- [Narrator] This is CBN Newswatch.

- And thank you so much for joining us.

I'm Efrem Graham.

Ahead today, the story that's overwhelming

everything else in the news,

Hurricane Florence comingashore in North Carolina.

Bringing powerful windgusts and heavy rain

with some people needing to be rescued

and others already without power.

Plus we're gonna ask, doesprayer make a difference

when a powerful storm is headed your way?

We're gonna have those stories and more

ahead on today's Newswatch.

We begin with our coverageof Hurricane Florence

with a look at how it'shammering North Carolina today.

The Category One hurricane

barrelled into Wilmington,North Carolina early,

packing wind gusts of 105 mph,

and bringing storm surges of10 feet or more in some areas.

As Florence approached Wilmington,

emergency teams rescued some150 people from flood waters

about 100 miles north in New Bern.

While her winds will die downas she moves across land,

Florence is expected to move slowly,

dumping up to 20 inches of rain

in places like Myrtle Beach

over the course of the next two days.

- Surviving this storm willbe a test of endurance,

team work, common sense, and patience.

- Once these winds start blowing

at that tropical storm rate,

it will be virtuallyimpossible for the rescuers

to get in to rescue you.

- [Efrem] Tens of thousands of residents

across the Carolinas and Virginia

are weathering the storm in shelters.

President Donald Trumpsays the federal government

is well-positioned to respond.

4,000 National Guardtroops are already on duty,

with more to come.

In South Carolina, governmentleaders turn to God,

reading scripture and praying

before a news conference on preparations.

- Help us to remember that the same God

that created the heavens and the Earth,

that the same God that is with us

and will see us through the storm.

We ask all these things inyour gracious name Lord.

- As Florence moves slowly inland,

cities and towns are feelingthe power of the storm.

Our Erik Rosales showsus how those in the path

of the hurricane helpedeach other to get ready

as the storm made it's approach.

- [Erik] Hurricane Florence making it's

slow and ominous approach.

The giant storm, some 500 miles across,

already flooding coastal streets.

While the bands of rain

haven't yet reachedinland cities and towns,

the preparation continues.

- Our main focus right now

is making sure everyone is prepared,

they have the supplies that they need,

water, flashlights, the basic necessities.

Just to make it through the storm.

- [Erik] This church pastorin Lumberton, North Carolina

used to work as an electrician.

He's now using those talentsto help his church members

keep the lights on.

- And I never realizedthat God would be able

to use those skills alongwith sharing the gospel

and making disciples,

and God has brought the two together

and he's been able to use that skill set.

- He's pretty incredible.

And he's a great friend of ours as well.

We just know we can always count on him.

- Many Carolinians decided towait out the storm together

inside shelters.

I'm in front of Lumberton High School,

it's one of four shelters in the area.

Inside, some 300 people

hoping that they'll havea home to come back to.

- I just thank God we're here.

And you know pray that God willbring us through the storm.

- For me, I'm scared of the storm.

But when I'm servin' a man called Jesus,

I know he'll bring us through it.

- This is our five loavesof bread and two fish,

and before long, we're feeding thousands.

- [Erik] Meanwhile,leaders of other churches

are planning to hand out food and supplies

to whoever needs it.

- We had a meeting this pastweek on our deacon board,

and they all agreed todo it again this year.

So we'll transform this building here

into our center of distribution.

- [Erik] Although their faith is tested,

people are keeping Jesusclose to their heart.

- God's gonna take care of me,

even if I lose everythingagain, it doesn't matter.

God's gonna bring it back.

He does.

- [Erik] A tremendous amount of faith

is being shown here in the Carolinas.

Erik Rosales, CBN News.

- And for a closer look now

at what Florence will do next,

chief forecaster forWeatherbell Analytics,

Joe Bastardi joins us.

So Joe, is this storm anywhere near over?

- No, it's not anywhere near over.

We're just really getting started here

over the next couple of days.

