with me yet,” Sanders told NewsChannel 4.

He is re-learning every day tasks like walking but he says he’s making great progress.

“I know I can get back there eventually. It’s just going to take time,” Trooper Sanders said. “I just got the will to survive. I’m not a quitter. Quit is not in my vocabulary.”

“Miracle” Baby Survives Deadly Mudslide

Rescuers working in Salgar, Columbia were stunned to find an 11-month-old baby alive after a landslide that left 78 people, including the baby’s mother, dead.

The infant, Jhosep Diaz, was in a padded crib.  The water and mud slide picked up the baby’s crib which flowed like a raft and traveled more than half a mile.  Doctors who treated the boy say that he was cold but basically unharmed by his adventure.

“He was unconscious and didn’t open his little eyes but was breathing,” Dr Jesus Antonio Guisao told the AP news agency.

The boy’s mother was found dead along with 11 other family members by rescue personnel.  The baby will go to the custody of his grandfather, who said that he lost a total of 16 family members in the disaster.

“Amid so much bad news concerning the death of 16 of our relatives, my grandson’s survival is a miracle,” he said.

Officials say the landslide is the worst natural disaster in Columbia since 1999.  The landslide struck around 3 a.m. local time and stretches 25 miles along the Liboriana River.

Nepal Teen Rescued After 5 Days Under Rubble

Rescuers were calling it a miracle that a teenager was found alive after five days buried under rubble in Nepal.

Pemba Tamang, 15, was buried under the rubble of a seven-story building in the capital of Kathmandu since Sunday when the structure collapsed during the main earthquake.  He was described as “dazed and dusty.”

Tamang was alert and able to speak with rescuers as he was lifted from the rubble on a stretcher.

“He thanked me when I first approached him,” police officer L.B. Basnet told reporters. “He told me his name, his address, and I gave him some water. I assured him we were near to him.”

Tamang told the AP he had been working in the building when it fell and that he survived by eating a form of butter.

Residents in the area have been nervous about entering buildings as aftershocks continue to shake the region.  Scientists say that 70 aftershocks have struck since the main quake.

“It’s getting back to normal, but we’re still feeling aftershocks. It still doesn’t feel safe,” said Prabhu Dutta, a 27-year-old banker from Kathmandu.

The rescue of Tamang was a high point to start the day for the rescuers who ended on a high note as well when they pulled a young woman in her 20s from a building near Kathmandu’s bus terminals.

Krishna Devi Khadka has not yet spoken with the media.

Police say the death toll is now officially 5,858 not counting anyone who died on Mount Everest.

Man Awakes From Vegetative State; Credits God’s Hand

A South African man who had been in a 12-year vegetative state is crediting God for his recovery.

Martin Pistorius spoke with Glenn Beck through a voice synthesizer and said God alone is the reason he was able to communicate.

“Yes, I do believe that if it were not through God’s hand that I would not be where I am today,” Pistorius said.  “If I stop and think about everything that had to happen and the odds of that happening, then there is no doubt in my mind that that could only have happened through divine intervention.”

Pistorius fell ill at age 12 when he had a hard time staying awake.  He was diagnosed with Cryptococcal Meningitis.  His condition worsened and he eventually laid unconscious.  His family took him home from the hospital and prepared for him to die.

He is unable to speak on his own but is now a functional member of society, married and operates a business.

Pistorius said that he never questioned God or why God was doing it to him.

“There were many, many times where in some sense I felt very alone, even if there were people around me,” Pistorius explained. “However, I always seem to pause when making that statement because while a part of me experienced the extreme loneliness and isolation, another part of me always felt the presence of the Lord.”

“Jump Started By The Holy Spirit”

The mother of a Missouri teen believed to have died in a lake says that God brought her child back from the dead.

John Smith, 14, was playing with two friends on frozen Lake Sainte Louise when they fell through the ice.  While the other two boys were rescued, the initial rescuers couldn’t find Smith.  It took 15 minutes for rescuers to find his body.

