Newsmakers

Welcome to the Friday recap, where we provide the audio version of the "Newsmakers" TV show. Get full interviews Monday-Thursday and the audio version of the TV show each and every Friday. On today's episode: myths about hell, a contentious election cycle, and a father’s road to forgiveness.

"The Chosen," the TV series that chronicles the lives of Jesus and His disciples, has become a global phenomenon, sparking spin-off projects, memorabilia, and more. Among the projects that stem from the popular show are a book series and interactive Bible study aimed at helping viewers better connect with Scripture.

Amanda Jenkins, wife of "The Chosen" show runner Dallas Jenkins, most recently authored "God's Goodness for the Chosen: An Interactive Bible Study Season 4," a project she says explores the main theme present in season four of the show: human suffering. "The show itself really has to do with a lot of suffering," Jenkins told CBN News. "We're starting to see that Jesus is allowing His followers to suffer. He's not removing suffering when He's being asked or in the way He's being asked."

She said it's been incredible to watch "The Chosen" serve as a tool that helps "reintroduce people to Jesus." The cast and crew continue to hear stories from people who say they had fallen away from faith but are coming back, and they credit the show for helping in that process.

Others proclaim "The Chosen" has inspired them to find Christ for the first time. "It's spanning demographics," Jenkins said. "It's old people and young people. It's special needs people. It's every culture. It's in every country of the world. ... There is no explanation for it other than God is just doing a thing, and we get to be kind of in a front-row seat to it." Jenkins said this is ultimately the end goal: to drive people "back to Scripture."

Darren Whitehead, pastor of Church Of The City in Nashville, Tennessee, and author of "The Digital Fast: 40 Days to Detox Your Mind and Reclaim What Matters Most," joins "Newsmakers" to discuss why he believes "traditional fasting is probably the most neglected spiritual practice in the modern world." He also explores why he believes it's essential to engage in fasts from technology. Hear what he has to say.

FOLLOW CBN'S NEWSMAKERS:

Joasia was a Jewish infant in German-occupied Poland in 1942 when she was smuggled out of a Warsaw ghetto in a backpack and her life was miraculously spared. The baby, who was born amid Adolf Hitler's murderous campaign, survived due to the kindness of strangers and truly prodigious happenings — events her daughter, Karen Kirsten, regularly shares with audiences. What's perhaps most shocking is that Joasia didn't learn anything about these events until she was 32 years old.

"She was born inside this area that was known as the Warsaw ghetto, where over 450,000 Jewish people were walled in during World War II," Kirsten told CBN News. "And she only found this out when she was 32. She got a letter from a stranger who told her she had been born in the Warsaw ghetto and that she was smuggled out in a backpack." And that's not all. Joasia also learned from this individual that the only parents she had ever known weren't actually her biological mother and father. According to the letter, her mom and dad were murdered when she was a baby and she was "rescued by a notorious SS officer."

It's a truly remarkable story Kirsten details in her book, "Irena's Gift: An Epic WWII Memoir of Sisters, Secrets, and Survival." These bits of information filled in the blanks for Joasia. But secrets often have a way of begetting secrets, and this was the case with Joasia, who concealed these details from Kirsten until she was 13 and the truth was finally unveiled. "I discovered that the grandparents I adored weren't actually my grandparents," she said. Over time, Kirsten came to embrace her mother's story and is now a Holocaust educator, sharing what happened to help prevent other horrors like it.

As for her mom's survival as a baby, Kirsten said, "It was miraculous." This proclamation is undeniable, especially as the details are explained. Hear her tell the story.

Tasha Layton is known for her Gospel-themed music, but the Christian singer's journey to faith-based music took some truly unique twists and turns. Layton, 41, told CBN News that her journey from singing backup for Katy Perry to embarking on her own quest into Christian music taught her a major lesson: the importance of "trusting God with every step." "Before I entered music to do my own music, there were a lot of years that I wasn't sure how God was going to work it out," she said. "I didn't understand why I was taking this path, or going in this direction, or how He was going to work it all together for His good."

But Layton said she now knows the Lord was weaving together a beautiful story — something she didn't understand at the time. Now, she's encouraging others to trust the Lord and know, "He's got it, and He is essentially carving the way if you are surrendering to Him." Layton said she continues leaning into trusting God to navigate Christian music, an industry that offers some unique challenges. "It's easy to get burned out," she said. "It's easy to let someone else try to tell you who you are. ... So, it's that continual lesson of trust."

And that lesson in trust came after Layton spent years touring the world with Perry. Layton had the chance to embark on a secular music career after but felt called to do something else entirely. "I was offered a deal on ... the secular side, and I felt so firmly that it wasn't what I was called to do," she said. "And there were compromises in that world. ... I wanted to connect people to God with my music, with my actions, with my team, with my integrity — and I didn't feel like I could fully do that with freedom, going that route."

Layton said it was an "easy decision" to turn down that offer and pursue Christian music instead — something she had prayed and dreamed about as a teenager.

"The cool famous venues, the cool private plane thing — I'd already done all that," Layton said. "And there's a reason Paul says, 'You can gain the world and lose your soul.'" Full-time ministry was always Layton's goal, so, while it might have seemed tough to say, "No" to potential fame and fortune in the secular space, doing so ushered her into what she believes is God's will for her life. "I'm so fulfilled," she said. "I'm standing in the fulfillment of prayers."

On today’s Newsmakers: a pastor’s victory, a Christian school canceled, and an actor’s prayer.

John Bevere joins the show to explain what it means to truly fear God. Listen to him on this powerful episode of Newsmakers!

Davey Blackburn faced an absolute nightmare Nov. 10, 2015, when he arrived home from a morning workout to find his wife, Amanda, experiencing what he thought was a health crisis. But he soon found out she had been shot by an intruder who barged into their Indianapolis home. It's a harrowing story told in Blackburn's new book, "Nothing Is Wasted: A True Story of Hope, Forgiveness, and Finding Purpose in Pain."

"I walked in and my wife of seven years and my 15-month-old were in the house at the time," he said. "My wife was pregnant with her with our second ... and, when I walked in, I discovered my wife was lying on our living room floor, and she was surrounded by blood." At first, he thought she might have gotten dizzy and fallen, but once she was transported to the hospital, he learned Amanda, who was 13 weeks pregnant, had three bullet wounds.

Tragically, the prognosis wasn't good.

"They were going to try to see if they could operate, but it ... didn't look good," Blackburn said. "And what they had surmised was that there were three men ... they broke into the home three doors down from us, saw me leave for the gym that morning, and decided to break into our home, and Amanda ... got caught up in that." Blackburn and Amanda were pastors and church planters at the time. 

The couple had left their dream job a few years earlier in South Carolina to follow God's call to plant a church in Indianapolis. The shocking murder unfolded just as the church was "taking some roots and getting some momentum," he said. The preacher called the entire ordeal — which quickly became a local and national news story — an "unimaginable, traumatic experience." Amanda was pronounced dead on Nov. 11, four years to the day that the couple packed up a moving van to leave for Indianapolis.

"My world had just been turned upside down," Blackburn said. "I was reeling over the grief and the loss of my best friend, my soulmate, my ministry partner. I was trying to figure out how to be a single dad to my son, Weston, who had been untouched and unharmed in his crib the entire time."

On top of losing Amanda and their unborn baby, Blackburn also had to contend with media scrutiny considering the story's wide reach — speculation that only added to the pain. Hear Blackburn share how he moved past the horror.

A pro-life leader is sounding off after last week's presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. Kelsey Pritchard, state director of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told CBN News she believes Harris distorted and misled about various issues surrounding the unborn.

Her organization is also challenging ABC News' David Muir and Linsey Davis, who moderated the debate. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America sent a letter last week to ABC News president Almin Karamehmedovic and to Muir and Davis asking for a correction and seeking a meeting between those parties and abortion survivors, Fox News reported.

The moment in question came during the debate when Davis proclaimed, "There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it's born." She was seemingly fact-checking Trump, who had just commented about Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris' running mate. "Her vice presidential pick says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine," Trump said. "He also says execution after birth, it's execution, no longer abortion, because the baby is born, is okay. And that's not okay with me."

While Davis fact-checked this claim and dismissed it, Pritchard offered a correction in her interview with CBN News. "One of the moderators attempted to fact check and got it completely wrong or was misleading the public," she said. "I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but they gave the impression that no state allows infanticide — that no state ... would allow for the harm of abortion survivors, and that is completely incorrect. There's actually 15 states that don't have born alive life protections on the books, including Tim Law's state of Minnesota." Hear her explain.

A Washington pastor has scored a major victory after being arrested at least twice for preaching the Gospel in public.

Pastor Matthew Meinecke's battle against Seattle officials recently came to a close, according to Nate Kellum, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute. 

The lawyer told CBN News how the situation began in June 24, 2022, how it was resolved — and why it matters.

FOLLOW CBN'S NEWSMAKERS: