The Gathering Storm

00:00 - Speaker 1
Real Life presents the Jack Hibbs Podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints and impact our culture.

00:09 - Speaker 2
Hey everybody, you want to stay tuned for this very special podcast. We've got a very special guest. I think you're going to recognize who he is, so stay tuned.

00:20 - Speaker 1
You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com slash podcast Today. If this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five-star ratings. To us that's like saying amen or yes. Then that rating will encourage others to listen Now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs.

00:49 - Speaker 2
Well, everybody, we are here at this podcast in a very special moment and we've got a moment of time. We were able to grab our special guest in between, really, studios. As soon as he's done here, he's got to run over to the people in Fox News in Los Angeles. I'm talking about Eric Steckelbeck, and we've known each other for a while. We first met, I think, at a prophecy conference that we hosted here.

01:12
It's been been some time, but, Eric, we love you and I want to encourage in fact, by the time we end this, you're going to get all of the links and all of the connects on how you can follow Eric, because he's got a podcast. He's got various televised daily televised program going on, because he doesn't have enough to do. He just keeps adding more. But we're just going to dive in and, more than anything, you can learn so much about him. But we want this time to be somewhat personal. I mean, we'll talk about some prophecy stuff and what's going on current events. But, Eric, I want to know, our audience wants to know how have you come along in your relationship to the Lord? And everybody asks me is Eric Jewish? Is Eric Jewish? Is Stuckelbeck Jewish? So who is Eric Stackelbeck?

02:07 - Speaker 3
Well, pastor Jack, I could flip it while I'm in Israel and use Stackelberg rather than Stackelbeck, but Stackelbeck's actually German, not Jewish. And the funny thing is, we did the whole Ancestrycom thing a few years ago, my wife and I. I have no Jewish blood in me at all. She is 1% Ashkenazi Jewish. That's enough, so that's enough. So now it's an inside joke in our family Dad, you're the big Israel guy, but mom is Jewish.

02:31
Isn't that funny yeah yeah, yeah, but what a long and winding road it's been, Pastor Jack. By the way, you mentioned too the first time we met eight years ago, almost to the day of this podcast, summer 2016. We first met here at the Prophecy Conference, and Amir Sarfati was here as well. Yes, that was the all-star team.

02:47 - Speaker 2
That was amazing.

02:47 - Speaker 3
But for me, grew up very unlikely story. Only God Grew up in a working-class neighborhood in northeast Philadelphia. Family had no money. Dad was an electrician, working-class, salt-of-the-earth guy, very well-read, very intellectually, curious, a student of history, loved Israel and knew the Bible. So, pastor Jack, every day I'm out playing basketball, talking Eagles, sixers, flyers, phillies, all the guys in the neighborhood. I'm coming home with these incredible dinner table conversations with my dad about King David, about Stalingrad, about the Netanyahu family. This was very rare where I grew up, needless to say. And, by the way, benjamin Netanyahu grew up or went to high school. Didn't grow up, went to high school about 15 minutes from where I grew up. So my dad had a great sense of pride in the Netanyahu's. He said they're local boys.

03:38 - Speaker 2
Yeah.

03:39 - Speaker 3
Because they went to high school outside of Philadelphia. Bb's dad taught as a professor in Philadelphia, so he spent his high school years at Sheltonham High School in Philadelphia. This is remarkable. It's amazing I interviewed BB last year I said okay, I'd met him before, hadn't interviewed him. I said I need to break the ice here. I said, mr Prime Minister, sheltonham High School, and he went on for 10 minutes. He loved it. Fond recollections about Philadelphia, his time in high school. So we had a good interview after that.

04:08 - Speaker 2
I'm curious Now, his brother and I'm drawing a blank of his name, his brother who died, Yoni of course. Now was Yoni in that mix. In Philly he was.

04:18 - Speaker 3
Sheltonham High School.

04:19 - Speaker 2
Oh my goodness, Isn't that something?

04:20 - Speaker 3
Yeah, small world, and my dad was very proud of that. So I knew these names. I was 14, 15 years old, hearing all these names and up into the wee hours with my dad, and I had never picked up a Bible for myself. Yeah, but I listened to my dad tell Bible stories, talk about prophecy. I was raised Catholic. My mom was a devout Irish Catholic but my dad was raised Methodist before they kind of went off the rails and his mom knew the Bible. His mom loved Israel and he remembered the rebirth of Israel. He was a young kid, 1948.

