Newsmakers

On today’s "Newsmakers": a warning to the West, radical forgiveness, and battling cancel culture.

Country singer Granger Smith stunned fans when he announced he would be retiring from music to pursue ministry, with the musician telling CBN Digital how he plans to serve the Lord. "I'm just so excited about it," he said. "I have so much joy just even thinking about it."

Smith said he's already begun speaking before audiences about his Christian faith. While he once traversed the nation and world sharing his music, he now plans to travel with a very different message. "I'm used to air travel, I'm used to hotels," he said. "But I have a different message to give, and it's a life-giving message. It's one beggar — me — telling another beggar where I found bread."

Smith said he wants to share his journey of faith, explaining how he was once hurting and in a "really bad place," but how he found hope in Jesus. "I don't know what the future looks like five years down the road, ten years down the road," Smith said. "But, right now, immediately, it's writing books, it's taking speaking engagements, Lord-willing, when the right ones come around, it's attending seminary, and it's going to church on Sunday mornings with my family, and sitting under teachings of my pastor."

Smith also discussed his recent memoir, "Like a River: Finding the Faith and Strength to Move Forward after Loss and Heartache," a book chronicling how he handled grief and sorrow and found faith. Smith's family made headlines in 2019 when the singer's 3-year-old son, River, died in a drowning accident. It's a topic at the heart of his book. Watch Smith discuss his plans, his son, and how he found faith.

Singer Danny Gokey wants to be seen as a "truth and love teller," encouraging fellow believers to be as "wise as serpents and gentle as doves." It's a powerful and important quest in a divided and chaotic culture — one in which biblical truth is sometimes treated with disdain. Regardless, Gokey believes there's a responsibility to speak about what's right, true, and good. "We should never get away from speaking the truth," Gokey recently told CBN News. "Truth sets people free."

Ultimately, he said some people will try to skirt what's biblical, real, and true — but humanity can't escape the facts and realities surrounding God's will. "We can sit there and protest gravity," Gokey said. "We can make laws against gravity. You can cancel people over saying gravity is real, or that fire is hot. But, the thing is ... it is what it is, and we're not doing any favors playing around and mincing words to make people happy." He added, "We need to have the truth that sets people free. So, I do want to speak truth, but I want to do [it] in love, and I just don't want to hit people on the head with it."

Gokey is carrying these ideals over to his latest music. His new album, "Sound of Heaven," seeks to point people toward hope and Christ, with eclectic songs helping listeners dive deeper into the eternal. "I always pray before I go into an album, because God is the greatest songwriter of all time," Gokey said. "And, I'm like, 'Lord, give me some inspiration,' because I believe when we get to Heaven, we're going to see that the sounds of Heaven are so diverse."

The singer said this variety of sound is captured on the new album, which was released on July 26. 

It's been 10 years since ISIS terrorists brutally murdered journalist James Foley, releasing a gruesome video of the killing that absolutely shocked the world. Diane Foley, the late reporter's mother, has spent much of the last decade devoting her life to helping other hostage families who have faced the same terror she experienced.

Foley's family first realized something was wrong when he didn't call them on Thanksgiving Day in 2012. "Jim always called on holidays," Diane told CBN News. "He always was in touch. He was very good about that, always reassuring us he was fine and asking how we were. So when we did not hear from him that Thanksgiving, [it] was kind of an ominous silence." The next day, Diane, who has a new book "American Mother" that details the full story, learned from two of her son's colleagues that he had been kidnapped near the border of Turkey while attempting to head home.

"He was en route to meet these colleagues on the border," she said. "It was a shock and it was very different because this kidnapping was only witnessed by his fixer, who couldn't figure out who the captors were." Even more disturbing was the fact Foley suddenly vanished for months, leaving Diane and her family with no information about Foley's whereabouts or even whether he was dead or alive.

Diane, intent on saving her son, reached out to the U.S. government in hopes of getting an answer. With little knowledge about the political scene and American hostage policy, she was reaching out in the dark in hopes she'd receive assistance. "When I reached out to our government and people told me Jim was their highest priority, I really believed it too long," she said. After nearly two years of pleading and working diligently for Foley's return, Diane faced every mother's worst nightmare — only her horror was elevated by the tragic fact that the video of Jim's beheading made international headlines.

She joins CBN News to reflect on what happened, how her faith sustained her, and why she's now helping other families avoid the same pitfalls.

"I have never imagined it [would] be a year of war."