That was a great piecejust before I came on.

I've come to believethat a lot of the trials

we face, whether it's nature or whatever,

is to make us appreciatemaybe more the blessings

we've had to get there.

And the nice days that we have.

You only see me on whenthe weather's horrible.

But most of the time, I'm not on,

which is probably good for ratings.

But the other thing is,

the weather's usually very nice.

So we've gotta try to keepthings in perspective.

But as far as this storm goes

over the last couple of hours

it's begun a more southwest drift.

And something I brought up yesterday

was as it came to the coast,

you would see it tighten up.

And because of the wayit was hitting the coast,

coming in from the eastand east southeast,

and the shape of the coast is like a cup

and that forces what we call convergence.

A couple days ago,

you saw the storm literally spread out.

Well as it comes to the coast,

it tries to focus and concentrate itself.

Wilmington is in for another 12 hours

of hurricane conditions.

And I'm beginning to think that the eye

is going to try to stay basically

a little south of Wilmington,

try to get back out overthe water a little bit,

and then go back in near Myrtle Beach

sometime tomorrow morning.

If you've ever driven that road,

you know it doesn't takeyou a day to drive that road

unless you're taking horseand buggy or something.

So you can imagine that thisis moving very, very slowly.

And the compounding effects,even though it's weakening,

of the slow movement,

but the constant hammering,

the constant rain is gonna take it's toll.

And you know, when you lookdown at the grand strand,

one of the big problems we have there

is the wind turning intothe southeast and south

after the center goes by

and then they startgetting into the flooding

also from the ocean.

So a lot of this is compounding on itself

because of the slow movement.

What happens when it goes inland?

Well, naturally it weakens some.

But a tremendous amount of rain

gets all the way back to theupstate of South Carolina,

western North Carolina, and works it's way

up the Appalachians towards these areas

in Pennsylvania and Virginia

that have had a lot of rain this summer.

And we could have majorflooding there early next week.

In addition, if you livewithin 150-200 miles

of the path, and the pathis a circular path around,

to the right of that path

you have to be worried about tornadoes

when the system is passing you by,

so that's going to be something

that we're going to beseeing down the road also.

One more parting shot.

When this moves offshore Tuesday,

you may see winds reallyincrease around it.

That happened when Ivan moved offshore

back in 2004.

And a similar situation will go on.

By the way, the other threestorms in the Atlantic,

they're all gonna disappear.

They'll be gone within 24-48 hours.

One is actually gonna gofor Ireland and the UK,

that's Helene.

But I think that after September 22nd

through October 10th or 15th,

another burst may develop

because of the way the overall pattern is

and chances are before the season's over

you might see me again.

- I tell ya.

So how much rain willcities like Wilmington

and Myrtle Beach possibly see

in light of how slow moving this storm is?

- Well I think that there aregonna be some rain amounts,

some rain gauges catchingthree to four feet of rain,

because we've already hadone to two feet of rain

in some places.

The rain gauge at Wilmington,

I don't know how much rain'sgetting into the gauge

'cause the wind's gustingat 91 miles an hour,

but in general, one to two feet.

And when you get theseconvective bands like this,

they can sit over you.

So you get big local variations in rain.

Now maybe one area get15-20 inches of rain,

and another not too far away,may get 30-35 inches of rain.

So you're gonna seesome outrageous amounts

when this is all said and done.

Now I want you to think about

if you've ever been down there,

the inland waterways and things like that,

the rivers draining into it,

and yet the tides pushing into it,

so you can imagine thatyou're not only being

sort of attacked from the ocean,

you're being attacked from behind

because the bays fill up with water,

the water doesn't get out ofthe bay because of the wind.

And then the rainwatercomes down in there.

So it's a pretty horrendous situation,

even though it's weakenedto a Category One,

it is spread out, it's slow moving,

so it's I guess it's a pickyour poison type situation here.

