♪ ♪ [ applause ] >> glenn: hello, america. welcome to a very special edition of "glenn beck program." it was 40 days, 40 nights ago that thousands of people stood together at the lincoln memorial. i didn't know how many people would come. it just knew that i was supposed to stand there and challenge you to tell you that it was time to be better than we've allowed ourselves to become. when i came around the

corner, we had to -- we had to be in these chutes, because of security. so, couldn't really see anything in the crowd. as i came out of one of these chutes and around and i saw the crowd, the crowd was a mile long. went from the washington monument all the way to the lincoln memorial. a mile. it was a magical day. if you weren't there, i wish i could explain it or others could. i know we have a documentary that is at glennbeck.com showing the making of it. and all the behind-the-scenes. still, that is such an amazing documentary. it still doesn't capture the feeling that was there. i challenge people to restore honor in this country. people have mocked it now in the media. they say when did we lose our honor? i don't know. when we started lying to ourselves and lying to each other and lying in business and government.

the way to restore our country is to look at the small and to fix things in ourselves that are broken first. i reissued a call on that day to take the 40-day and 40-night challenge. i expanded it to this. blueprint for national survival. to fill your life with faith, hope and charity. fill your children's lives with it. i tell you, i don't know what the future holds. in the words of abraham lincoln keeps come back to me. the world will little remember what we say here, but they will remember what we do here. paraphrasing lincoln. it's what we do that makes a difference. if we can just fix ourselves, our children are watching us. and maybe they will see us do

something and they will change their course of history. the giants that are inside of our children. our children are watching. i feel as though we need to look at our children as clay pots. that all of the things that we thought were true that everybody believed in, that america was a good place. we've made mistakes but it was a good place that it was the entrepreneur. it was freedom that you can live side-by-side with people that are different than you. you can -- do you remember when we were growing up? maybe it's just my family. we grew up, i don't ever remember hearing conversations of politics. i don't ever remember hearing them. i know there were people that my parents disagreed with. somehow we didn't define ourselves through republican and democrat back then. when did that happen to us? is there a way back? tonight, we have an audience

full of americans who accepted this challenge on 8-28. we can hear some of the incredible stories throughout the hour, but first look back at the challenge that one individual at a time, one pledge at a time is restoring america. from the launch till now. ♪ ♪ >> today marks 40 days and 40 nights until 8-28. jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years. noah, rain, 40 days, 40 nights. good cleansing time. when i ask you to join me on something, make a commitment to do these three things for 40 days and 40 nights, change your life. first on faith. pray. find your relationship with god. pray on your knees every night. the second thing is hope. hope comes from truth. you can't expect honesty from others if you don't give it to them yourself. stop all lies for the next 40

days. and the third one is charity. remember that it begins at home. do something kind for every member of your family, at least once a week. let's use these next 40 days and night to prepare ourselves to show people who we really are. ♪ >> i gave a 40-day challenge on the air. 40 days ago, today. [ applause [ applause ] my challenge to you today is to make a choice. does america go forward? the american experience expands? or does the experiment fail with us? if you pledge to yourself that you will restore honor in your own life, we will leave freedom better than how we found it. [ applause ]

>> dear glenn, charity is something i need more of. and the 40-day challenge has been a good wake-up call to me. by no small miracle, i found myself in attendance at 8-28. me, just a guy from montana with a wife and three kids. i could have floated off the national mall that day. on that day, i started my 40-day challenge to get myself back where i need to be in my life. brian wilson, corvallis, montana. >> my wife and very best friend in the world, i lost on august 16, after 39 years of marriage to breast cancer. i laid her to rest on the 27th. and your challenge gave me hope and focus. and god's love was there to catch me during my time of great sadness. i was able to challenge my sadness into hope. by being on a bus, the evening of the 27th. and on the mall thanking god for what he was doing. i want to thank you, a voice

crying in the wilderness for me. bill fairweather, columbus, ohio. >> since i have taken this challenge, i find myself praying more. pray for our troops and i pray for people in washington to do the right thing. faith, hope and charity, i think it's basically made me a better man. >> my name is altena brown. i live in st. petersburg, florida. i'm an ex-marine. i remember taking an oath in front of old glory to give my life for this nation. it's breaking my heart to see my nation basically going down the tubes, so i'm ready to serve my nation again in whatever capacity. >> one man can change the world. that man or woman is you. you make the difference. [ applause ]

