Newsmakers

As "apocalyptic" sights and sounds continue to take form in California amid ongoing fires, Pastors Steve Wilburn and his son Brentten Wilburn of Core Church LA have been on the ground helping people who have lost everything. The father and son have also been stopping to pray with the victims — and the results have been powerful. Listen to them share the full impact of the fires — and what they're witnessing.

Social media giant Meta shocked the tech industry Tuesday by announcing the company will be taking steps to "restore free expression" on its social media platforms, including Facebook.

"After Trump first got elected in 2016, the legacy media wrote nonstop about how misinformation was a threat to democracy," Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a video statement, claiming his company tried to address these concerns without becoming "the arbiters of truth."

He continued, "But the fact-checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they've created, especially in the U.S."

As CBN News reported, Meta has thus decided to phase out fact-checkers and opt to use "more comprehensive community notes," a system similar to what Elon Musk has implemented on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. 

Jacob Huebert, president of Liberty Justice Center, a law firm that protects First Amendment rights, told CBN News he believes these sweeping changes follow a broad shift in politics and culture:

What are you getting wrong about Jesus and the Bible? Pastor Jesse Bradley breaks it all down on today's "Newsmakers" podcast.

With the New Orleans terror attack shocking the nation and world, theological questions about evil and related issues naturally emerge. Shane Idleman, lead pastor of Westside Christian Fellowship in Southern California, joined CBN News this week to discuss the problem of evil — and to offer guidance to Christians about how to discuss the tragic terror assault that left at least 14 dead and countless others injured.

Idleman believes there's a "lot of demonic upheaval" in contemporary culture, with now-deceased suspect Shamsud-Din Jabbar reportedly finding inspiration from ISIS to conduct his attack, which included driving a vehicle through a crowd on Bourbon Street. "I think that does play a role — when you're not walking with the Lord, you're on the wrong side of the team and you can be definitely inspired to do these types of things," the preacher said.

Idleman also dealt with some of the bigger questions about mass casualty events like this, noting some would ask how and why God would "allow" it to happen. "If we go back to creation, back to redemption, back to sin entering the world ... once that entered in, the world is a very evil and wicked place," he said. "And that's why God calls us to be the light, to bring the message of salvation, to warn people of His judgment."

While many find themselves captured by fear after such events, Idleman said Christians must remember to root hope in Jesus. "Our faith does not waver based on news headlines," he said. "Our faith is to be solid and unyielding, and the deeper you build that relationship with God, the stronger your foundation is." Hear Idleman explain.

The founder of a Christian organization that provides kids with religious instruction during the public school day is responding to Satanists' attempts to offer their own alternative programming to children. Joel Penton, founder and CEO of LifeWise Academy and author of the book, "During School Hours: WHY and HOW LifeWise Academy is Reinstalling Religious Education into the Public School Day," told CBN News he believes The Satanic Temple's "Hellion Academy of Independent Learning" (HAIL) being offered to children at an Ohio elementary school is a direct "response" to his LifeWise academy programming.

"The messages that we're getting from those who are launching the program are somewhat mixed," Penton said. "At times, they will say this is explicitly an attempt to scare the school board and communities into shutting down all religious programs like ours ... Other times, they'll say, 'Oh, but you shouldn't be scared of this because it is going to teach kindness, and values, and that type of thing.'" From Penton's perspective, it's "not super clear exactly what the program is about," though, like LifeWise, it enables children to leave the premises to take part in The Satanic Temple's alternative effort. Listen to him explain.

An Israeli entrepreneur on a mission to highlight biblical artifacts has brought his "treasures from the Holy Land" to America. Oded Golan's "Discovering the World of Jesus: Ancient Treasures From the Holy Land" experience opened Dec. 3 at Atlanta's Pullman Yards, with hundreds of ancient artifacts surrounding the New Testament on display.

"We are bringing [a] once-in-a-lifetime experience to people to look at items that they will probably not have other opportunities to see," Golan recently told CBN News. "The 350 items that are presented here, most of them are from the time of Christ. They were all found in the Holy Land in Israel, and they are telling the stories that are mentioned in the New Testament, but in first hand." He added, "You're almost touching the history."

Golan said some of the items are related to Jesus' family or people living during his lifetime. These elements allow people to explore life during biblical times, seeing the behaviors and practices that unfolded during the New Testament era. Already, audiences are loving the experience, Golan said, noting that giving a lens into the past illuminates knowledge and understanding. "It doesn't change faith, it doesn't change belief, but it changed, somehow, how do you feel and how do you see the stories that are mentioned in the Bible — in the New Testament," he said. Golan's story is a fascinating one, as he started collecting antiquities when he was just a child. Here's his full story.

John Greco, author of "Rediscovering Christmas: A Twelve-Day Journey to the Manger" is on a mission to help people understand the powerful details in the biblical Christmas story. 

In the book, Greco puts the nativity story in chronological order to help people understand the proper order of events — a quest that he said helps people "discover a bunch of really cool things" they might otherwise miss.

"As they're reading this familiar story, they're going to find new things and hopefully they'll see God's goodness all the way through," he said. 

Ultimately, Greco said "Rediscovering Christmas" is a good book for believers and the curious alike. 

"If you're new to the Bible, this is a great way to kind of connect those dots that you might ordinarily miss," he said. "But everything is drawn directly from Scripture. I'm not ... adding things. I'm just kind of filling in some some gaps where either Luke or Matthew are being spare with their language."

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Welcome to "The Newsmakers Podcast," a show where we go behind the headlines each day to bring you interviews with pastors, entertainers, politicians, and other notable figures. Based on the "Newsmakers" show on the CBN News Channel, this daily podcast featuring CBN's Billy Hallowell provides full interviews with one newsworthy person every weekday.

How can reading the Old and New Testaments help us see biblical truth — and prophecy fulfilled? Candace Cameron Bure joins "Newsmakers" to discuss Christmas, her new films, and how reading through the Bible has transformed everything.

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Welcome to "The Newsmakers Podcast," a show where we go behind the headlines each day to bring you interviews with pastors, entertainers, politicians, and other notable figures. Based on the "Newsmakers" show on the CBN News Channel, this daily podcast featuring CBN's Billy Hallowell provides full interviews with one newsworthy person every weekday.

Judith MacNutt, founder of Christian Healing Ministries, an organization dedicated to healing prayer, is on a mission to help people find hope — and spiritual recovery.

MacNutt, co-author of “Deliverance from Evil Spirits: A Guide to Freedom from the Demonic Realm” alongside her late husband Francis MacNutt, grew up in a Christian home with a mother who believed wholeheartedly in healing.

“When I would listen to her, she would talk about the miracles of Jesus for healing and deliverance, and then I would go to our church, and they would pray for someone, like, in the hospital,” she said on the “Playing With Fire Podcast.” “But there didn’t seem to be that same level of faith and authority that I saw when I read the Scripture.”

Eventually, MacNutt went to college, studied psychology, and became a psychotherapist. This led her to work in psychiatric hospitals throughout the Boston area, where she started to notice something. Here is her story.

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Welcome to "The Newsmakers Podcast," a show where we go behind the headlines each day to bring you interviews with pastors, entertainers, politicians, and other notable figures. Based on the "Newsmakers" show on the CBN News Channel, this daily podcast featuring CBN's Billy Hallowell provides full interviews with one newsworthy person every weekday.

We're re-airing one of our favorite "Newsmakers" podcast episodes: Actor and Comedian Rob Schneider recently offered a powerful -- and public -- message of forgiveness. He explains why he's now embracing faith, God, and forgiveness. Plus: hear about some of his new projects on this episode of the "Newsmakers Podcast" with Billy Hallowell.

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Welcome to "The Newsmakers Podcast," a show where we go behind the headlines each day to bring you interviews with pastors, entertainers, politicians, and other notable figures. Based on the "Newsmakers" show on the CBN News Channel, this daily podcast featuring CBN's Billy Hallowell provides full interviews with one newsworthy person every weekday.