- Real quick, also in light of all that,

sounds like we could beseeing some serious flooding.

- Oh yes.

I was trying to make that point,

I guess I wasn't too clear about it.

But this is what happens whenyou have sleep deprivation.

- No, you're good.

Alright, Joe Bastardi, Weatherbell.

Thanks again.

We appreciate youjoining us all week long.

- Well thank you for having me.

It's been my pleasure.

- [Efrem] Coming up, doesprayer make a difference

when you're faced witha monster hurricane?

We're gonna have a conversation

about that question when we come back.

Stay with us.

(dramatic music)

And welcome back.

This week, Florence hasgone from a Category Four,

possible Five hurricane, toa Category Two, and now One.

Many Christians were praying for this

and for the storm to quote bestill in the name of Jesus.

Our Mark Martin spoke with CBN chaplain

Reverend Dr. Joel Palserabout the power of prayer

in the midst of the storm.

- How important is the power of prayer?

- Oh, it's absolutely vital.

This is essential.

You know, remember Jesus saidall authority is in my name.

Heaven and Earth, allauthority is in my name.

Then the first pastor ofthe first church, James,

said you have not because you don't ask.

So it's critical for the body of Christ

to arise and speak thethings of God, speak peace.

- Have you seen prayer work inthings like this in the past?

- Oh clearly.

I think my favorite story of this

is 1961, Dr. Robertsongathering with believers

here in the tide water area

and praying against a hurricane.

Then it was demonstrated as it watched it

wobble out to sea andthis area was protected.

Historically, Peter Marshall wrote

in The Light and the Glory,

as things like Washingtoncrossing the Delaware.

Simple things like when the fog came in.

Or in World War II, at the deployment

of things on the English Channel.

How critical when peopleprayed and God moved.

- Yeah, God and his mercy.

Even the Bible of course,talks about praying.

Jesus spoke to the storms in Mark 4:39.

He said, and he awoke and rebuked the wind

and said to the sea, peace, be still.

And the wind ceased andthere was a great calm.

There's the scripture on our screen.

Mark 4:39.

You might wanna read it at home.

It'll bring you peace and comfort.

Talk about speaking to the storms,

following Jesus's example

and what the Bible says about prayer.

- That's a great passage to share

with our constituency, because here's why:

in this gospel of Mark, allthe power stories are there.

The first two chapters recordhis power over demonic forces,

over healing, all of these things.

So how important it is then,

that Jesus would demonstratethat the winds and the wave.

You remember, they were shocked.

They said what kind of guy is this?

We can't believe it.

That's exactly what Jesuscame to demonstrate.

So we can appreciate thathe is truly conquered

death, hell, the grave, all these things

that Jesus said would be verified.

- And he wants us tofollow in his example,

the Bible even says that Jesus tells us

that we will do miracles

even greater than what he did on Earth.

- By all means, when we come together,

agreement, he says I've given you my name.

Before you didn't know,

but he said now I call you friends.

And then Paul was riding to the churches

when he said God is at workreconciling all things.

Not just spiritual thingsor memory or mental,

but he is demonstrating his glory

in healings, deliverances, and the prayer

as we together agree aboutthese things about storms.

- And real quickly, whatare some other examples

of God moving in nature

when men and women of God prayed?

- You know, I wanna giveprobably the classic one

when God spared his people in Biblically

and that's at the Passover,

when he said I'm gonna put a cloud between

you and your enemies.

I like to think alsowhenever I see a rainbow,

that's the sign that God made.

But consider this, the apostle Paul

was in the storms, and he saidwhen he's on his way to Rome,

he said, you know, I know from God.

I've prayed.

And God has told me, no oneis going to die on this ship

on his way to Rome.

Of course we believe theseBiblical illustrations,

but then as the body of Christ,

it's our privilege to go to prayer

as Jesus, the master intercessor,

scripture says he lives to intercede,

shouldn't we follow Jesus in intercession?