>> glenn: i think my staff today is trying to kill me. because they didn't tell me these things in advance. >> glenn: my job is -- i want to start here. with the audience. 22 people have taken the challenge. seven attended 8-28. 17 didn't. ten are politically active in our audience. 13 are not. who took the challenge? now, i want to ask why? anybody want to start? why did you take it? lisa. >> focus and clarity. i send out e-mail to 2,000 people every day.

it was all over the place. and this challenge has allowed me to have such a focus, it allows a two-way communication. god's leading me to to get out information and educate. i can't thank you enough. >> glenn: no, no. please. okay, who else? why did you take it? tony. >> i don't believe we have the answers. i believe the answers, god has the answers. so i believe this is a way to draw closer to god. humbly pray to return to the nation he wants us to be. >> glenn: that is the biggest thing. that's the thing i learned on 8-28. i have didn't know what i was going to say until that week. it was two nights before i decided what i'd say. challenge to change their lives. i didn't even know what 8-28

was supposed to be. i think god just let us figure it out when we go along but we have to be in a place to hear it. i know people will make fun of that and whatever. but as people came up to me over, i said a minute ago my job is humbling. my job is also frightening at times. i'm no different than you. i'm just a guy that finds me in a remarkable situation. people ask me what do we do? i don't have a clue. i don't have a clue. i'm looking for the answers myself. marie? >> i was so into my job that i had forgotten what was important in life. i hadn't been to church in ten years. it hadn't prayed. i had a wonderful husband. stepson, children, my own children. i didn't know what this country stood for anymore. i didn't know what i stood

for. and now, i'm starting to find myself. that's such peace. family is coming together so beautifully. it's really remarkable. >> glenn: who has, who has learned something about themselves that has surprised them? nobody learned anything about -- this is robert geiger, an automechanic, took the 40-day and 40-night challenge. what did you learn about yourself, robert? >> i learned i wasn't a terrible person. >> glenn: weren't what? >> a terrible person. i took the challenge mostly for my life. i treated her horribly for years. i've been carrying around anger and i shut myself down and i've been blaming her for everything. i've seen our marriage slipping away. it woke up one day and my heart was breaking.

i haven't even told her this yet. i was going to take her to dinner and tell her this. i want her to forgive me for the pain i caused her all the years and hopes she gives me a chance to make it up to her for the rest of our lives. >> glenn: why? what made you believe that you -- what made you believe you were a bad person or you had to be the person that you were? just life that -- >> when i was seven, my father got sick. i didn't see him for almost a year at all hardly. then he died when i was only 20. i never got a chance to be a friend to him. and we were -- but he was a very strong man. his faith in god was unshakable. i didn't know that until 8-28. it hit me like a ton of

bricks. i thought anger and heart of hearts was strength. >> glenn: who was -- we have such a strange understanding of strength in this country, i think. asking for forgiveness is strength. saying i'm weak and i need help, but i don't need you to pick me up. i just need help. that's strength. that is real strength. who here found the well of anger going away or being tempered? did anybody else find that? your name is rowena? >> yes. >> glenn: hi. what did you -- >> i found after taking this challenge, i primarily walked around a pretty angry person. and because of my political views. i often was challenged and i found myself in the situations or debates with family members, and friends.

long-time friends. and i was apolitical my whole life. and then, you know, i took this challenge. and it's actually made me more mindful of my actions. my decisions. what to say. the reactions to me. and i'm not as angry anymore. >> glenn: amazing. >> i really am not. i used to actually hold a lot in. i lived this lie. i'm from california. >> glenn: ooh. [ laughter ] >> i live in new york now. >> glenn: ooh! two strikes and i think you're out on those two. >> you know what i mean. i've been living this life. it didn't want to say what my true views were because i didn't want backlash from anybody. i got tired of it. now i feel clear. i'm not as angry.