That's what Dr. Shafir Botner, a veteran helicopter paramedic and director of Magen David Adom’s Paramedic School, told CBN News while reflecting on the one-year anniversary of Hamas' horrific Oct. 7 terror attack.

Botner, who has seen many things over his more than two decades helping those in peril, said Israel has always had its struggles and battles, but the past 12 months of war and chaos have been especially intense.

"Unfortunately, we can't see the end," he said of the nation's ongoing war against terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah. "Of course, we are more optimistic these days from the day on October 7th, but we still cannot see the end."

Botner recalled hearing dozens of sirens last Oct. 7. At first, he assumed it was a false alarm, but once he started being alerted that injuries unfolded, he immediately jumped into action.

"I realized it's not a false alarm, and I realized that something big, and different — unusual is happening," he said. "So ... I put on my uniforms, went on my car towards the place they need me." Listen to Botner explain.

Dr. Corey A. DeAngelis has made a name for himself as an advocate for education freedom, but he's been the focus over the past week of media stories surrounding decade-old appearances in adult films. DeAngelis, who was reportedly fired by the American Federation for Children (AFC) after the videos came to light, sat down with CBN News to discuss these stories, claims from activists that his past makes him a hypocrite, and more.

Despite furor and negative messaging, DeAngelis said public support "has been overwhelming." "There are images and videos circulating of me from my college days about a decade ago that I'm not proud of," he said. "They're embarrassing." DeAngelis described being lured into pornographic work as a young adult and pondered how much more pervasive such content can be when introduced to younger kids. 

"If I was able to be lured in to make bad decisions as a young adult in college, just imagine how much worse it could be for younger people," he said, explaining how the experience became fuel in his fight for educational freedom. "So I fought against this kind of material being included in the classroom. I've been consistent. I've changed my life. People change over time." DeAngelis was careful, though, to note that he owns his mistakes, despite reportedly long ago stopping such actions before being further sucked into the adult film industry.

"I was an adult," he said. "I did make those decisions. I'm not proud of those decisions, but I can see how it can be deceptive, and the entire industry can be deceptive, especially for young people." Considering DeAngelis' public-facing work and success advocating for school choice, these videos and images, intended for gay audiences, have led progressive advocates to mobilize against DeAngelis. "There has been a cancellation attempt from the left, in particular, and my political opponents trying to accuse me of hypocrisy," he said. "Their claims fall flat." 

One of the most compelling ways the dilemma has changed DeAngelis has been in the area of faith. Describing himself as a lifelong agnostic, he said the situation has brought him and his wife, whom he described as a "believer," closer to church. "We're watching our local church on TV each Sunday," DeAngelis said. "And, the first time that we tuned in a couple of weeks ago, just the things that the pastor was saying — it just brought me to tears."

Ex-witch Sarah Anne Sumpolec once found herself enraptured by incantations, Tarot cards, and casting spells — until an encounter with Jesus transformed her perspective. Decades later, she’s now a devout Christian who shares her experience as a former real-life teenage witch to help people see God’s power to change lives and perspectives.

Her harrowing story of engaging the spirit world and nearly losing her life is nothing short of deeply compelling. In this interview, Sumpolec recalls being plagued by scary dreams, and a feeling like the spiritual experiences she had so fervently embraced were starting to turn negative. At first, she assumed she was doing something wrong that made the spirits angry and attempted to remedy it.

“I was aware of the shift, but I didn’t know why the shift had happened,” Sumpolec said. “And I assumed I was doing something wrong, and so I kind of doubled down with all of it, because it was the only place I had to go.” That plan left her even more destitute, as she felt prompted by these spirits to embrace the idea that the only way she could heal herself was to end her life. After nearly losing her life, she found Jesus. 

Actor Kirk Cameron, who shot to fame in the 1980s while starring in the show "Growing Pains," has gone on to become a Christian hero to millions, creatively sharing his faith and views with the masses.

Most recently, he partnered with Brave Books, a company producing Christian and faith-based children's projects, and is now preparing to produce and star in a kids' show called "Adventures with Iggy and Mr. Kirk." It's a series that will help Cameron further spread Christian values to parents, kids, and families.

"We want to teach children biblical, moral lessons through their phones and the screen time," he told CBN News, likening the show to "a wildly updated version of 'Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.'"

"[We will have] high energy, hilarious dialogue, beautiful animated biblical, moral lesson stories about the sanctity of life, about the fruit of the spirit, about the First and Second Amendment, and guest stars at every turn," he continued.