04:56
He remembered it, that's right and he retained, he drifted. He had a very tough life. My dad Grew up in a very, very rough area of Philadelphia, a place called Kensington it's notorious now for the drug trade. But he retained that knowledge of the Bible from his mom and he passed it on to me. Now I was living in the world. Pastor Jack, I have to say I'm 21 years old and I'm not walking with the Lord. I believed in God and I feared God that Catholic fear of God, but wasn't walking with the Lord. I believed in God and I feared God. I had that old, that Catholic fear of God, but wasn't walking with the Lord. Long story short my dad gives me a book by Hal Lindsey.

05:30 - Speaker 1
No, the Late.

05:32 - Speaker 2
Great Planet Earth? No way, yes.

05:34 - Speaker 3
Incredible, incredible. What are the odds? My dad was in a Bible study at his factory where he was an electrician, and a group of guys were talking prophecy, talking Israel. They're big Hal Lindsey fans. They give my dad the book. He passes the book off to me and I have to say I was not walking with the Lord at the time. I was 21 years old, living in the world. But everything in that book I said wow, as an observer of world events.

05:59
I followed it all very closely. I said, man, the chess pieces are moving and this is unfolding now and I went to confession as a good Catholic boy at the time. I went to confession and the priest said it's been three years, why have you come back? And I said well, I just read this book and I explained everything in the book and he said you can't take that seriously, it's all allegory.

06:21
It was very sad and I said I don't know, so I left the church and that day and the gears were turning in my head end up moving to Washington DC and for the first time in my life I was around Bible believing Christians other than my dad. In my neighborhood they were called Bible thumpers. Where I grew, up, yeah sure.

06:42 - Speaker 2
Bible thumpers and Jesus freaks Bible thumpers.

06:45 - Speaker 3
Yes. So now all of a sudden, I'm in DC, around quote unquote, bible thumpers, people who'd gone to DC to change it, to change our country for the better, and these people had such a great impact on me. They just loved on me Great, and I actually started reading the Bible for myself. It's after nine 11 and it was like the scales were lifted from my eyes. And working at CBN before TBN got a job at CBN News, pat Robertson.

07:12
Now I didn't know the Lord yet. I believed in Jesus, I believed he was my Savior, but there wasn't the heart relationship, the personal relationship. I wasn't a new creation in Christ and people there just lovingly and gently witnessed to me and just lived out their faith. It's funny. My wife would come to work with me and say for different gatherings or get togethers, and she'd say these people are so nice, what is it about these people? I said it's Jesus. They really live out their faith. So, finally, 2009 took the plunge. It's a longer story, but my first trip to Israel in November 2008 was the game changer for me and God just moved in a powerful way in me when I was in Israel Surprise, surprise in the land, and I got back in August 2009,. Gave my life to the Lord. There's much more to it.

08:02
Of course, but that's the Cliff Notes version.

08:04 - Speaker 2
Isn't that amazing For those who've had a chance to go to Israel as a believer and, in your case, becoming a believer, and I love the fact that it's a process so many times. It's a process. Sometimes we think, oh, did you go to the crusade? I'm not knocking crusades, but did you go? Did it happen that day? In so many ways, it's often a long journey and you're explaining that, but isn't it amazing that when you step foot into Israel, look, I remember the first time I changed everything.

08:37
What is that? I mean it's the Holy. Spirit, you feel it. Yeah, it's amazing because I I remember the first time I was there, been been there 22 times since and that feeling only intensifies. It's a strange thing. I'm not a feely, touchy kind of guy, but the thing is, where a believer goes to Israel, you feel like you've come home to a place you've never been before.

09:00 - Speaker 3
Who can figure that out? It was palpable. I felt the presence of God. I think in particular at the Western Wall in Jerusalem and on the Sea of Galilee.

09:09 - Speaker 2
I felt the presence of God, completely agreed.

09:11 - Speaker 3
Amazing.

09:12 - Speaker 2
I absolutely love it.

09:13 - Speaker 3
I was not the same. When I left, when I got on the plane and went back home, I was not the same.

