Newsmakers

A documentary filmmaker is on a mission to explore the authenticity of ancient Bible prophecies.

Tim Mahoney, whose new film "Patterns Of Evidence: The Israel Dilemma – Ancient Prophecies" hits theaters Nov. 13, 14, and 17, told CBN News the events unfolding in the Middle East today are intricately tied to what we see happening in the Old and New Testaments.

Mahoney said the roots of his new movie were set in 2007 when he was working on another project surrounding the Israelites' fleeing Egypt to head for the Promised Land.

As he navigated that story, he realized a great deal about God's promises to Abraham had been misunderstood or had gone unknown to some.

Hear Mahoney discuss the film.

Author Joel Rosenberg believes some of the events unfolding around us hold biblical significance, particularly when it comes to Israel and the Middle East. Rosenberg, an expert on biblical prophecy who now lives in Israel, recently spoke with CBN News about Hamas, the war in Gaza, and how current events might play into what the Bible says about future happenings and the end of days. 

"That is the number one question I'm getting asked ... 'Can you put this [current moment] in a prophetic context?'" Rosenberg said. "I would say, number one, we're definitely in a birth pang, right? Jesus speaks in Matthew 24 that there's going to be contractions and releases, moments of wars and rumors of wars, and kingdom against kingdom, nation against nation, as well as earthquakes and famines and other disasters." He continued, "Those are contractions, and just like when your wife gets close to delivering ... the contractions are longer and more painful, and the release moments are shorter."

Rosenberg said Israelis were living in a time of release on Oct. 6, 2023, as it was safe, prosperous, and secure — the safest it had been in modern history. "You'd have to go back to the days of Solomon and David when the kingdom was peaceful and secure," he said, noting Israel had just come off making four Arab-Israeli peace treaties and normalization treaties via the Abraham Accords. "We were just about to finalize another deal — the biggest peace and normalization deal in Israeli history — and that would be with the Saudi government."

But all of that peace was obliterated by Hamas' horrific terror attack on Oct. 7, 2023, an event he said was the "longest contraction" modern Israel has faced. "I would add that, just in context, I believe COVID was a biblical Matthew 24 contraction where ... a lot of people died. But the other part was ... not only was there this terrible health pandemic, plague, a biblical plague, but even the American government could say in an instant, 'You can't go to church. You can't leave your house. You can't go see your friends, but the strip clubs could stay open. The casinos could stay open. The bars could stay open — the liquor stores, but not churches. That was a contraction."

He believes Amos 9:9 is a recurring prophecy, but that the current war in Israel is a "shaking" that falls under its umbrella. "I don't believe Israel's under judgment ... in other words, God didn't send this enemy, but God ... allowed it," Rosenberg said. "Why? To shake us, to help us realize that most Israelis either haven't read, don't remember, or don't care about Psalm 23, in which David, our greatest king, told us the Lord is our shepherd." He said some Israelis forgot, due to security, the realities inherent in this Scripture.

Hear him break down the Gog and Magog prophecies, address Donald Trump's election, and more.

A Hollywood director and producer is offering a lens into a truly unique profession, showing audiences what it's really like to be a military combat chaplain.

Richard Hull's new film, "Fighting Spirit: A Combat Chaplain's Journey," which releases in theaters Nov. 8, gives audiences a chance to better understand these unsung heroes' experiences.

"I knew nothing about military chaplains," he told CBN News. "I didn't even know that that existed as a profession."

Hull, who ended up directing, writing, and producing the project, said he became personally invested as he started to explore the backstories.

"The more I got to know the subject matter, the more I fell in love with it, and I thought, 'This is a movie that, not only do I want to produce, but I also want to direct and be the storyteller behind it,'" he said.

Before long, Hull was diving into combat chaplain stories and learning more about their experience on the battlefield. The project quickly and easily came together, with actor Chris Pratt — an outspoken supporter of veterans — joining forces as an executive producer.

"He's a big military supporter," Hull said of Pratt. "He's a very faith-forward guy. He really has a true heartfelt interest in telling these stories, most of which have never been told."

Hull is hoping "Fighting Spirit: A Combat Chaplain's Journey" helps open eyes to the experiences chaplains have "in the chaos of war." He shared that 419 chaplains have died throughout U.S. history, explaining that the roots of the chaplaincy date back to George Washington.

"On the one hand, chaplains go into combat wearing a uniform, but not carrying a weapon," he said. "It's a profession that ... you do it for some higher calling."

Chaplains do everything from saving lives on the battlefield to offering comfort to those who need it. Hull said they're "revered" within the military — for a reason. Chaplains' impact helped him realize just how much of a difference one person can make.

"They're just present and they're dealing with these moments of life and death with soldiers, young and old — and families," he said. "And it's really intense, and it's really powerful, and it's very existential, and a chaplain may come from a particular faith, and all faiths are represented in the chaplain cores of all the different military branches."

While chaplains have incredible experiences, Hull said there are also downsides and struggles, which are explored in the film. Some chaplains have even expressed facing "compassion fatigue" and other related issues.

"When you go to war, you're going to come back a very different person," he said. "And war can leave scars on your soul."

Ultimately, the movie offers what Hull said is a "true look at what these people, as humans, go through and the power that they have."

Find out more about "Fighting Spirit: A Combat Chaplain's Journey" and get tickets here.

John Burke, a pastor and author who has studied and examined over 1,000 accounts of near-death experiences, believes these reports provide faith-building evidence of God and the Bible. Burke, author of the new book "Imagine the God of Heaven: Near-Death Experiences, God’s Revelation, and the Love You’ve Always Wanted," told CBN News why he believes these experiences corroborate Scripture and detailed what a near-death experience entails.

"It's when someone clinically dies ... their heart stops, they have no brain waves," Burke said. "And yet either modern medicine or miracle brings them back ... minutes later, sometimes it's hours." He continued, "And when they come back, they talk about experiencing the life to come, and they talk about how it's more real than anything they've ever experienced in this world."

Burke said his latest book looks at scores of interviews with people from all over the world who've had these clinical near-death experiences. "They are seeing and experiencing the God of Scripture," he said. "And we're looking, not only at His love story told throughout history in the Bible, but also his heart and characteristics, the mystery, the majesty of God." 

Burke, though, knows not everyone believes these heaven visitation stories, and explained exactly why he thinks there's so much skepticism. He said one factor is a failure to understand that "these are testimonies" that shed light on God's nature. Another is the complexities that come from trying to describe other-worldly experiences using human 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.

Filmmaker Tim Mahoney has long been on a mission to help viewers look at the Bible in new and innovative ways, exploring proof for the Exodus among other topics.

His latest two-part project, "Seven Churches of Revelation," is a project he believes to be "really important for Christians today."

"Many people are wondering — they're feeling uneasy about the future, and they're wondering, 'Are we living in the last days?'" he said. Listen to Mahoney explain.

The Rev. Franklin Graham joins the show to break down his take on the 2024 presidential election, his advice to Christians who end up upset over the results — and what he believes is sowing moral chaos in America.

A Christian pastor believes the "most neglected spiritual practice in the modern world" is fasting and contends "it may be more needed than ever."

Darren Whitehead, senior pastor of Church of the City in Nashville, Tennessee, is out with a book "The Digital Fast: 40 Days to Detox Your Mind and Reclaim What Matters Most," in which he addresses the need to apply principles of fasting to our digital consumption.

Whitehead recently told CBN News about the importance of fasting, which GotQuestions.org says is intended "to take your eyes off the things of this world to focus completely on God." The pointed back to Jesus' own 40-day fast before his ministry began, and said his church starts each year by fasting.

"I am definitely a proponent of helping people participate in a food fast several times a year or with some regular rhythm," Whitehead said. "We, as a church, take the first 21 days of the year and encourage people to have a season of prayer and fasting."

As for his belief fasting might be more needed than ever, the preacher pointed to the current state of culture, explaining that people today are "able to appease our every appetite at a moment's notice at any time, and it hasn't always been like this."

And while fasting is often associated with food, Whitehead is also encouraging people to look more diligently at the technologies that have, in many ways, overtaken our lives, encouraging people in his book to consider embarking on a "digital fast." Listen for more.

On today's "Newsmakers," we're discussing a debated issue in Christian circles: generational curses. Our guest today is Pastor Mike Signorelli, who’s here to talk about his powerful new book, "Inherit Your Freedom." In this episode, we get into what generational curses are, the battle over the concept, why so many churches avoid the subject, and how these spiritual battles could be shaping your life without you even knowing it.

Signorelli takes a unique approach, drawing parallels between the biological inheritance we all understand—like heart conditions or musical talent—and spiritual inheritances like addiction or broken relationships. He explains how science, specifically epigenetics, now backs up what the Bible has taught all along. The curses passed down from one generation to the next may hold the keys to unlocking your hidden purpose.

Joe Kennedy, the high school football coach who won a major Supreme Court victory in his battle to pray at the 50-yard line, will see his harrowing story come to the big screen this week. The film "Average Joe" hits theaters Oct. 11 and will cover Kennedy's personal story as well as his journey to taking a "stand for God publicly" and "taking a knee in prayer after each game," according to a synopsis. The movie follows the release of Kennedy's book last year titled "Average Joe: One Man's Faith and the Fight to Change a Nation."

Both projects touch on Kennedy's seven years in a volleying legal battle with the Bremerton School District in Washington state, which ultimately led to the 6-3 Supreme Court ruling in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District in June 2022 — a decision that upheld his right to pray after games, and found the government should not punish private religious acts like prayer. "I wanted everybody to see from the beginning where I came from," Kennedy told CBN News of these efforts. "Unwanted pregnancy, foster homes — all of that — the backstory, to see what led me to be the guy to stand up for what was right and what has happened since then."

Kennedy's life hasn't been easy, as he was in the foster care system and struggled with anger during his earlier years. Before prayer became his anchor, he was an atheist with little interest in anything eternal. "It was really my wife," he said of his journey into faith. "I was failing as a husband." Kennedy continued, "Everywhere I went, I seemed to just wreck people's lives." At the time, his wife, Denise, who was a Christian, started to rub off on him. With his life "disintegrating" in front of him, he had to make a decision: to continue on the same destructive path — or embrace faith.

"I finally went to church with her and, as things were rapidly falling apart, I had no other place to turn and I fell onto the altar and I kind of made a deal with God," Kennedy said. "I said, 'God, if you give me my wife, I'll give you my life.'" That commitment stuck and transformed his marriage. Beyond that, it led Kennedy to tackle the years-long legal battle that expanded religious rights for all Americans.

CBN's Billy Hallowell caught up with Skillet singer John Cooper to talk about a wide range of topics, including what he sees as the ills plaguing America and the solutions to them.