Cameron said his team is currently crowdfunding the first season to ensure they maintain creative control. "Adventures with Iggy and Mr. Kirk" is a natural outgrowth of Cameron's See You at the Library initiative with Brave Books, an effort that saw him touring libraries across America to read to families.

That experience — one that came with some controversy after libraries reportedly rebuffed Cameron's appearances and drag queens protested — exposed some important realities for the actor.

"I'm getting messages from people — friends of mine who are all about the work of bringing transformation to culture, and they're saying it appears that people are finally waking up," he said. "And I resonate with that as I go to churches and schools and libraries."

Cameron continued, "People are waking up and realizing that the dystopian circus show is here, and the ringmasters like it. And if we just keep drinking the Kool-Aid, and eating the cotton candy, and stay entertained ... by all this crazy stuff, it's just going to get worse."

The performer said it's time for people to "leave the circus" and get back to what matters most: reaching hearts and minds with the truth. Hear him explain.

A former staff member at a public college in New York City is fighting back after claiming she was fired after becoming a Christian. Teona Pagan was the fellowships and public service program coordinator at City University of New York's Research Foundation until she requested a religious accommodation that she claims was denied.

Pagan, who filed a lawsuit Aug. 28, told CBN News her job as the fellowships and public service program coordinator at the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership made her responsible for helping "students to pursue their dreams through different fellowships." Pagan said problems began for her after she became a Christian and started to question one of the fellowships for which she was responsible. "I became more of a devout Christian," she said. "I always believed in God, but definitely began running after Him in April of 2022." 

Pagan continued, "And, so, with that comes a lot of responsibility. ... [God] tells us to deny ourselves, pick up a cross, and follow after Him, and, so, that comes with a lot of conviction, and that comes with a lot of ensuring that I lived by what I was preaching."

She was living out her faith at church and in other areas of her life, but felt she wasn't "living up to it in the fullness" at work. She said an LGBTQ-inspired fellowship she oversaw left her feeling convicted, as she had come to believe homosexuality violates Scripture. "I didn't feel comfortable continuing to do that," Pagan said of running the fellowship. "But it wasn't just [like] I woke up one day and just decided to refuse to do my job. It was prayer, it was fasting, it was consulting with my spiritual leadership."

Ironically, Pagan said she was "an advocate" and "an ally" of the LGBTQ community before becoming a Christian. She said she was also a supporter of Black Lives Matter. "Once I got saved, everything changed for me," she said, later adding, "I was an advocate for all these different intersectional things that ... have the face of social change, but behind it is sin and nothing but going against the Word of God." So, Pagan decided to seek an accommodation for the one fellowship she oversaw that she felt violated her convictions, and believed there was more than enough staff to cover that task. Here's what happened next.

A persecution watchdog is sounding alarm about the grim and dire conditions for Christians inside North Korea. The hermit nation has long been one of the most diabolical Christian persecutors, but a new report from Christian Solidarity Worldwide titled "North Korea: We Cannot Look Away," underscores the true gravity of the deteriorating conditions inside the hermit nation. The document commemorates the 10th anniversary of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry report that previously explored the dangerous state of affairs inside North Korea.

"Ten years on from the publication of the COI’s report, CSW finds that the Kim regime has made no effort to uphold international human rights standards and has taken no steps to participate as an equal and active member of the international community," a statement from CSW reads. David Simpson, an East Asian advocate for CSW who uses a pseudonym for safety purposes, told CBN News reiterated the worsening state of affairs inside North Korea. He said the original UN report from 10 years ago was important in that it highlighted the human rights atrocities being perpetuated by North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un and other officials. "The 2014 report showed that we don't only have to worry about the Kim regime's nuclear capacity," Simpson said. "The true cost of the Kim regime's totalitarian rule is the people of North Korea and how they are affected."

Under Kim, who came to power after his father, Kim Jong Il, died in 2011, North Korea's isolation has only intensified. While some previous cooperation existed between South and North Korea, even that modicum of collaboration has evaporated. "There was a factory right on the border with North and South Korea that was owned by South Koreans, and North Koreans were able to come and work there and gain a wage," Simpson said. "There was a communications tower where they had a direct cable to Seoul, but Kim Jong Un closed that factory, and he actually blew up that tower, and in a stunt to show how ruthlessly he intends to climb down on religious freedom, and all freedom of expressions, freedom of newspaper, and freedom of any form of expression."

Simpson gave the example of two high school students who were sentenced to hard labor for simply watching TV shows. It's not only entertainment, though. As CBN News has extensively reported, North Koreans aren't free to freely practice their faith.