it's not so bad, you know. >> glenn: it's a -- i am at the ebeginning of a journey where i'm learning so many new things. please, please, at least rent the movie on gandhi. but read about gandhi. gandhi had the answer. you know, are we going to, are we going to fight for change? or are we just going to stand for what's right? there is a big difference. one is some say use your poebt's force against them -- opponent's force against them. as they come to charge at you, move. just let them -- and their own force will destroy them.

it is freeing when you realize, when you accept not the role that everybody wants to put on you, when you accept the role of who you really are. who we really are -- i mean this both sides. left, right, all of them. we are good decent people. i don't care if you are a progressive or whatever. we are good people. we have to start acting like it. i guess maybe it goes back to what i said at the beginning. when did we change? i don't remember being separated as democrats, republicans and independents. i fear that's all our children will remember about this time. they were democrats, so we didn't talk to them. they were republicans. that is crazy talk. i want to introduce you to harry crane, a ph.d. student. he took the challenge. you are a lonely man, aren't you? >> mm-hmm. >> glenn: did you date at all? do you have any friends? >> i try my best. >> glenn: so there you are. you are somebody who i assume

watches the show and comes from the -- >> yeah, in secret. in a dark room somewhere. >> glenn: yeah. why did you take the challenge and what did you find? >> for me, it started on 8-28. >> glenn: you were there? >> i was there, i was at the event the night before at the kennedy center. so before i went, i thought i was doing everything right. i saw you talk about faith, hope and charity. i said yeah, you know, faith, i got that. hope, charity. but during 8-28, i felt like there was more that i needed to do. i left not really knowing what that was. i thought i was doing everything i could. and what ended up being the case is when i took the

challenge, i discovered i was really lying to myself. i have thought that i was doing all these things. and i was. but i didn't know why. i was doing them because i'd always been told to do that. or because i had always done them. >> glenn: a huge difference in that, isn't there? a huge difference. >> yeah. >> glenn: thomas jefferson -- and i said this a million times. when i read the quo from thomas jefferson, "question with boldest in -- fix reason in her seat and question with bo boldness even if there is a god because if there is a god he'd rather have open questioning rather than blind fear." that was the beginning of my real change. i realized i didn't know anything because i found it. somebody else had found it. a historian found it. written it and summed it up in a package. my parents told me about faith and god and so i had

that. i wasn't the owner of a single view point. that's why i say on the program and i mean it sincerely, do not believe me on anything. do your own homework. it's worthless if you are -- this country has been riding on the fumes of our parents and grandparents and great grandparents and our founders. we haven't -- you said it earlier. you have didn't even know what you believed. you have didn't know what america was anymore. you didn't know what you stood for anymore. that's why we are destroying ourselves, because we don't believe in anything. may i finish the conversation with harry here in a second, because i want to find out what he did find out next. 

[ applause ] >> glenn: tonight i once again challenge you, a full audience of americans who have accepted the 40-day and 40-night challenge. this will be dismissed by many as, you know, a stupid idea, you know, what is that going to do anything? you have to go out and vote. you have to do that. but the problems that this country is experiencing is they're bigger, they're bigger than we can handle. to find our way out, we must have a little divine providence. this month's "fusion" magazine which is my magazine

features many more stories from people just like you who just want to live, want to change their life. want to live a life that is not what we've allowed it to become. sign up for a subscription now for "fusion" magazine at glennbeck.com. we are talking to harry, ph.d. student. he went to 8-28. did you go with friends or yourself? >> no, i went -- >> glenn: you really are a -- this is a sad story, harry. all right. so you are a ph.d. student. what are you taking? >> statistics. >> glenn: you are one. the odds of you making friends before you leave college, zero. so you go down and you realize that, you know, you don't really believe, you don't know what you believe. >> right.

