In this episode of In the Market with Janet Parshall, Janet speaks with attorney Cece Heil about a Christian man facing a death sentence in Pakistan after a blasphemy conviction. She also talks with filmmaker Aaron Burns about Jimmy, a film that follows actor Jimmy Stewart from Hollywood into World War II and back to the making of It’s a Wonderful Life.
The two conversations raise different concerns. Heil explains why she believes the evidence against her client does not support his conviction and how listeners can respond. Burns shares the wartime experiences and faith that shaped Stewart’s life, including a prayer scene that took on deep meaning for the actor. Janet begins the hour with a brief news report about allegations involving a major technology company and China.
This episode moves from a national security concern to a religious freedom case, then to the story behind a familiar Christmas film. Janet and her guests explain why each subject matters to them.
Before the interviews, Janet revisits a story she had discussed the day before with Bill Gertz. She plays a CBN News report about allegations concerning NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, a woman described in the report as a possible Chinese spy, and questions from members of Congress about sensitive technology. The report also says that the woman’s former company denies accusations involving shipments of advanced chips to China and that China’s foreign ministry rejects the spying allegations.
The report places those questions within the competition over artificial intelligence. It says lawmakers want answers about chip exports and the steps taken to protect technology. Janet responds with concern about both national security and the pursuit of profit. She recalls the Bible’s warning about the love of money in 1 Timothy 6:10, saying that profit can turn a person’s values upside down.
Janet also argues that American leaders need a clearer view of the Chinese government’s goals. Recalling Gertz’s warnings, she says Christians have reason to pray about the decisions made by Congress and the president. The program then turns to a religious freedom case that she says also calls for prayer.
Cece Heil, senior counsel and international legal director at the American Center for Law and Justice, joins Janet to discuss Qasr Ayub. Heil says Pakistan’s Supreme Court upheld his blasphemy conviction and death sentence in an October 2026 ruling. She calls the decision especially troubling because his brother was acquitted in a case built on largely the same evidence.
Janet begins by recalling the case of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman whose blasphemy conviction was eventually overturned by Pakistan’s Supreme Court. Heil says that outcome had been more typical of cases that reached the court, though reaching it could take many years while an accused person remained in jail. She says the ruling against Ayub marks the first time the court has upheld both a conviction and a death sentence in an alleged blasphemy case.
The brothers were accused of posting material considered blasphemous on a WordPress blog. According to Heil, the prosecution did not prove that either brother created the site or posted the material. The ACLJ represented one brother throughout the trial process and later took over Qasr Ayub’s representation when the case was before the Supreme Court. Heil says differences in trial representation may have affected the record, but she maintains that the evidence against the brothers was, for the most part, the same.
But for the most part, the record was exactly the same.
That is why Heil believes the different rulings cannot stand together. If the evidence did not support one brother’s conviction, she argues, it should not have supported the other’s. Janet calls the result deeply alarming, especially because Ayub now faces death by hanging.
Heil also explains how broadly she believes Pakistan’s blasphemy laws can be used. She says an allegation that someone insulted the prophet Muhammad can lead to a complaint, leaving religious minorities vulnerable to accusations. Janet agrees that such laws can be used to silence people of other faiths. Both women see this case as a grave concern for religious freedom, not only for the brothers but for others who could face similar accusations.
Heil says her team has filed a petition asking Pakistan’s Supreme Court to review its own ruling. She describes that review as the final legal step available through the court. The president of Pakistan also has the power to grant a pardon, and the ACLJ is seeking support for that request.
Heil says the organization has asked the United States government to press for a pardon. Its team has also brought the case to United Nations officials who work on concerns about executions. She hopes those efforts will increase pressure for a different outcome. Janet worries that letting the ruling stand could make future death sentences in blasphemy cases easier to uphold.
Listeners can learn about the case through the American Center for Law and Justice. Heil says public petitions help her team show officials that concern extends beyond one law firm. When the ACLJ writes to Pakistani and American leaders, it can point to the many people asking for justice. Janet urges listeners to sign the petition and to pray for both brothers, asking that they be protected and that Qasr Ayub’s death sentence not be carried out.
Earlier in the program, Janet says Christians should remember believers who suffer for their faith, pray for them, and bear one another’s burdens. Her conversation with Heil gives listeners a particular family and a particular request to hold in prayer.
The second major interview turns to Jimmy, a film directed by Aaron Burns. Janet says she loves biographical films and is struck by this one’s focus on a single chapter of Stewart’s life. Burns says he grew up watching It’s a Wonderful Life but did not know much about Stewart’s wartime service until he read an article Stewart had written about returning from the war.
Before joining the military, Stewart had reached the height of his acting career. Janet and Burns discuss his Academy Award for The Philadelphia Story and the opportunities he could have kept pursuing in Hollywood. Instead, Burns says, Stewart set aside his fame and enlisted in the Army Air Corps. Janet notes that he was first turned away for being too thin but persisted in trying to serve.
He fought for the privilege of fighting.
Burns says Stewart did not seek a safe assignment built around his celebrity. He wanted to fly combat missions and eventually became a commander. He describes the dangers faced by crews in B-24 bombers over Europe: long flights in severe cold, anti-aircraft fire, attacks by German fighters, and the knowledge that some planes would not return.
Burns explains that Stewart would fly a mission, help plan several more, and then fly again. As a commander, he also had to write to the families of men who died. In the film, that responsibility becomes part of the weight Stewart carries home. Janet says the story helps viewers see the toll of repeated loss on someone who still had to lead the next mission.
Stewart’s daughter Kelly helped Burns learn more about that period. Burns says she shared a journal her father had left behind, offering a rare account from a man who did not often speak publicly about what the war had cost him. Burns also recounts Stewart’s memory that his father put a letter and Psalm 91 in his uniform pocket. Stewart connected his survival with God’s promises and his father’s prayers.
Burns traces Stewart’s return from war to his work with director Frank Capra. The two had worked together before on Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. According to Burns, Capra was more than a collaborator when Stewart came home: he was a friend who saw that Stewart was struggling and invited him into a film that would mean a great deal to them both.
At the center of that connection is the scene in It’s a Wonderful Life in which George Bailey prays in Martini’s bar. Burns says Stewart later wrote that making the film was part of his spiritual healing. He believes Stewart brought his own pain and faith into the scene, making George’s prayer more than an acting exercise.
Janet plays a clip of Kelly Stewart speaking about her father’s faith. Kelly describes him as quietly religious, a man who attended church and prayed without making a show of it. She says he told her that faith gave him strength and comfort. For Janet and Burns, her account helps explain why the film’s prayer still feels personal.
Burns says Stewart understood It’s a Wonderful Life as a story about an ordinary person who lives with faith in God and concern for others. He also sees those qualities in Stewart’s later life as a husband, father, churchgoer, and supporter of veterans. Janet notes that Stewart continued his military connection after active service and later retired from the reserve as a brigadier general.
Janet and Burns encourage listeners to see Jimmy and find a screening. Burns hopes the film will give viewers a fuller sense of the man behind George Bailey. Janet says learning about Stewart’s service and return home changed the way she sees It’s a Wonderful Life.
The episode closes with two distinct requests. For Qasr Ayub and his brother, Janet asks listeners to pray and to support the effort seeking a pardon. For Jimmy, she asks them to watch a film that Burns made to share a less familiar part of Stewart’s story.
Across both interviews, Janet keeps the people at the center of the discussion: two brothers whose future remains uncertain, and an actor whose wartime burdens shaped his return to work. Heil wants the world to keep watching the case in Pakistan. Burns wants viewers to understand more of the faith, service, and loss Stewart carried into a beloved film.