nardarkhani. and the islamic regime is changing their story. >> plus or exclusive interview with the machine gun creature, as the movie about his life dominates at the box office. we have the story behind the scenes. >> reporter: and under water, two typhoons in less than a week leave thousands of filipinos stranded. our reporter was with those who came riding to the rescue. >> iran ups the ante against a christian pastor fighting for his life. hello, everyone, i'm george thomas. >> and i'm wendy griffith. an iranian pastor facing a death sentence for his christian faith is still fighting for his life. pastor yusef nardarkhani could be executed at any

time. the latest report suggests the regime is increasing pressure, even making up charges to justify their charges. >> reporter: the pastor was convicted of appostasy in 2,010 cent 2010 and sentenced to death. he was also convicted of zionism. however, an english version transcript of his superior court case makes no mention of those charges. >> pastor yusef nardarkhani has done nothing but maintain his devout faith. the iranian authorities would try to force him to denounce that faith crosses all bounds of decency and iran's own international obligations. >> at a court appearance last week, the pastor refused to recant his faith. when asked to repent by judges, he said, "repent

means to return. what should i return to? to the blasphemy that i had before my faith in christ?" meanwhile, religious rights advocates continue to speak out for pastor yusef nardarkhani. cbn news spoke with dr. richard lamb of the southern baptist and religious community. he says the u.s. has an important role to play in this case. >> part of the american exceptionism we have the responsibility and obligation to be the friend of freedom, to be the friend of freedom of consciousness, and to speak up for those who can't speak for themselves, such as this christian brother who is in extreme position because of his faith. >> reporter: but there have been some conflicting reports out of iran, like the statement in london which says the court has yet to issue a verdict. human rights groups say these conflicting reports could be a sign that international pressure is

forcing the regime to change its story. dale herd, cbn news. >> and joining us now for more are two guests in our washington bureau. jordan secularf the american center for law and justice. and with us from atlanta george via skype is david edla, from eva ministries. jordan, let me begin with you. my understanding is that the iranian officials have questioned pastor yusef nardarkhani is in his cell. is this encouraging? >> it is encouraging and troubling. officials from iran made a visit to gilan province to meet with the pastor to inquire about his treatments, supposedly and the judicial proceedings. what we're concerned about is lawyers. any time government officials visit your client without an attorney being

present, they can walk him into another trap. it goes from zie being a zin zionist, and now you have the deputy saying he is a convicted rapist. he has already been convicted of rape, extortion, and running a brothel. in iran, a rapist is put to death. >> these are charges that the iranian government authorities -- they love to slap these on people across the country for all kinds of reasons. but apostasy is one issue. is there a sense that the government realized this man was running some 400 people in his house church. he was active. he was engaged with the youth there. in en essence, his entire congregation was made up of

former muslim. >> certainly the government does not like when they discover any groups, whether they're small or large, and it seemed pastor yusef nardarkhani had a large group. muslims who have become christians -- obviously, that is a major issue for them. they have really come down hard on him. they are trying to make an example of him. definitely they are trying to use him as an example to try to scare people from becoming christians. >> george: and to some extent, to you, jordan, in washington, d.c., it has, don't you think, backfired? because here you have the president of the united states, the state department, the congress, suddenly backing this christian. >> that's right. >> george: i'm sure this is a public relations nightmare for the iranian authorities? >> it has become one. which is why you saw press tv, which is english only around the world, come out saying he was never -- this has nothing to do with

apostasy, and the then the governor is saying he is a convicted extortionist. they conflict because they're spinning so hard. iranian press tv would not have been talking about this if it wasn't for all of these leaders and media and cbn and all of us talking about this issue and making it an international issue. i think there is a positive to the fact he had this visit, that these news charges are being discussed. and the positive is if it is on press tv in iran, the ayatollah knows about it and mahkmud is talking about it. the judges have likely, and it happens in iran, gone to the ayatollah or the president and asked them to make the decision. >> george: david, you were talking earlier how they wanted to make a public symbol of pastor yusef

nardarkhani in terms of the underground movement. how are the believers reacting? >> obviously, people are very concerned for the pastor and his family. we've seen them in the past few years. over 300 people have been arrested that we know of. many more, i'm sure, have faced problems in their local settings. but the reality is that the church in iran is growing. and these types of situations -- they handle them very differently than we do in the west. they look back at about 20 years ago when other leaders were martyred and they see that the result of that was that the church grew. the church has grown in remarkable fashion over the past 20 years. >> george: jordan se secular, you know you guys have been all over this in the beginning. you have called the attention on this pastor. what would you like, in