i don't know what i believe. it was really the first time that i was, that i forced myself to be honest with myself. and really find out what is it that i believe. >> glenn: scary, isn't it? >> that's really the hardest thing. i've been avoiding it for all these years for a reason. it was the hardest part of all of this. what i found is that once i got over the hump, once i was able to tell myself the truth, things started to take on a new meaning. things got a little bit easier, actually. when i was able to actually look myself in the mirror. believe in what i was doing. >> glenn: it's not -- again, it's not a weakness to say you don't know something. it's a weakness to bluff and even lie to yourself. i have remember, and i hope i don't -- i hope this is okay to tell this story. i was in an interview for this job. and roger ales who is the head of this company, he

called and we had dinner. i tell you, i think i lost 15 pounds with this, because it's the hardest questions ever. the first question was i think it was like what did you think of the eisenhower administration? i'm like i have no idea. i bluffed. the second question was something like the 1972 chinese agreement -- i have no idea. no idea. and i thought to myself, i sat there was and listening to his question, and i'm like i have no idea. i said to him, i'm going to go out on a limb here. i could bluff and tell you that i know, but you're probably smart enough to figure out i have no clue, or i could just maybe end this interview right now and tell you i have no clue. i'm going to go the honest

way. i have no clue. he didn't talk to me for about three minutes. he just sat there and i thought, well, should i get my coat? at the end he said something very important to me. he said -- because i had no idea. it was a brutal, brutal, just questioning and everything, pushing me up against the wall the whole time. he stood up and he said well, sir, it's refreshing to meet somebody who knows what they believe and why they believe it. and i thought that is the secret to life. it is. just be honest. i don't know even to yourself, first to yourself. and then find out the answers. how do you think is going to impact you? did it change anything -- has it changed your course at all? >> well, as i said, a lot of the things that i think i should be doing, i already feel like i was. not all.

so it hasn't necessarily changed what i've been doing. but it's changed why i do then. i feel like i do them because, you know, it's a part of who i am. it's not just things that i do for the sake of doing them. or because somebody tells me i'm supposed to do them. i don't know where it's headed. but we'll find out. >> glenn: who here, who here can tell me when we come back, if they found their stick yet. i said on 8-28, moses didn't want to do what he did. and i would be upset at god if he was like hey, go free this nation. here, here is a stick. i'd be like wait a minute. you're the most powerful -- you're giving me a stick? but he picked it up. he did what he was told to do.

has anybody found their stick yet? and when we come back, i want to introduce you to a family that in my mind at least will be the image forever of 8-28. no matter what the pictures say. to me, it is the story of this family. back in a second. >> hello, i'm from illinois. when glenn launched the 40-day and 40-night challenge, i decided to launch a facebook group to give others to share their story. it's now 2,000 people strong. friendships are being made. people all across america are encouraging each other to help restore honor to our country. i'm also taking the challenge that it has literally changed my life. i have a new-found hope for

our country and passion for life and helping others. i never felt closer to god.

hello, i'm gregg jarrett. breaking news out of carlsbad, california. two children have been shot on the campus of an elementary school. suspect taken into custody after being tackled by bystanders. the injured children airlifted to a nearby hospital. the dow closing above the 11,000 mark today for the very first time since may.

investor confidence building on news that the fed will take more action to stimulate the economy. yet another resignation of a top white house aide announced by president obama. national security advisor james jones to be replaced by deputy national security advisor thomas donilon. for more on the story, visit foxnews.com. bret baier has a preview of "special report"? >> bret: who is tom donilon? what is the move behind changing advisors? plus we break down key races. join me at the top of the hour now. back to glenn beck in new york. ♪ ♪ [ applause ] >> glenn: i want to, you know, on 8-28, i said pick up your stick. a viewer or a listener of mine made this. we have, unfortunately we get

so much mail, we had three different mail locations that it comes in to. and when it was delivered to me, it didn't -- it was just a stick. so i don't even know who made this. the you made this, will you please contact us. our lives we pledge, our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor. it is three snakes, like moses, and his staff. i have said to you before, pick up your stick. be a leader. you don't want to, and you may not even know what is in store for you or where we go, but pick up your stick. i'm going to talk to the audience here in a second about their sticks and see if anybody has an inkling on what it is. first, before we do that, i want to introduce you to this picture. to me, this is the picture of 8-28. it may only just be me, but it was because i said, bring your son. bring your daughter.

