← The Josh Hammer Show
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Max Lucado
In times like these, we all need a word of encouragement. From pastor and bestselling author Max Lucado comes the Max Lucado Encouraging Word podcast. With over 40 years of ministry and more than 145 million books sold in 50 languages, Max shares the greatest story ever told, the living savior who brings hope for a lifetime. Through rich biblical insight, heartfelt storytelling, you'll be reminded that God is always near, always for you, and always in you. Listen to the Max Lucado Encouraging Word Podcast where hope meets your day. Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts.
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Unidentified Caller/Interjection
Foreign.
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Josh Hammer
I'm Josh Hammer and this is the Josh Hammer Show. The war in Iran continues. We are now well into our second week. On the other hand, it's hard to distance this war from something that is happening behind the scenes. A clandestine war, you might say, a war on the very core of America and Western civilization that is the Jewish Christian Biblical Alliance. A lot of propagandists who were sententiously invoking and using this war as a way to try to effectuate their grand desired outcome, the disintegration of this alliance and victory for America's civilizational foes. Eric Sackback, host of Zakbeck Tonight on tbn, joined us later to unpack this and more. But for now, we begin with this. The war in Iran is accelerating. We are now two weeks almost into this war and we can certainly say with a very high degree of certainty that the war is going very, very well for the United States and Israel. There is very, very little doubt about that. Upwards of 60 Iranian vessels from the navy have now been sunk. The entirety of the air force seemingly is depleted. Ballistic missile sites, the air defense have all been pummeled. It's true that Iran is still sending out some missiles, some drones, but if you look at the actual daily metrics as to the number of missile and drones that have been launched from Iran, not just to Israel but to the various other Arab countries in the region. Those daily numbers are going down and down and down. Earlier today we had what was referred to as a written statement from Mochaba Khamenei, who is the 56 year old would be successful to his now killed father Ali Khamenei. And this statement is causing a lot of controversy because what they did was they took a statement, they called it a written statement and they read the written statement across Iranian television, state sponsored tv. They're from the regime. But Khambani the younger actually was never seen and he was never seen because as far as we can tell, based on what we can glean here. There's a lot of rumors rolling around, but as far as we can tell, we believe he is in the intensive care unit right now of Sinai University Hospital in Tehran, where an entire section of the hospital has apparently been cordoned off and placed under heavy security. We believe that Moshe Al Khamenei has lost a leg. We believe that his leg has been amputated. Potentially other serious injuries as well to his stomach and his liver. So he's being kind of mocked by the Iranian distant community as a ghost ayatollah. So he's not really calling the shots there. Frankly, he might not even be conscious. He actually might be in a coma state. So there's some elements there remaining in the military command, in the irgc, the Zonk Revolutionary Guard Corps that are calling the shots there. Certainly it does not seem to be this ghost ayatollah. Meanwhile, the US and Israel are delivering all sorts of precision strikes over the past 24 to 36 hours when it comes to certain checkpoints of the country for the regime's paramilitary, the besiege. So think about the Nazis, and the Nazis had the Gestapo, the ss. This was their secret police, their paramilitary. That's essentially what the besiege is. These plainclothes people that roam the streets trying to shoot people who deign to have a bit of wrong think thought, who dare to have anything in the back of mind suggesting that they might want to say something opposed to regime besieges. They are to basically hunt you down and potentially kill you. They are terrible, terrible, terrible people. The street thugs, frankly, of this most despotic and tyrannical of Islamist regimes. So over the past 36 hours or so, Israeli and American forces, I think, I believe above all it's actually Israel doing this. They are surgically just dismantling a lot of the besieged checkpoints in the streets of Tehran. Potentially other states as well, but bas. And we can tell it's mostly happening inside of Tehran. And there's actually some footage on social media of very brave people then getting on their rooftops and they're shouting this in Farsi. They say marg bar baseej, which means death to Basij and Margbar dictator, which means death to the dictator. There's some clips of that that are going around