addition for our viewers to do, to continue to up hold pastor yusef nardarkhani and the church in iran? >> first thing, pray. this is going to be a critical time over the weekend. the court system will reopen on saturday and could issue a ruling at any time in the future. we're expecting one actually as early as monday. the question remains, and what we don't know, will it be on apostasy or is it going to be on one of these charges they've been throwing at the pastor. and david brought this up, and they do great work at law and ministries, and it has never been done in iran and this is why they don't know how to handle it: we got the documents from the supreme court. those are never public. when the aclj was able to obtain the hand-written order, up holding the death penalty but sending it back to the lawyer court, and pastor yusef nardarkhani has scand it in, and iran was saying this was never an

apostasy trial and this never happened -- which this is why we have to take advantage of it. it doesn't happen very much where we have this much information and sou soum documents. we have to keep this in the spotlight and get with prayer. >> george: david jordan, and david with the great ministries called elan ministries. thank you for joining us on the program. if you would like to add your name on the list of people calling for pastor yusef nardarkhani's release, you can find the link to our website at cbnnews.com. we continue to ask our viewers all around the world to intercede on behalf of pastor yusef nardarkhani. >> and coming up, our exclusive interview with the real life machine gun

preacher. the life of van shelters in his own words.

>> george: disturbing news to report from the african nation of nigeria. campus news direct records in plato state, more than 100 christians have died at the hands of muslim extremists in recent years. the killings are described as hit-and-run-styl hit-and-run-style guerrilla attacks. they believe islamics are using islanis to carry out the attacks. >> wendy: it is hard to imagine, but more slaves exist today than any other time in history. one of the worst offenders is the african nation of sudan. we have the story of one young boy's long journey to freedom. >> reporter: sitting behind a microphone on capitol hill, 18-year-old cir dang is all smiles. it wasn't long ago when he had little, if anything to

smile about. he was a young boy when arab raiders ransacked his village, killed a man, and bound kir to a camel, along with his mother. they were dragged to southern sudan to a life of slavery. in his own words, "it was not a good life," but that is putting it mildly. to his owner, his name was synonymous with his job: cattle keeper. >> they had my sleep with goats. >> reporter: they even tied his legs to the goats just to make sure he would wake up if one tried to get away. drunk and abusive, his slave master often beat him. once his punishment was he had chili peppers rubbed into his eyes, causing him to go blind. kir told his stories to lawmakers in washington, saying his years in slavery still haunt him now. >> every single day it plays

in my head. >> reporter: there is really no concrete estimate on the number of sleafers because that is because of a lack of concern in the international community. the whole purpose behind this hearing is to raise awareness to the public using the stories of kir and the countless others like him. >> reporter: christian solidity international rescued kir and brought him to the united states, where doctors recently operated on his eyes. it is unclear just how much of his sight he may regain. for now he is focused on his mother, and many others, who are still in slavery. kir wants america to help free them. he rescuers say slavery in sudan isn't only about physical and political freedom, but about religious minority. most slaves are christians caught by muslims. >> the offspring of those women who are enslaved, when

they're raped by the master or the master's son, will become muslim. they have no choice. >> reporter: kir, who once was forced to cite muslim prayers, now proudly identifies by his new faith. >> but now your a christian? >> yes. >> reporter: he says now he has hope, and his goal is to be like his rescuers and set other sudanese captives free. john jessop, cbn news, capitol hill. >> you're about to meet one man who has rescued hundreds of children from enslavement and abuse in east africa. several years ago, we spent some time with pastor sam childers as his orphanage in south sudan. >> wendy: now there is a hollywood movie out based on his life story. we recently sat down for a chat with the man known as the machine gun pastor. >> sam childers is not your

typical pastor. he is a gun-toting preacher from pennsylvania. who has established several orphanages to house them, including this one. and now his story is told in the new motion picture "machine gun preacher," starring actor je gerard butler. >> i've done a lot of things i ain't proud of. hurt a lot of people. >> you can't keep going the way you've been going. >> help me. >> i'm here today to talk to you about families just like yours, half a world away that desperately need your help. >> i want to go into sudan this weekend. i need someone to show me around. >> this is a war zone. if you stay, you're going to get killed. >> we've got to take as many

as we can. tell the other ones we'll come back later. >> helping your kids. it's about the only good thing i've ever done in this life. you've got no idea what i'm saying, do you? >> there are a lot of people who are saying, sam, what's your main motive? i have a floor right now to be in every media, every magazine, every tv show throughout the united states. and the first thing that i'm saying is don't forget there are children still being murdered in darfur and there are still problems in south sudan and it is caused by the president of northern sudan. bashir. this man needs to be taken out of office. i say it every time i'm on television. it is giving me an opportunity to stand up for the voices that can't be heard. >> two years when we talked about you, the book came out, "another man's war." >> right. >> and now "machine gun