09:16 - Speaker 2
It's awesome. We had a gentleman that had just come home from his final tour, a US Marine Corps colonel in Iraq, and his wife he was not a believer, his wife is a believer. Here at church and our first day on tour he comes up to me and he says, sir, I'm a colonel, united States Marine Corps. I just want you to know up front for these next 14 days. I'm not a believer, I'm an atheist, but if you need anything let me know. And I said well, I appreciate that. Thank you very much. And so I just did my normal tour thing. We just did the thing and he's listening. And he's listening. The guy began reading the Bible at about halfway through the journey. He winds up landing in Israel as an atheist. By the time we leave he's accepting Christ at the garden tomb and getting baptized. And here's a battle-hardened US Marine Corps colonel and it's the power of God and what he does in our lives.

10:15 - Speaker 3
Absolutely amazing. And the garden tomb, by the way. Talk about feeling the presence of the Holy Spirit.

10:19 - Speaker 2
Special place, a special place where you can look. I'm pretty hyper. I can't sit still for longer than 10 minutes. How is it that at the Garden Tomb you can sit for hours and just take it in? So listen with what's going on in the world around us at the time of you and I doing this interview right now. We've got to actually qualify it. Right now. Things are happening so fast right now in the Middle East, specifically Israel and its neighborhood. Here we are doing this and for those of you who are just joining us right now, so Eric and I are sitting down what just post the Israel's taking out of the Iranian leader?

11:03 - Speaker 3
This is post the terrible Ismail Hanea, the Hamas leader.

11:08 - Speaker 2
Yes and the.

11:08 - Speaker 3
Hezbollah commander in Beirut, Fuad Shukr.

11:11 - Speaker 2
I'm glad you said that, not me. So all these things have just happened. We just heard, about 20 hours ago in our time frame, that Iran has issued a warning to Israel that they're going to attack within 72 hours. Now that's, 20 hours of that has been spent. We don't know if that's going to happen by the time this airs. We'll see but there's a lot of discussion taking place.

11:39
I'm not sure if you're aware of this or not. Last night I was speaking to a US Marine Force recon CIA operative who was telling me that we are evacuating, we are getting out immediately the US Embassy in Baghdad. I'm not sure if you're aware of that and I'm not telling you anything. That's secret. This guy wouldn't have told me this, but he said I was on the sat phone. I was on the sat phone, so that was Wednesday night, today's Thursday, at the time of our interview.

12:13
Right now that US is evacuating, the world's largest embassy is the US embassy in Baghdad and we are getting out. And I asked him. I said can I ask you why? And he said I can tell you only this that there is two things that we are concerned about. Number one believe it or not, that seems impossible. But one is that Iraqis may join with Iranians in light of this Israeli issue. Number two is that we fear that Israel may do a preemptive strike at any moment, and so this is what's happening at our embassy. I'm getting that from a US Marine Force recon CIA Eric. What do you know?

13:07 - Speaker 3
Number one you have some fascinating distinguished people that attend this church.

13:11 - Speaker 2
Yeah, we do.

13:13 - Speaker 3
Amazing people. Number two the Iraq factor is not a surprise, pastor Jack, in that these Iranian-backed Shia militias in Iraq are operating freely there and they've even launched rockets from there towards Israel. No successful attacks, thank God, yet from Iraq.

13:29 - Speaker 2
Yes.

13:30 - Speaker 3
With the Houthis in Yemen. Remember, we've got that entire Iranian ring of fire that surrounds Israel. Iraq is part of that, along with Yemen, and they've collaborated and launched rockets together at Israel Now, until a few weeks ago when we had a deadly attack in Tel Aviv the.

13:46
Houthis hadn't had much success, nor did these Iraqi militias. But it's a new day for sure, after the death of Ismail Hanea, the Hamas leader and that Hezbollah commander who you mentioned. Not a surprise to me, baghdad could be a crossroads in a lot of ways. You're gonna have rockets sailing back and forth over Baghdad coming from both directions Iran towards Israel, israel perhaps towards Iran, but those militias in Iraq are very strong. Iraq, essentially, has become an Iranian satellite.

14:16 - Speaker 2
That's interesting, because aren't they, the two separate houses? They call it of Islam? There's the Sunni and the Shia, but they'll unite, won't they, to go after Israel. They'll kill each other, won't they? The two separate houses? They call it of Islam. There's the Sunni and the Shia, but they'll unite, won't they, to go after Israel. They'll kill each other, won't they?

14:29 - Speaker 3
No doubt Great point. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, no doubt Pastor Jack. And number two there is a large Shia population in Iraq which is many of them are aligned with Iran, not to get too in the weeds with it, but Iran is the Shia powerhouse.

14:43
When you think of, the 85% of the world's Muslims are Sunni, but when you think of the Shia, end of it, the powerhouse is Iran with Hezbollah, but in Iraq they have a pretty significant Shia population as well, and many of them are loyal to the Iranian regime. Some not, but many are, and those are the folks stirring things up who are firing rockets and drones at US troops in Iraq and Syria and we still have thousands of troops there in the region.

15:09 - Speaker 2
Absolutely so, eric. Pretending that these mics aren't on, but also knowing that we have to be careful what we say because people might take things wrong. But if we could speculate, so here we are, near the midpoint, just past, of 2024. The Middle East is it's heating up, it's not cooling down. We have an extremely compromised United States. Thus the United States forces leaderless yeah, it pains me to say this, but let's be honest Literally leaderless. We are literally leaderless as a country right now.

15:45 - Speaker 3
No doubt.

15:46 - Speaker 2
We have no functioning president. We have a campaign that's underway. There's a lot of international interests that would like to leverage this time of insecurity in America to bring us to the point of not being able to respond. Now I'm speculating, now speculating.

16:07 - Speaker 3
This is actually not speculation.

16:09 - Speaker 2
This is fact what you're laying out sadly, but I don't want to be a sensationalist. I want to be like a son of Ishikar, amen. I want to discern the times and the seasons and know what Israel ought to do, and I'm going to throw in what America ought to do. And I'm going to throw in and what America ought to do. We've got an anti-Semitic atmosphere in this world like you and I have never seen before in our lifetimes. We have got Israel surrounded. We've recently heard Erdogan declare and make it very clear that they are enemies of Israel. We're looking at the closest assemblage of Ezekiel 38 that we've seen ever in human history, and that's not a game. I'm being conservative right now about that. We are so close to something going on.

16:59
If you were the enemy of Israel, thus the enemy of America, you've got a lot of incentives right now to act quickly, because, I have to put it this way, allah forbid that Trump should get into office, because if Trump gets into office, then you can expect a strengthening of America, immediate increased ties and resupplying of Israel. New sheriff in town. A new sheriff in town, eric. I want you to just riff on the fact that there's a lot of countries out there and its leaders that see us for what we are right now a very, very weak, very, very fractured nation. Why not act now? If you're not China, if you're not Iran or even Venezuela, for crying out loud, I agree. Why not act now? Yeah, what are your thoughts on this? I?

17:49 - Speaker 3
think you're exactly right. I think there is a window, pastor Jack, between now and January 2025, when Donald Trump, god willing, gets back in office. There's a window here about a six-month window, as you and I talk in early August, where I call them the Gathering Storm Coalition.

18:06
Yes, winston Churchill used the term the gathering storm Russia, china, iran, north Korea, the charter members I'd say the B team to that coalition you mentioned Venezuela, cuba, belarus and the Iranian proxies, the Assad regime, hezbollah, Hamas, et cetera. This is the gathering storm and right now they're all salivating and licking their chops because, as you said, Joe Biden is MIA.

18:35 - Speaker 2
He's incapacitated. I take as an American who loves my country, I take no joy in saying that.

18:37 - Speaker 3
I agree completely. This man is mentally and physically incapacitated. It's not funny, it's dangerous and disturbing and alarming, because the enemies of the free world see it clearly and they see his heir apparent, kamala Harris, to be kind, not up to the task, and then some.

18:52 - Speaker 2
They certainly don't fear her. That's not your opinion, by the way. That's what Barack Obama said last week. Barack Obama said that she's not up to the task. There's a lot of internal fighting within the Democrat Party. Supposedly it's not coming out or playing out as what they had hoped.

19:10 - Speaker 3
They don't think she's ready either Exactly, but they've kind of dug themselves a hole in that their entire party revolves around identity politics, that's right. So they can't cast a black Indian woman aside, right? So she's got to be the candidate, unless something dramatic happens at the Democrat National Convention, and it very well could.

19:26 - Speaker 2
It very well could.

19:31 - Speaker 3
It, unless something dramatic happens at the Democrat National Convention, and it very well could. It very well could. It seems like for now she'll be the one for them, and again she's not a serious person.

19:35 - Speaker 2
Here's the thing. And again we're just talking as two friends here at this table. I've never admitted that I've always said to the church in the last few years something big's coming. I just don't know what I've had admitted that I've always said to the church in the last few years something big's coming. I just don't know what I've had this sense you and I love our country and we love our God and we want to see revival happen among the church. It's got to happen among the church for the lost, it's revival or bust.

20:03
The church has got to be revived so the lost can be saved. That's how it works. The church has got to be revived so the lost can be saved. That's how it works. The church becomes so revived and beautiful, full of life and hope, that the lost basically says what must I do to be saved? That's what we want to see. I want to see Trump reelected and I want to see good things happen. And yet down, deep inside and this is what I'm hesitating to say you know what I'm saying I have the same feeling. There seems to be a witness of this Holy Spirit in my gut that the Lord is saying Jack, don't look for hope in the White House or in the State House. Agree, it's not going to be coming it's a spiritual battle.

20:40 - Speaker 3
Yes, I believe it's revival or bust. I really do, pastor Jack. If we don't turn things around in a spiritual sense, if there isn't a mass collective turning back to God, that's it, I agree. And Donald Trump, hey, love him hope he prevails a strong leader but even then the problems persist, and they're spiritual at their root.

21:02 - Speaker 2
Well, let me again maybe you can ask me this question With our treatment of God as a nation. I'm not talking as the Hibs and Stekelbecks, I'm talking about us as a nation. Look, daniel was an awesome man of God, but Daniel was taken captive because his nation had sinned against God. The way we have treated God in our courts, the way that we have exchanged the Lord for a new God of sexual whatever it is insanity. What we've done to God in our history, what we've done to God in our heritage, everything that we've done to God, we've expelled him from everything.

21:46
What if God decided to step out and say okay, you don't want me. If you don't want me, you don't want me, I'll move back and I'll just leave you alone. You don't want me, I'll leave you alone. If that were to happen, eric, what would you expect to see if God pulled back like he did to Israel? When Israel said we don't want you anymore, he pulled back his hands of protection, he pulled back his hands of blessing. If God is going to do the same, he may be already, I would argue even since 9-11, the past 23 years or so that hedge and I hate to say it.

22:23
I love my nation. This is not staged. We did not interview one another to say it.

22:30 - Speaker 3
I love my nation. This is not staged. We did not interview one another.

22:36 - Speaker 2
That hedge has gradually.

22:37 - Speaker 1
Pastor.

22:37 - Speaker 3
Jack, I feel just in my spirit, been lifted and it physically pains me to say it. Physically pains me to say it, but you and I are straight shooters, and this is no time to mince words. To whom much is given, much is required, exactly. And look, there's been a good chunk of our nation again it pains me to say it that's turned their backs on God Almighty.

22:54 - Speaker 2
Yeah.

22:54 - Speaker 3
Including. It also pains me to say it. One political party, it seems, has largely turned its back on God Almighty, and I think the recent Summer Olympics opening ceremony Isn't that something. It's kind of a preview of things to come. Europe is there and that was in.

23:12 - Speaker 2
Paris.

23:13 - Speaker 3
But that's the road we're going down. If we continue on this trajectory, absolutely. And November obviously looms large in the election. But if there's not revival, pastor Jack, president Trump can get in office. That's a great thing. It's going to be a better country. We'll thrive, we'll prosper economically. Our enemies will fear us once again, hopefully respect us in the very least. But does it just stave off the inevitable collapse? Because if President Trump gets back in office and there's not a turning back to God or revival, it's just kicking the can down the road.

23:44 - Speaker 2
It's a temporary reprieve from judgment, kicking the can down the road. It's a temporary reprieve from judgment. Let's remember this. The message that God gave to Jonah was a message of absolute condemnation, that Nineveh was condemned. There was no repentance in the message, the announcement. He walked around that city and he made the announcement. In these many days, destruction falls. They heard that in such a way that brought them to repentance. Even the animals, remember, were forced to fast and everybody was wearing sackcloth and ashes. And God heard a pagan nation cry and he stayed that judgment. He didn't erase that judgment. By the way, People need to read the Bibles carefully. Nineveh was spared 40 years. They were spared a generation. That's all that we can do now as a country If the church will turn back to the Lord in short order. God may. He may give us some time, but Josiah.

24:50 - Speaker 3
Josiah. Yes, delay things. Yes, hezekiah.

24:53 - Speaker 2
Hezekiah, 15 years. Read it today Delay things right.

24:58 - Speaker 3
That's the hope. And in that time period and you mentioned earlier. Pastor Jack in that reprieve say we get God willing. 15 years, 40 years, bring as many people to.

25:06 - Speaker 2
Christ as we can. Yes, okay, the main reason. That's where we need to circle this around real quick, because at some point in time, you came to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and that so affected you personally that God used you to now and is using you, now more than ever, to reach more people around the globe, and that's god's will. This, this is what we know. We don't know how it's going to go with american politics. We don't know what's even what it's. What's going to happen regarding america's relationship as, as believers, will the church repent? Will the church in america?

25:44 - Speaker 3
with us.

25:45 - Speaker 2
There you go. It starts with one of us, each at a time, and one person turned Eric Steckelbeck turned and now reaches millions of people. And if God were to do a work of God, this is what I believe People are asking me. And I got to say this. You said straight shooters. I got to say it. I've mentioned this to the church a couple of months ago. It went over like bricks and it was simply this. I told the church.

26:15
I said I'm getting a little nervous talking to some of you in between services because you're saying things like oh, if Trump just gets into office, everything's going to be great. And I said I got to tell all of you right now. I do hope Trump gets into office. But if you think maybe we're talking two different outcomes, if you think if Trump gets into office, everything's going to be fine and we can put our heads behind our back and put our feet up, then we're talking about two different type of Trump victories.

26:46
I'm talking about a Trump getting an office that's going to allow me a little bit more time of religious freedom to preach the gospel. Yes, if you're thinking that a Trump gets into office and all will be well and you can just sit back and relax and take it easy because there's this Trump in the White House, then God will not allow him to be in the White House Because God will share his glory with nobody, and if you're looking to Trump to be the Messiah coming in on Air Force One, that ain't going to happen. So I said, your overzealousness for Trump, the man, makes me nervous that God will definitely not let him take the office because God will not share his glory God needs to be first in man's heart.

27:26 - Speaker 3
Exactly.

27:26 - Speaker 2
Exactly. God will not share his glory. God needs to be first in man's hearts. Exactly, exactly. And so, at this time, my passion is this and I'm so glad, eric, you're the first guy to say it, and I said it publicly for the first time that if somebody else is elected to office and it's an anti-Christ spirit, I will not be surprised, you will not be surprised.

27:51 - Speaker 3
And I hate to say it, but I see where we're at as a nation right now. We're at a tipping point. We're at a tipping point.

27:58 - Speaker 2
Well said, we're at the precipice, but no matter who gets elected, our mission stays the same. Yes, it's present truth, present truth and love, and to always make sure that Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is proclaimed. Amen. And I just want I know you got to get back to LA, you got to get on Fox News tonight.

28:17 - Speaker 3
I did want to say that.

28:18 - Speaker 2
Yeah.

28:19 - Speaker 3
I think you asked me about my testimony earlier and this has been really on my heart a bunch since the assassination attempt on President Trump. What I'm praying for is for him to have a personal revival and that I can tell you I didn't mention this earlier at the top of our of our talk here, pastor jack, but I was nearly killed twice. I the bullet actually connected. I have a bullet in my hip and I was beat half to death with a baseball bat as a young guy. It might be a whole other podcast. Uh, philadelphia I some call it the city of brotherly love. For me it was a city of brotherly shove growing up, but had some two near death experiences, quite literally. Yes, and I say all that to say I'm bringing that up because I was never the same after that but you said you're shot twice I was shot once and beaten very badly with a baseball bat the other time.

29:08
Okay, I was not the bad guy in both instances. Let me just assure you of that Wrong place at the wrong time.

29:14 - Speaker 1
Wow.

29:14 - Speaker 3
But the only reason I'm mentioning that is because it's a crucial part of my testimony. You asked me earlier, but it takes a while to tell those stories. But secondly, with President Trump, I felt like that was God's hand, it was divine intervention with a bullet.

29:27
There's no doubt, and I was never the same after that. It sped up my walk with the Lord. Every day was a gift and every day I said, why am I here? And I thank God. I was a different person after that. It sent my life and my spiritual walk into overdrive. So a big prayer I have right now I at the Republican convention. It seemed like there was a different look in his eyes, almost President Trump. We walked out, but my prayer is that God uses this to draw President Trump closer to him. He did with me and President Reagan. I'm not putting myself on their plane, but I'm just giving another example 81 Reagan, almost assassinated.

30:04 - Speaker 2
I remember that day.

30:05 - Speaker 3
I do too. Actually, I was five years old. I remember walking down the street and you were like eight at that time.

30:11
Oh, yeah, right, but I was walking down the street in Philadelphia with my mom and Pastor Jack. It's a vivid memory in my head. Hold my mom's hand, walk down the street, go into the corner store and these women burst out of their house. Two sisters, I think, jumped in front of us on the pavement and said the president's been shot. Two sisters, I think, jumped in front of us on the pavement and said the president's been shot. I'll never forget. It Etched in my mind still 81. But Reagan wrote in his diary afterwards essentially I am now. God spared my life. I am now rededicating my life to the Lord and the remainder of my presidency will be to do God's work Well, I was 23 years old that day I was 23 years old.

30:49 - Speaker 2
It was my first day at Baxter Healthcare. I was there in an introduction day and immediately it was announced over the broadcast the president has been shot and in those days people stopped has been shot and in those days people stopped, heads hung. But uh, remember it like it was yesterday. You mentioned trump and and all of the the dynamic. We've now seen, the technology where him leaning forward and turning his head, the shooter may have been some crazy, disjointed punk kid. Whatever he was, this we know for sure that now the mathematical equations put that bullet exactly in his right temple. It was a perfect shot, okay, and yet trump lives by a millisecond, that's literally.

31:46 - Speaker 3
I mean only god literally.

31:49 - Speaker 2
And so, um, we're praying, as you are praying, as I hope believers are praying, that that it is possible. Could you imagine that it is possible that that bullet that drove trump to his knees and there's that famous image of him bleeding, he's down on that the next time we see trump on his knees and there's that famous image of him bleeding, he's down on that the next time we see Trump on his knees, would be for him to to not to not mention God generically, but to actually say, if I win this election not so relevant, but I've got to publicly get on my knees and to proclaim Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior, who saved my life. If he was elected after that or not to me is completely irrelevant. It's the fact that God spared him. Think about it.

32:37
God in his economy is infinitely resourceful, but you cannot help but believe that those things that transpired on that Saturday was God trying to reach Trump in a personal way, because Trump has always talked about God, but I have never to this day and I've been with him four different occasions I spoke with him on the phone the Monday after the Saturday. He mentions God, but I've never heard him mention Jesus Christ in a personal way. It's my prayer that he comes to know the Lord in a personal way. It's our desire that you come to know the Lord in a personal way, if you don't know him already.

33:21 - Speaker 3
I would say don't underestimate the power of that near-death experience.

33:25 - Speaker 2
Amazing.

33:26 - Speaker 3
Just in having that myself. I was never the same. Wow, I really wasn't, pastor Jack. And not to sound kooky or anything, no, no, no. You wake up every day saying why am I here? Why him and not me?

33:39 - Speaker 2
Do you think he's thinking those kinds of thoughts?

33:41 - Speaker 3
He has to be. He has to be. I mean for me. The bullet in my hip is millimeters from my femoral artery. The bullet in my hip is millimeters from my femoral artery.

33:49 - Speaker 2
Oh, then that's it.

33:50 - Speaker 3
You would have been done A little nudge to the left, I would have bled out and died, you would have bled out.

33:53
And my wife-to-be, who was then my girlfriend, was standing next to me just 15 minutes before it happened. She, thank God, had left. Who knows, she would have been by my side. So a lot could have happened. But A lot could have happened.

34:11
But yeah, you think of that, you do, and it gives you just an appreciation for the Lord. And you see and President Trump said that you see every day as a gift yes, he said that he really do. But you kind of there's a lot of soul searching why me? Why did I survive this? And then there's a lot of okay, I did survive this. God allowed me to survive it. So now, what do I do? How can I honor God? I can never repay God. We can never repay Jesus for the sacrifice he lent. But, god, how can I live my life to the fullest for you? It gives you a renewed sense of purpose to live for the Lord. God, you did this for me. You gave me life, you gave me extra life. You let me live and have more days with my family and see my kids grow up. It could have gone the other way. So now, how can I serve you? How can I best fulfill what you've given me to do and honor you at all times.

34:58 - Speaker 2
So, eric, we're going to put all the information up to where people can connect with you and watch you, um, but tell us real quick what you've got going on. Most people know, but some won't. And what's new? Is there something new coming as well?

35:15 - Speaker 3
Well, a few things. The newest would be Stackelbeck Tonight, my brand new show on.

35:19 - Speaker 2
TVN yes, fantastic, I've had you on as a guest. Best Jack, thank you.

35:23 - Speaker 3
One of our favorite guests needless to say, I'm so grateful, but yes, stackelbeck Tonight every to say so grateful, uh, but yeah, stackleback tonight every weeknight on tbn, monday through friday, it's 7 30 pm eastern, with a re-air every night at 10 30 pm eastern time. And I shared with you. I moved from my hometown of philadelphia, east coast guy, my whole life, to dallas, texas, which is kind of a foreign country and dallas cowboys.

35:42
I'm an eagles fan. It's kind of tough, but it's a good place. It's been good. Tbn'sn has built just a massive, beautiful global headquarters there, state-of-the-art studios where I'm filming the show every night, Monday through Friday. It's called Stackelbeck Tonight, so you can check that on TBN.

35:58 - Speaker 2
I love it. Please do that everybody.

35:59 - Speaker 3
And TBN Plus the app as well. The YouTube channel Watchmen it's M-A-N. Hard to believe Talking a lot of Middle East prophecy, israel on that channel, breaking updates every day. Then the podcast is called the Stackscast.

36:14 - Speaker 1
You've been on.

36:15 - Speaker 3
Weekly podcast we just launched, so a lot going on for such a time as this For such a time as this.

36:21 - Speaker 2
In closing personal, we want to end on a personal note. What is daddy husband Eric communicating to his family in days like this?

36:34 - Speaker 3
God still sits on the throne, girls, god is in control, no matter how dark it gets. Number one, god's in control. He will never leave you or forsake you. And secondly, we live during this time for a reason. Girls, I know it's a tumultuous time. I have two daughters, 17 and 13, and my wife and I know it's scary, it can be worrisome, it's a tumultuous time, but God put us on this earth at this moment in history for a reason, and I believe the main reason is to, number one, shine light in the darkness. And, number two, bring people to Christ. And it's one thing to share the gospel, which is incredible, hand out a tract, share scripture with people, but the main thing for you, I say to my daughters, is to live out your faith, live it out, because people your age in particular, generation Z, generation Alpha they're watching.

37:21
They want authenticity and you have to walk the walk and they'll see that there is something different about you and you will draw them. God will use you as a vessel to draw them to him. Yeah, amen.

37:33 - Speaker 2
Well said, well said. Listen. You guys, we want to thank you for joining us and do follow Eric. This guy is on the go.

37:41
What I love about Eric and his programming in all of the areas is that he's biblically consistent and that the news that he brings to you is not sensational. It's accurate, and many of you will ask me where, where do you get some of your sources or what news programs do you watch? Eric knows, because I'll text him and say what a great program tonight. And so please do that. Please do that. So listen, as always.

38:08
Uh, we believe that it's time for you to live out what you believe in, that it's time for real life, and I want to thank you for joining the Jack Gibbs podcast and, like always, share, give us a five-star rating and the greatest thing you can do you don't need to send money, you don't need to do anything, but pray for us and tell others, because we want to get the truth out that Jesus Christ lives. He died on the cross for you, rose again from the dead. He's coming back soon, very soon, and you need to be ready to meet him. In the meantime, stay tuned and follow Eric Stuckelbeck. Eric, thank you, brother, love you, god bless you, thank you you too, appreciate it, appreciate it.

38:50 - Speaker 1
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