Doctors at St. Joseph Hospital performed CPR for almost half an hour without success.  After being clinically dead for 45 minutes, the doctors called Smith’s mother into the room to break the bad news.

Dr. Ken Sutterer said that when Joyce Smith came into the room, she refused to accept that her son was dead and began loudly praying.

“I don’t remember what all I said,” Joyce Smith said. “But I remember, ‘Holy God, please send your Holy Spirit to save my son. I want my son, please save him.’”

Within minutes, hospital personnel were stunned.  John’s pulse returned.  He was rushed to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center where doctors were concerned that he would have permanent brain damage due to being without oxygen for at least 45 minutes.

Within 48 hours, Smith opened his eyes and responded perfectly to doctor’s questions.

“It’s a bonafide miracle,” said Dr. Jeremy Garrett, who tested Smith’s brain function.

Missouri Mission Saved Child Left For Dead

Baby Shirley’s first moments of life involved being thrown into a pit toilet and then set on fire by her mother.

The child, born in Swaziland, survived her mother’s attempt to kill her.  Two Americans who were on a mission trip were informed of the child and they brought her to Cape Girardeau, Missouri for life saving surgery.

Police in Swaziland had taken the woman into custody and left the baby at the hospital.  Under the country’s law, the baby had to be taken back to the mother to be nursed.  That’s when Raeleena and Jeremy Ferguson stepped in.

“It was just surreal,” Raelenna Ferguson said. “It truly is just a miracle they said yes.”

Yes to everything the couple wanted to do…bring the baby to the states, caring for the child and giving her a chance at life.

The move was coordinated by Heart of Africa who requested a passport for the child and miraculously had it approved before the Ferguson family left the country.

After the surgery, Baby Shirley will return to the Heart of Africa shelter to grow up as adoptions by Americans of children from Swaziland is not allowed.

Man Credits God For Saving Life In Fiery Crash

A truck driver involved in a horrific crash in New Jersey is crediting God for saving his life.

“I don’t know that to think,” Mario Quiroz, 53, told CBS News. “I just think that God gave me another chance to live.”

Quiroz was driving a truck full of mulch on a highway in Union, New Jersey.  James Pinaire, 24, drove his car into the path of a fuel tanker carrying over 9,000 gallons of gasoline.   The tanker than slammed into Quiroz’s truck.

Pinaire was pronounced dead at the scene.  The tanker driver is in critical condition at Robert Wood Johnson Community Hosptal.

Quiroz’s truck was engulfed in flames.  His driver’s side window would only go halfway down but somehow he could squeeze through it.

And his only wound was a small cut.

“When I look at the video, I think, … my dad had an angel over him,” Quiroz’ daughter stated. “God gave him another chance to live. … He feels blessed.”

Florida State Student Says God Saved Him

A student who had been inside the main library at Florida State University when shots rang out says that God saved him.

21-year-old Jason Derfuss wrote about the incident in his Facebook page.

“The shooter targeted me first,” he wrote. “The shot I heard behind me I did not feel, nor did it hit me at all.  He was about 5 feet from me, but he hit my books.  Books one minute earlier I had checked out of the library, books that should not have stopped the bullet. But they did.”

Police killed the gunman when he refused to put down his weapon.  Three students were wounded including one that remains in critical condition.

“There is no way I should be alive,” Derfuss told NBC News. “It’s crazy: One minute I am checking out books, and the next I am crying on my bedroom floor thinking I shouldn’t be alive. Those books saved me, and God saved me.”

“The Florida State University community is extremely saddened by the shootings that took place early this morning at Strozier Library, in the very heart of campus, and our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of all those who have been affected,” university President John Thrasher wrote in a statement on Thursday. “The three students who have been injured are our highest priority followed by the needs of our greater university community. We will do everything possible to assist with their recovery.”