there will be someone there that will be the giant, that we will build another memorial to. i don't know if it will bed adison or not, but it will be someone. rochelle jones was not there. this is her husband and her son. she is with us now, along with the rest of the family. rochelle, tell us what happened. first, introduce your lovely daughter here. >> this is my daughter aubrey. tom had talked to me on and off about trying to attend the rally. and take addison with him. and our whole family couldn't be there because i had three young daughters at home. i even tried to talk him out of taking addison with him. >> glenn: because you were worried about violence? >> well, yes. it was in the back of my mind. >> glenn: sure. we were too! [ laughter ] he had no plans either for a hotel or anything. he was basically going to

sleep on the sidewalk so that he could get ticket for the friday night event. >> glenn: didn't work out well, did it? >> no. >> glenn: no. all right. >> he didn't get there in time. so basically they camped out on the mall. >> glenn: you were happy about that. your son and your dummy husband. sleeping out in the middle of washington, d.c., at night. >> my 9-year-old out there was concerning. >> glenn: sure. your husband, whatever. >> i figure he could take care of himself. >> glenn: okay. so then the next morning, i came to the mall. that was friday morning. and i was doing some pre-show stuff. he was in trouble with you at this point; is that right? you were in trouble? >> yes. >> glenn: yes. and you called and said hey, we didn't get the tickets but we're okay. the next morning, i came and you were part of the prayer circle that i just happen to

walk over to this area. >> right. >> glenn: i saw and i remember seeing the two of you. i don't think we spoke, did we? maybe just said hello. >> briefly. you have looked at a picture on my camera. >> glenn: okay. and a full group of people. they were all strangers. everybody was strangers. we said a prayer together. later that afternoon i came back and my photographer, the guy who took this picture george lang spotted you two. he didn't remember you from the morning and he said oh, my gosh, you have to -- he could see something in your eyes. you have to give it to this father and son. when turned around and came i recognized you from the moment and i gave you the ticket so you did go. what is going through your head right here? >> i kept repeating to you, "we're going, we're going." right? yeah. >> glenn: when you went to 8-28, did you take the challenge? did you as a family take the challenge? >> i think we talked about the challenge. we have haven't signed anything. i don't know if there is a signature -- >> glenn: sign this?

[ laughter ] >> i think some things we've changed, i started praying on my knees. put myself in the right place. >> glenn: people think that is -- i've gotten so much mail from people saying it doesn't matter. in some ways it doesn't, but it does. what is the change for you? >> if i pray on my knees and at night when we tuck the children in, i pray on my knees now by their bed. i think it just puts me in a proper position in relationship to my lord. >> glenn: i think it also, you know, i can't tell you our children are watching us. the tools what they need, they are learning right now. they are learning what's important and what's not. what has value and what doesn't. our place in the world, our place in the grand scheme of things. all right, i want to talk the sticks and i want to talk to addison before we end the broadcast tonight.

i want to go back to anybody who has found their stick. we'll go to that next. 

>> glenn: my firm belief we're born for a reason and in a certain place for a reason. it's whether or not we choose to do the things that we're

supposed to do or not. that path always leads you to a place of peace and goodness and harmony. not to a place of destruction. i've asked the audience to pick up their stick. a lot of people think i don't have a stick. i don't have any role. but you do. you are in the right place with the right set of tools. you may not even know what it is you are supposed to do. you will only find out on the other side and say oh, crap, that was it? i didn't do it. or why, yeah, i did do that. i didn't know that was it. toots is up here. from new york. your stick is? >> my stick was music. about two years ago or so i started to write music about america. you know, i'm a rock 'n' roller from new york. >> glenn: you're from new york? i would have never --

[ laughter ] >> born and raised. all of a sudden i just started writing music about america. the way i look at it is my music can touch one person, and that one person tells somebody else, and -- >> glenn: it doesn't even, you know, it's really amazing because i talked to a guy who wrote the biography that everybody should read on bonnhoffer. i was talking to him last week. i said, you know, he said i felt like i was supposed to write this. that book has influenced me. so he wrote it because he felt he was supposed to. i've read it because i feel it empowers me to do the things and what i'm supposed to do. i look at him and i say look at this book. you wrote it. it read it. now who is out there that is really supposed to use it? what purpose does this happen v? we're not the center of the universe. we're just one little piece of the puzzle. keith, you said you found your stick? >> i was saying that what the