- Amen, amen, and Godlongs to hear our prayers

and answer them too.

- We have a voice print,God gave everyone.

He wants to hear our voices.

- Alright, Chaplain Palser,

thanks so much for yourtime and your leadership

here at CBN.

- Appreciate it.

- Blessings.

- [Efrem] Coming up, a newmovie brings us a powerful story

of faith of a man who survived

being a prisoner of war in World War II.

A story that's all the moreremarkable because it's true.

Coming up next.

(dramatic music)

The power faith story of Louis Zamperini

opens in theaters acrossthe country today.

In 2014, another film about his life

focused on the horrors heendured as a prisoner of war

and it ended with hisemotional homecoming.

Now comes the rest of his story.

Here's your first look atUnbroken: Path to Redemption.

- If you're gonna train for London,

you have to do it right.

Just go nice and easy,

see if you can make it all the way around.

- You think you can run a 4.7 mile again?

- I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't.

I don't run to run.

I run to win.

- [Efrem] Louis Zamperini'sreal life story.

- Cut, perfect, moving on.

Nice job, guys, thank you.

- [Efrem] Is made for the movies.

He was an Olympic distance runner,

a World War II veteran

and a surviving prisoner of war.

- You will never escape me.

Wherever you go, I will find you.

- Are you sleeping well?

You having any night sweats or nightmares?

- I just thought I'd beable to forget everything.

I wanna go home.

- There is no home.

- [Efrem] His storyreturns to the big screen

in Unbroken: Path to Redemption.

A long-awaited follow-upto Angelina Jolie's

2014 epic war drama Unbroken.

- We have night time sky, right?

- [Efrem] Harold Cronk directs this film,

alongside producer Matthew Baer,

who worked with Jolie on the first film.

- First film was a horrific, tragic story

of you know, his fight for his life.

And this second film is you know,

his struggle to save his soul.

- There's nobody moreinspirational than Lou Zamperini,

especially as portrayed in the film

with all of the terriblethings that he goes through.

- When I was a kid, I lived near Torrence.

- Are you kidding me?

- You still have the scars

from where those runners spiked you?

- Yeah, they got me pretty good.

- And that?

- A Jap did that one.

- [Efrem] This chapterintroduces audiences

to Louie's Cynthia.

- Would you like to- Yeah.

(laughing)

What took you so long to ask?

- The war is over, but are we seeing a war

play out onscreen in this family's life?

- Oh yes we are.- Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, he physically left prison,

but he's very much in prison in his head.

It causes a lot of strugglebetween the two of them.

- What's nice about this too,

is that often times, you'll see war movies

and then they try and,

it's very important to showthe human element of war films,

so that people can relateto the experience that,

let's be honest, mostof us will never have

or have never had.

What's nice about this movie,

is that it's a humanexperience that we've all had

in some form or some capacity.

- I get that we were at war, you know,

but it didn't feel like war.

Not to me.

Wasn't until I was stationed in San Diego.

One day this hospitalship comes steamin' in,

they were carrying all these guys,

missing legs and arms.

They were all torn up.

Blind, burnt.

You know, that's when thewar became real to me.

- Luke, how would youdescribe this chapter

of your dad's life?

And seeing it on the screen?

- This is the climax of thestory of my father's life.

All that he went through before

with the athletics and the Olympics,

the life raft and the prison camp.

The climax is when afterhim spiraling out of control

with post traumatic stress disorder,

that he's able to cometo faith on that evening

in October 1949 and change his life.

It is the climactic partof his entire story.

- With vintage cars, likethis pretty red Ford,

the stage is set for the 1940s.

A young Lou Zamperiniand his wife, Cynthia,

are coming here to the tentyou see in the distance

to hear from a young evangelist

who is not quite made a name for himself

on the national scene.

- I do not believe that any man,

that any man can solvethe problems of life

- [Efrem] Evangelist Billy Graham,

whose grandson Willportrays him in the film.

- I believe that God isstill healing hearts.

I believe that God isstill transforming lives.

- I feel like if you closeyour eyes and don't look,

you really think you'relistening to Billy Graham.

- That's the way it waswhen we first met with him.

That was what Harold and I spoke about,

was it sounds

- We watched his screen test.

And Matt couldn't believe it,

he sounds exactly likehis dad, or grandfather,

grandpa, yeah.- Yeah, it as just fantastic.

- But there's a lifeline.

Just reach out.

- I knew the story from Unbroken.

I knew the story frommy granddaddy's tales.

So I know the story pretty well.

And I've seen the movie.

And every time I see it,

I've seen it aboutthree or four times now.

Every time I see it, I'm crying.

- [Efrem] That camp meeting also began

a lasting relationship.

- They had a great friendship,lasted a whole lifetime.

Two lifetimes really.

But it was just, we're grateful how God

brought these two men together.

- [Efrem] Still ahead,we're gonna tell you

how this movie measuresup when it comes to

family friendliness.

We'll take a look atUnbroken: Path to Redemption.

(dramatic music)

As we just showed you,Unbroken: The Path to Redemption

tells the true story of a young man

who endured the horrors of World War II,

but later found faith in Jesus Christ.

The film opens this weekend.

And our friends at Focus on the Family's

Plugged In online bringsus this look at the film.

(upbeat music)

- People from all over the country

want to know if you're goingto run in the London Olympics.

- Unbroken: Path to Redemption

is the true story offormer prisoner of war

and Olympic athlete, Louie Zamperini.

Zamperini's tale of earlysuffering and bravery

was told in the first movie Unbroken,

and this sequel follows him in his return

from the anguish of war

to civilian life in the mid 1940s.

And frankly, that transition isn't easy.

- Are you sleeping well?

You having any night sweats or nightmares?

- I just thought I'd beable to forget everything.

- [Bob] Plagued with posttraumatic stress disorder,

Zamperini is consumed withthe torments of his past,

and his own ever-roiling emotions.

Unable to break free,

he turns away from his lovingwife and young daughter

and seeks refuge in the bottle.

- You will never escape me.

Wherever you go, I will find you.

- But one night, Zamperinihas an unexpected experience

that forces him to lay down his pride,

and confront the demons of his past

at the foot of the cross.

- But there's a lifeline.

Just reach out.

- [Bob] This biographical film,

based on a best-selling book,

tells a stirring story.

- These men did terrible things to you.

- And it points us to the Biblical fact

that when we admit to ourweaknesses and failings

and humble ourselves before God,

he can lift us up and giveus the strength we need.

Zamperini's emotionalstruggles and alcohol abuse

aren't always easy to watch,

but for teens on up,

I'll give Unbroken: Path to Redemption

a four out of five forfamily friendliness.

For an in-depth review of this film,

or anything else at your local box office,

visit us at pluggedin.com.

Plugging you into the movies,

I'm Bob Waliszewskifor Focus on the Family

Plugged In movie review.

- Time now for your Friday faithful,

so I leave you with this.

If you find yourselflooking at great things

other people are doing and wondering

what's God's big plan for you, know this,

God has big plans for you in your life.

You were born for greatness,

and it's not too late to make it happen.

The rest of you canreally be the best of you.

With that word, Iencourage you to make this

a fabulous Friday.

And that concludes thishalf hour of CBN Newswatch.

But the news continues at CBNNews.com

where you can find moreof our exclusive coverage

of the issues you care most about.

And we'd love to hear whatyou think about the stories

you've seen here today.

You can do that byemailing newswatch@cbn.com.

And we'd love to hear from you.

You can reach out to uson Facebook, Twitter,

as well as Instagram.

Hope you join us againright here next time.

Make this a fabulous Fridayand a wonderful weekend.

Be safe, we'll see youright back here come Monday.

Goodbye everybody.

And God bless.

(dramatic music)