preacher." >> i was a little scared. gerard butler has a strong scottish accent -- i don't know what he did with it, but it is gone. i call it a hillbilly accent, but the thing i was concerned about, is he just going to have it here from his years of acting and pull the role off, or is he going to get it here. when you watch the movie, you'll see in his eyes, he got it. the movie is a hard movie. now, religious people, it is not a movie for religious people. christian people that want to see the kingdom built, the movie is right on. it is a movie that was made for the secular world, but it shows a transformation. it shows a man that was the scumbag of the earth. the worst of them all -- that was me. it shows the transformation, but it shows what he turned to. and he chose jesus christ.

i think it's an outreach for churches to buy theaters out, every seat in it, and hand the tickets out to people that don't go to church. because they will see one man's faith. and what he put on the line to -- and also to choose jesus christ. >> reporter: what is your favorite part of the movie? what really impressed you the most? >> i've seen the movie six times now, and every time i break down crying at a different part. every time. >> reporter: is it the kids? >> it's not so much the kids as it was my past. because i was a rough person. and i tried to hide that for so many years. and the last few years i started speaking out my real testimony. last year alone we had over 15,000 people make commitments to christ because i'm not ashamed to speak out who i was anymore. we keep expanding because our work is not just about children in sudan. it's about children around the world that are suffering

and dying. and peoples coming out of the movie, and they've got the same thing on their heart now. it is doing a good job. you go to the movie because you hear about this man, sam childers, and after you see it, you walk out and it is not about sam childers anymore. it is about you. what are you going to do now? wer now? >> wendy: it's incredible. you can learn more on our website, cwnnews.org. >> george: and you can catch those and more reports on news.org. back in a moment.

>> wendy: two powerful typhoons struck the same region of the philippines in less than one week. at last 56 people are dead, and tens of thousands are dealing with floodwaters. >> george: cbn is there helping to rescue people and

providing relief. ephraim graham has that story. >> reporter: the storms brought heavy flooding to agricultural regions of central and northern philippines, especially after officials opened dams to prevent greater damage from overspilling. provinces like pulla kahn, just two hours drive from manila, have been deep in water for almost a week now. canoes, bamboo beds, and other improvised floatation devices are used to transport people and supplies to stranded relatives. >> we don't have water anymore. that's why we had to go out and buy food because help has not come to our place. there are still many people in our village who badly need help. >> reporter: a rubber boat brought by cbn is a great help. lucille talucent was with the team. >> these are rice fields, and this is now emerged and more than 15 feet of water.

we are rescuing some of the villagers who are still in theirs houses and have not been rescued yet. >> reporter: the team found this family after a volunteer received a text message asking for help. >> i was growing desperate and getting nervous because i was afraid the water might continue to rise. >> my brother was textsing us to evacuate, but there was no way to do it. it was him hoop sen -- who sent the text message. we were praying for god to help us. all of our containers were empty from water. there was no way to go out and get supplies. >> god guided us, and we found our family. the waves were already strong. so we promised to come back today, because praise god because we were also able to rescue seven other people last night and reunited them with worried family members. >> you are really god-sent. i watch "the 700 club" and i'm encouraged when i hear

testimonies of people who received miracles. and today i experienced that god is real and he is always here with us. >> cbn is really a big help to us. because besides from our physical needs, your coming here gave us hope and lifted our spirits. >> reporter: and others rejoiced over the food and water delivered by cbn and local christian volunteers. for them, just the fact that people care enough to come and help them makes a huge difference. cbn is also giving medical care to other advisories in other provinces. and its staff and volunteers

>> george: last week we brought you a story about the ancient dead sea scrolls. >> wendy: and how they're now available on line for public viewing. the scrolls already gave more than one million hits. the israel museum and google israel launched the site just last week. it features detailed images of the scrolls and an english translation of the text. they were surprised at how many people are interesteded in that. >> george: it's awesome. that's all for this week's edition of christian world. >> wendy: until next week,

♪ you can let go w, daddy. ♪ your little girl is ready to do this on my own ♪ ♪ it's gonna be a little bit scary ♪ ♪ but i want you to know ddy ♪ ♪ it's gonna be a little bit scary ♪ ♪ you can let go boy: for all the adventures we'll have... flowers we'll pick ... dreams we'll share ... and smiles we'll give ... we have just one thing to say .