lord asked moses what do you have in your hand? i believe we all have our sticks, and that god can use whatever we have for his plan and purpose whenever moses was faced with the tremendous obstacle of the red sea in front of him. and the egyptians behind him. what was he going to do? god says what have you got in your hand? of course, it was the stick which he held up. >> glenn: because we have it in our hand already. if it was handed to us, we might think this is a sacred stick. but because you are holding it, because it's your talent, because it's your position, because it's what you use it, there is nothing special to this. this is mine. that is the secret. to get over the fact that it is a stick and know that you have a divine purpose. >> also, that you can use

whatever you have. you said an important thing just beginning there where you said we were all created for a purpose. and that is what we're going to be judged on, what the purpose that we were created for. this is the only time that we have to do it. >> glenn: does anybody else here feel like -- it is very clear to you? i tell my staff all the time, i hope you are a keeping journal. because you are at the center of history. for the rest of the world. for the rest of time. people will look back at this time and they will try to figure out what this group of americans were thinking. because we either failed or we succeeded. what was it that we did? what was it that we were thinking? i mean, does anybody else feel the sense of history that we're living right now? good. is it alex? yeah, alex. >> for my wife and i, we feel

that our stick is our daughter. she is three months old. and every time we look at her, we know our perspective has changed. we have to do, for everything we do now, we do for her. everything that, you know, we have to make sure what we're doing is not only the correct thing but the right thing to do to keep our country the way it should have always been, what the founders had wanted. >> glenn: you know, i sense that i have four children myself and i've actually -- to my oldest ones i apologized and said i want you to know, no matter what anybody ever says, i didn't know. i really didn't know. we were just going blindly. we didn't know. when we come back, i want to continue that conversation a little bit. talk to joan. then to addison about what the future is. back in a second.

>> glenn: all right. got to move quickly. joan, you said your stick? >> i believe that my stick i've discovered is my approach. i can give you an example. i was at an 9/11 protest and someone yelled out and called me a bigot. all i wanted was the mosque

moved from ground zero, nothing else. i realized at that moment when i responded in an angry way that i really needed to work on my approach. i have been doing it. it find i can influence more people doing it that way. it's helped me. >> glenn: it's just healthier. >> yes. >> glenn: we were just talking in a break. you don't have to win. you just don't change who you are fundamentally in anger and all of that. just change. it's poison. just rots you to the soul. i want to ask can addison here. you're nine? >> yes. >> glenn: yeah. nine years old. i said to your father, you know, through radio or television, you know, bring your son. and he did. probably got in trouble with your mom. what will you take away from this? what did you learn? what did you -- what happened?

anything? >> that i'm something smaller than like i'm something on a small portion now of a big bubble. and i'm just one part out of like a million parts. >> glenn: so in other words, the world doesn't revolve around you? >> yes. >> glenn: have you -- i mean, i was 37 before i learned that. [ laughter ] what have you been doing with your family that's changed? >> we really haven't been staying home a lot. we've been really -- >> glenn: you guys on the circuit or something? >> no. >> glenn: are you guys church-going people? >> yeah. >> glenn: you were? >> yeah. >> glenn: so you said when you got back to 8-28, you just put the challenge to work through your faith. >> yeah. >> glenn: what have you noticed, if anything, the change in faith since you have already had it? any? >> i've seen god take our

family, my wife and i, draw us closer. i've seen him guide me in our church. i said to you during the break when we got home, we looked at our spheres of influence and our relationship with god first was strong. our marriage was strong. our relationship with our children was strong. so the next sphere of influence was the church family. there were things in our church family that we went to our pastor. we did things the proper way. we went to our pastor, we went to our elders. that now is growing wonderfully. it's been a blessing. this event has been a blessing through to other people who have been there, many. >> glenn: this is why i wrote -- how could this change the u.s.? it's going to change the u.s. in miraculous ways and faster than you might expect. it will change by starting to change you in your home, you with your relationship, you

in your office. it's a fire that now can't be put out. it will dramatically and profoundly change america, just as the last two great awakenings have in the past. final thoughts, next. 

>> glenn: