(upbeat music)

- Well, welcome to theshow, thanks for joining us.

New York has now lifted its mask mandate

for the fully vaccinated. Todayas more States move to adopt

the CDCs latest guidelines.

- There's still confusionabout masks though

as businesses struggle to figure out

what's best for employees and customers.

Medical reporter, Lorie Johnson has more.

- [Lorie] Businesses across the country

are giving vaccinatedcustomers the go ahead

to drop their masks

so long as state and localgovernment don't require one.

It's still a patchwork however,

as businesses like HomeDepot leave mask restrictions

in place for now.

Some blame the confusion on the CDC,

which said the new guidance doesn't mean

there should be widespread mask removal,

until state and local governmentswork out their policies.

And there are some placeseveryone is still required

to wear a mask, regardlessof vaccine status.

Those include public transportation,

crowded indoor settings,

schools and daycare facilities.

Meanwhile, some are concerned that there's

no way to verify who's been vaccinated

- Many businesses areworried because you know,

there's no way to really

confirm who indeed is vaccinated

and who was following the CDC guidelines

as they should be.

- [Lorie] In Oregon there'sa move to require businesses

to confirm vaccinations

before allowing customersto go without masks.

Nationwide, at least nine States

already banning theseso-called vaccine passports.

- Well, Lorie Johnson now joins us

for more and I've got topoint out Lorie's accessory.

Her mask matches her outfit.

And are we going to move away

from masks as a fashion accessory?

- I think so.

And you know, I, I havethis giant jumbo pack

of masks that are inthe backseat of my car.

So I don't know what todo with them, I guess

wait for the next pandemic.

God forbid.

- Well, it will help you against the flu.

- That's right.

It actually will,

because flu cases this yearwere down precipitously,

allegedly because ofthese social distancing

and the mask wearing.

- Wearing masks and hand sanitizer,

and nobody's shaking hands anymore.

- Absolutely.

- And so all thattransmissions really low.

Are we going to see thosebehaviors stick in our culture?

- I would think so

because the flu andCOVID-19 are transmitted

in the same way, person to person.

And so people who are worried

about catching the flunext year are probably,

probably going to enact a lot

of these same safety protocolsbecause they absolutely work.

- All right, well let's talk about those

who are vaccinated.

Is it true?

You know, and I know the CDC has come out

but these days it seemsto be everything seems to

be political.

- Right.

- So is it are, are, if you're vaccinated,

are you truly safe?

And are you truly safe forothers to be around you?

- Not 100%.

And so vaccines have neverbeen 100% safe, 100% effective.

And so we know that the Pfizervaccine is 95% effective.

That's great.

That's about the highestlevel we've ever seen,

but that still means about5% of the people can get it,

Moderna 94%, Johnson and Johnson 74%.

And so we have seen some ofthese breakthrough cases.

You may recall nine membersof the New York Yankees

fully vaccinated, stilltested positive for COVID-19.

They received the J and J vaccine,

which has a 74% effectiveness.

So yes, you can still catch COVID-19.

These breakthrough cases are rare.

You can still die from COVID-19.

We know that, got here,

some people, 223 Americanswho have been fully

vaccinated have still died from COVID-19,

but that's out of 115 million

- Do we know the breakdownof the vaccine they got?

- No, we don't know that, that,

that information hasnot been made available.

- Let's go back andtalk about the Yankees.

Here they, they're testing positive,

but showing no symptoms.

- [Lorie] Right.

- Is that because they were vaccinated,

or is the breakthrough

just giving them the antibodies?

Are they virus shedding?

- Right.

- How, how infectious are they?

- I'm really glad you brought that

up because it's a great point.

So people, even if they doget these breakthrough cases,

the cases are generally much more mild

than they would have been

if the person had never been vaccinated.

And so this is somethingthat we see always

with the flu vaccine as well.

Doctors say, sometimesyou can still get the flu

but you're, it's going tobe a mild, milder case.

- OK.

So get the vaccine.

- Definitely worthgetting the vaccine, 100%

- What about the sort of uncertain science

and all the stuff that's

in the internet right now,

that is going to change your DNA

and do all these other thingsto you, what about that?.

- Well health experts havebeen talking about this

for a long time and reallyasking people to stay away

from social media and talk totheir own physician about it.

That is really the most reliable source

for people who are unclear and unsure

about some of the stuff thatthey've seen on social media.

So, absolutely most healthexperts, and really a lot

of faith leaders are saying,go ahead and get vaccinated.

- OK.

At what point do we fully reopenas a culture, as a society?

Are we seeing the lightat the end of the tunnel?

A lot of talk about herdimmunity, where are we going?

- Well, so herd immunity is when most

of the people in the society,a good portion, are immune

and the virus really has nowhere to go.

The question is, what percentage

of the populationconstitutes herd immunity?

Some people say 70%, some say 80% or more.

We're almost at herd immunity

or maybe even right there,according to some health experts.

Because right now 60%of the population have

received at least oneCorona virus vaccine.

And we know that another10% have recovered

from the Corona virus andthey have natural immunity.

So that's 70% right there ofpeople who are possibly immune.

A lot of health expertssay they'd really like to

see that daily casenumber below 10,000 a day.

It's been hovering around 30,000,

today it's more like 27,000.

So we're definitely movingin the right direction.

- What about breakthrough mutations?

A lot of talk about the India bloom

and now a lot of mutationscoming out of there.

South Africa, Brazil

all have different versions of the virus,

India being the mostinfectious we've seen so far.

- [Lorie] It's so tragic.

- What about those?

Will the vaccines be effective?

Are we going to need boosters?

- That's a great question.

And that's where themost people are concerned

about the variants thatyou're talking about.

Particularly ones likethe South African variant,

because before you and I talked just now

about how the Pfizer is 95% effective,

Moderna 94%, J and J 74%.

That's not true with theSouth African variant.

Those numbers all go down.

So for example, theytested the Pfizer vaccine

on the South African variant

and it was more into the 70% range.

The J and J was more

into the 60% range,

still effective, still worth getting,

but scientists worry thatthere may come a variant

and the vaccine is noteffective against it at all.

And so this is why it's so concerning when

people don't get vaccinated,because yeah, sure.

They may be fine if they catchthe virus and pass it along.

But that's how variantsoccur, when it's transmitted

from person to person.

And so, as long

as this virus is still outthere being transmitted

among people, we stillhave a risk of those very

serious variants thatcould evade the vaccine to

to answer your last question.

Yes, there is talk of boosters

in case some of these variants do pop up

and we knew need a, a boosterto combat those variants.

And this is again what we see every year

with the flu vaccine.

Which is why we haveto get one every year.

It's based on the variations,

the mutations in the fluvaccine, in the flu virus.

- OK. Thanks for the information.

And if you want to get thelatest on the vaccines and COVID

you can download the CBN news channel app,

and follow Lorie online andkeep your fashion accessories.

Ashley, over to you.

- Well, still ahead.

Never good enough.

That's how one young manfelt his entire life.

So how did he break free

from the depressionthat almost killed him?

Well, you'll find out after this.

(upbeat music)

- Well, as a teenager,Corey Thomas was excited

about his new found faith in Christ,

but when he sought guidancefrom church leaders

they told him he wouldnever be good enough

for God's love.

Corey delved, deep into despair,

so much so that he even considered

giving up on life itself.

That is until he had anencounter, he would never forget.

- I didn't see God more as,the loving father per se,

I saw him more as the correct them father,

like you do something wrong

and he's ready to just beatyou back into submission,

rather than he had grace.

- [Male Voiceover] Raised in the church,

Corey heard a sermon at 16

that made him want togive his life to Christ.

However, the guidance, he then sought

from the pastor, and church leaders,

only robbed him of hope.

- They kind of treated me as if

I needed to work, to earn God's love

but it wasn't like theywere saying that directly.

It was like how I was treated.

It was, I couldn't sing on the choir

unless I reached a certainlevel of like holiness or

you know, I couldn't goout to dinner with them.

Like they would take theyouth on groups and leave me

out because I needed towork on my salvation more.

And I was confused.

I didn't know what any of that meant.

I was getting ignored andyou know, eyes rolled at me.

And when I get prayer, itwas always some kind of a

God's not pleased with me kind of word.

Being that they werethe mouthpieces of God,

they were our pastors, ministers.

The way they treated me is how I felt

like this is how God is speaking to me.

This is how God feels about me.

And this is his view of me.

I thought, because Ihad to earn their love.

Apparently that's how God feels as well.

- [Male Voiceover] Afterthe constant rejection

from those in the church,

Corey fell into a deep depression.

- [Corey] It pushed me into like,

I wanna say a season of isolation

where I just didn't wantto be around people.

And when I did, I never,

I always find myself comparing myself

to them because theother young people per se

were, were being treated very good.

And some of them weren't evengiven their hearts to God.

And it had me just crying

and not even fully understandingwhat I'm crying about.

When they told me like,I wasn't good enough.

I need to get better.

I immediately, like I startedfasting and I really prayed.

I read my Bible for hours.

So I felt by myself,

and since I wasn't beingaccepted, what am I doing wrong?

And that's where depression came in.

- [Male Voiceover] Desperateto know he mattered to someone.

Corey ran away.

- [Corey] I jumped out ofmy window and I ran away.

I left home for at least a month

and no one ever sought me out.

I came back and when I wentto church, the pastor had this

he said he had a revelationof the book of life.

And he was saying, God revealed

to him the names that were in it.

And he was like, if you wanna know

if your name's in this book,you know, come get in line.

I got there and this man waslike, Oh, you're going to hell.

And I was like, you know what?

I'm done.

I'm like, I'm fasting.

And I'm praying and reading my Bible.

I'm doing everything.

The Bible says I'm supposedto do to get there.

And you mean to tell me

that I'm still notmeeting the expectations.

I'll never be good enough for you.

And I just didn't want to be here no more.

I give up.

- [Male Voiceover] Coreytried to erase his pain

with alcohol and women.

Still feeling empty,

one night,

he took enough pills toend the pain permanently

- I was out and I had this vision.

It was a vision of an angel

and it was this really big figure.

So I was a little afraid and it just,

he said, and today I'mgoing to break the power

of depression off of your life.

That you're called to reach the nations.

He said that to pursue purpose

and to not be afraidof the faces of people.

And I woke up, I feltimmediately, I felt better.

I felt free of that weight.

- [Male Voiceover] Soonafter, Corey met a young

Christian woman named Servan

- She was so on fire andmeeting her and talking to her.

It was something about how she saw me.

And it was aside

from how everybody elsesaw me that made me open

up to her and trust her, you know?

Cos she saw things inme that I'm doing now

that I had no idea thatwas in me to even do.

So that opened me up.

Like, man, let me, let mesee what this girl's about.

You know?

And she pushed me

into that place whereI was able to get free

and get out of that church.

- [Male Voiceover] Coreyand Servan fell in love

and got married.

For the first time,

Corey witnessed theunconditional love of Jesus.

- [Corey] My wife, she's very observant.

So, she already knew that there

was something broken within me.

So she was praying behindthe scenes and she was always

encouraging me as well, butit was through her love,

I got to really see God's love

through her like the right way.

- [Male Voiceover] Seeking direction,

Corey took a prayer walk.

He asked God a question.

- [Corey] So as I was praying in the park,

I asked God like

'what more do you want for me?'

'What more do I got to do?'

And he said, 'you don'thave to do anything more,

But what I do need fromyou is that depression'.

That's when he revealed

to me that the core was not depression.

He told me

that it's really rejectionis what my struggle is.

Depression was just a symptom

of the rejection that I was faced with.

And he literally spokeand told me, I just want,

I want that weight you'vebeen carrying around,

because it doesn't belong to you,

because God's not justgoing to snatch it from me.

I got to freely give it to him.

So I yielded that rejection to God

which literally I justsay, God, you take it.

And that's when that burdentruly lifted off of my life.

When I gave it to him and allof the pain and all of those,

those memories that came with it,

and he sent me free.

Right there in the park, I felt it drop.

I felt it lift, and I no longer struggled

with not wanting to be here anymore.

♪ what you have ♪

♪ and live every moment like your last ♪

♪ three words I'm still here ♪

- [Male Voiceover] Finally,knowing he was loved by God.

Corey began public speaking

and rapping under the alias CHANG3,

sharing openly about his struggles

and the source of his freedom.

- Grace isn't based on my performance

but it's based on my position in him.

It's your position in him

that gives you access to his grace.

It's nothing you can work for.

He's rooting for me and he's not waiting

for me to fail so that he can condemn me.

He's really loving me.

But after that, thatencounter with God in the park

when that spirit lifted, I wasable to reach people deeper

because now, it's hard to free people

from something that you'renot completely free from.

God had begun to use me to, to speak

into the lives of countlesspeople, with the same testimony

of breaking that chain ofdepression off of their life.

And even other thingslike rejection and fear,

be the giant slayer of depression.

I wanna travel the wholeworld rapping and singing,

but making sure people understandwhen the concert's over

that no matter who you are

and where you are, God loves you.

And he always will.

It feels great to be free.

♪ my name is David ♪

♪ show me Goliath ♪

♪ my name is David ♪

♪ show me Goliath ♪

- Yeah, it feels great to be free.

And it is for freedom

that Christ has set each one of us free.

And I love that testimony because a lot

of people believe that youhave to be perfect to come

to God that until you reachsome level of perfection

then God will bestow love on you.

That's not true friend.

That is not true.

And if you are like somebody like Corey

who's been told by others in the church

or other believers that youhave to do this, this, this

you have to pray 20 hours aday and read the entire Bible

in one month, in orderto receive salvation,

in order to receive,

and really feel and experience God's love.

That's a lie.

It is a lie.

It's a lie from the enemy,

because he knows when werealize that God's grace

and love is for all of us

and we don't have to doanything but believe in Jesus,

he wants to throw lies

and accusations at you thatmake you not believe the truth.

Because the truth sets us free.

You just saw it in Corey's life.

What is the truth?

The truth is that God doesn'twant anyone to be separated

from him, so much so that he sent his son

down on this earth to die a brutal death

on the cross for our sins,for my sins, for your sins.

So that we could walk anintimate relationship with him.

And all we have to do, thisis the only thing, is believe.

Believe in our heart anddeclare it with our mouth,

That Jesus is Lord.

Experience that grace today, friend.

The grace of God, which isthe unmerited favor of God.

It's nothing we do.

It's just his lavish love.

He loves you without rival.

So receive that today.

Receive the love of the father

and forgive those who have justspoken lies over your life.

Believe in your heart,

that Jesus is Lord anddeclare it with your mouth.

If you want to pray that prayerof salvation with somebody

please give us a call at 1-800-700-7000.

We have prayer warriors on the line ready

and willing and able to pray for you 24/7.

So please give us a call 1-800-700-7000.

Gordon.

- Well, still the come EfremGraham sharing this weeks

top five stories fromHollywood, right after this.

- Well, it's certainlybeen a meaningful week

in the entertainment world fromBilly Graham to Kobe Bryant,

public figures who have left their mark

on the world, are beinghonored for their impact.

- Plus we'll take a look at what's new

with the music industry

and a film expected toleave a mark of its own.

Here's Efrem Graham sharing this week's

top five stories from Studio Five.

- [Male Voiceover] At number five.

(sports announcer)

It's a long awaited honorfor the Los Angeles NBA star,

the world lost more than a year ago.

Kobe Bryant is now in the

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

His widow Vanessa with a moving speech

as she remembered her late husband.

- [Vanessa] There willnever be anyone like Kobe.

Kobe was one of a kind.

- [Male Voiceover] Bryant,along with Tim Duncan

and Kevin Garnett, were theheadliners in the group of nine

who finally got theirdelayed and long awaited

intriment Saturday night, more than a year

after being announced as theHall's class of 2020 inductees.

- [Sports Announcer] KobeBryant on the final night

of his NBA career,

scores 60 points,

6-0.

- [Male Voiceover] At number four.

- Billy Graham really opened a door

to conservative Christianityin the White House.

- That's filmmaker, SarahCult, who directs the new

documentary on the life ofevangelist Billy Graham.

- [Female Voiceover]On American Experience.

- Billy Graham is likethe Protestant Pope.

- If America is to continue to be blessed,

you are going to haveto become a Christian.

- [Male Voiceover] It's partof the PBS, Emmy award-winning,

history series, American Experience,

premiering on the network this week.

- [Female Voiceover] Ialso think, you know,

he made a real, very conscious effort

to lead, lead hisministry and his life sort

of at the, in the mostupright manner possible.

So he was, there were noscandals with Billy Graham.

He was absolutely committed to his mission

and he did not let anythingkind of derail him.

- [Male Voiceover] At number three.

- He sent me three tracksand I hadn't heard anything

since the studio, and I'mabout to pull my truck over

and about to tear up.

- [Male Voiceover] Countrymusic's, Alan Jackson,

shares stories of faith and family

in his first new album in six years.

He told Yahoo music

he didn't really feelmuch like writing music

after losing his mother in 2017

and then his son-in-law in 2018

and then came the Corona virus.

The project is called,where have you gone?

And one stirring song isin memory of his mother.

It also features the audio

of her voice reading the Bible

- [Female Voiceover] 'andlo' an angel of the Lord came

upon him, and the glory of the Lord shone

round about them'.

♪ the morning light was soft and low ♪

- [Male Voiceover] At number two.

- [Female Voiceover] Thebudding country artist,

Alexandra Kay, posted this video.

♪ My love is deeper than the holler ♪

- [Female Voiceover] Singinglegend, Randy Travis'

'Deeper than the Holler'

on TikTok and it went viral, so viral,

the singer himself pickedit up and reacted to it.

And Kay couldn't believe it.

- [Kay] I just pulled in my driveway

and I checked my TikTok and Isaw everybody was tagging me.

And when you see like a bunchof tags, you're like, OK,

a big creator sharedyour video of some sort.

So I clicked on it and Isaw it was Randy Travis.

And I literally was like,

I just sat in silence for like 10 minutes.

- [Male Voiceover] At number one.

- This town is weird.

- It's just different herethan what we're used to.

- Yeah, real different.

- I know this one has been hard for you.

It's been hard for your dad too.

He's just stressed about me.

- I always thought thewater man was just something

grownups told kids to keepthem from sneaking off

into the woods.

- No one knows where to find him.

- [Male Voiceover] AfterDavid Oyelowo makes

his directorial debut with the film,

'The Water Man'

inspired by films like Spielberg's E.T.

- Yes, but I'm still gonnaneed money to buy supplies

- Supplies for what?

- I'm going to find the water man.

- Come into my office.

- [Male Voiceover] Workingalongside his wife,

promoting the fantasy drama.

It's also a chance forthe Christian couple to

share their faith,

as they answer questionsraised in the film,

like where do you go when you die?

- Well, heaven,

in the film Rosario's character has to

has to give an answer.

And you know, it's a toughquestion to ask in a movie where

you're appealing to a wideaudience, but she gives a really

great answer.

What we believe personallyis that we live once,

we die once, we're judged once,

then if we have, if we're with Jesus,

heaven is the only place we can be.

It's, he is the key,

he is the way he, is thetruth, he is the life.

There is no way to thefather except through him.

- And that's also one ofthe themes of the film,

which is, you know,

Gunna, as a young kid, you know

he doesn't have these revelations yet.

And so of course, with thepossible loss of his mum

he's prepared to go and look

for the Water Man who supposedlyhas the key to immortality,

but you know, he's lookingin the wrong place.

- Well, what's this now is Efrem Graham,

and Efrem welcome back to the show.

- Thank you.

- Well, let's talk about the Water Man.

And let's give that a shoutout to the Christian boss

for that interview.

What are the, what canyou tell us about it?

- Well, it does raisethought provoking questions.

As you can imagine, thislittle kid loses his mom

and he's in search to try and find her,

where did she go?

He wants to find her after her death.

And he is told that the WaterMan has all the answers.

So he is exhausting everysingle thing he can get to

to try to reach the WaterMan, looking for clues.

And as you heard, DavidOyelowo says there,

of course we know he'ssearching for the wrong thing.

But one thing beautiful about this film is

that what inspired David Oyelowo to do it

was he wanted a film onthat raised these questions

but he also wanted a film thatthe entire family could watch

along the lines of an E.T.

That was one of thethings that inspired him

to do the film and hewasn't set to direct it.

And he was only supposedto be a part of the film.

And then they lost thedirector in the middle of it.

And then he stepped up tothe plate alongside his wife

and directed the film as well.

- Wow. That is incredible.

I mean what his wife wassaying, I was like, yes,

and amen. I didn't knowthey were Christians.

That's so awesome.

- Absolutely. Theyactually met as a result

of their faith as children

in London and the immediateconversations where

exactly how they found Christ

as kids and they've beentogether ever since.

- Wow. I love that.

Well, I'm excited to see the movie.

All right, well, buddingcountry artist, Alexandra Kay

she seemed very touchedby Randy Travis's reaction

to her cover video of his song.

So tell us more about that.

- You know, she has beenposting country music.

She's a budding country, musicstar, herself, posting music

and she's done a few, RandyTravis covers, if you will,

including singing alongsidehis music in the car.

And then he actually found out about,

at least one of these,

watched it himself and posted to TikTok.

I didn't realize this untilnow that Randy Travis is

on TikTok, and there you havethe combination she's heard

she sees her, you know, theviews going up and up and up

and she's trying to figureout what on earth is going on.

And then she realized thatthe star himself liked it.

We know that Randy suffereda stroke and is not

able to speak or sing anymoreas well as he used to.

So it's nice to see that he'sstill lending his fame to

support those who aredoing what he loves to do.

- Yeah absolutely. Gordon,would you ever get a TikTok?

- Moving on.

(laughing)

- I think what is it like 45 seconds?

And then you're done.

- Something like that,I'm not really on TikTok.

- I'm stuck on Twitter andthe number of characters

but it just, I'm old and clueless.

- Randy Travis is onTikTok, You could do it.

- Well, there's, OK.

(laughing)

- Are we sure it's Randy?

- That's true, that'strue. It could be that.

- Well, he's got help atleast in front of the camera.

- I gotta reach out, man.

You know, I got twosocial media stars here.

How about lending your brother a hand?

- We can help.

- Yes, that will be good,Efrem I'll let you take that.

- I'm really clueless.

Just don't expect me to do dance videos.

- Me neither.

- That would go viral.

- I gotta talk about Billy Graham.

Is PBS doing a good job on this?

- You know, there are criticsof it, of the, of the film

but I love the interviewswith people like his

sister that that's included in the film.

It's just nice to exploreand remember his legacy.

- All right.

If you want more fromEfrem all you have to

do is check out Studio Fiveon the News Channel app.

We leave you today with anencouraging word from Jeremiah.

I have loved you with an everlasting love.

I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.

(upbeat music)