social media. The goal here, of course, is ultimately to try to get the Iranian people in position where they can actually rise up against the regime itself. Meanwhile, there have also been a number of strikes against Iran's Bank Sepa, which is a state run institution largely responsible for paying salaries of Iran's conventional military as well as the IRGC itself. So for instance, the data center of the Iranian state regime run bank SEPA was hit by a strike. So it seems that the US and Israel are now essentially trying to cut off the means by which the military and the IRG can literally be paid, that it can actually get paid money. I think, I believe the hope here is that if you can't get a paycheck, if you're not going to get any money, maybe there is a higher chance that you will actually, that you will actually be inclined to again, to take marriage into your own hands and to rise up potentially against the regime itself. The energy conversation continues to play out as well. Moshe Bah Khamenei in his quote unquote statement. Again, it's not much of a statement. It's a written statement that they read and pretending like he's not amputated, like he's not in a coma, which he might be. So they said here that there will be retaliation for every single person who's been martyred by the terrible little satan Israel and the terrible big Satan Americans. He's also talking about how Iran will continue to hold control over the Strait of Hormuz, which is this very narrow oil choke point through which 20% of the world's oil supply flows. I continue to resort to this, which is a lot of folks look at this and they freak out, the Pannikins. They freak out. They say, oh my God, they're going to cut off 20% of the world's oil supply. Well, first of all, they're really not the U.S. according to Pete Hegseth and now documented, has been involved in operations for some days now when it comes to these mine laying vessels, vessels that laying mines trying to blow up the strait there. We've blown up at least 15 to 20 of these mine laying vessels. But the more important point which we've said here on the show is this. If this regime is capable of shutting off the Strait of Hormuz and therefore affecting the supply of oil, why would you want to give them a permanent veto right now? They can be deterred right now, they can be stopped. Why would you want to allow them to, God forbid, to acquire the worst weapons known to man, to actually acquire nukes or sort of there, Then they would shut down for good and that would essentially be the end of that conversation. So we're certainly going to continue to follow this conversation as it, or this, this war as it plays out there. We're still paying close attention to this debate as to what exactly victory means here in this theater. Meanwhile, there are a lot of folks in the home front who are seizing on this war to further their pernicious, dare I say diabolical agenda to drive a wedge through the heart of the Jewish Christian Biblical Alliance. I'm going to elaborate on that for you in just a minute. But for now, just a quick word from our sponsor for today's show, which is Balance of Nature. You know, I think nutrition has gotten way too complicated. Every week there's a new powder, a new lab created formula, some new breakthrough. But here's the truth we've been told since we were kids to eat our fruits and vegetables. Nobody really explained why when you eat whole foods, you're getting phytonutrients, those natural compounds your body uses to adjust, repair and respond every single day. That's not hype. That's how we were designed. That's why I take Balance of Nature. They use a tailored vacuum cold process that stabilizes the phytonutrition in fruits and veggies. So you're getting real whole food nutrition, not synthetic substitutes. Their whole health system includes fruits and veggies, plus fiber and spice, 47 ingredients in one simple routine. I take it myself, if you want to fight the good fight, go to balanceofnature.com to subscribe and save today. Join hundreds of thousands of customers in one simple routine that's changing the world. Again, folks, that is balanceofnature.com you can check it out. So a lot of these folks read, led by Tucker Carlson, led by Candace Owens, are seizing on this war effort and saying a lot of garbage, some of which they've been saying for years now. They're saying that Donald Trump was bamboozled, that he was, he was talked into this war, he was coerced into this war by the Israel lobby or the Christian Zionists who Tucker Carlson told Nick Fuentes he hates more than anyone in the world. I think. Eric Stockelbach, our guests soon will have something to say frankly to that. They're using this frankly to, to try to further their insidious goal, a goal that has been on my radar for some years now. And I've been among the loudest voices calling out, which is that they are attempting to destroy the ecumenical biblical inheritance that is the core, that is the core of the United States. Again, Tucker Carlson, we can't help but talk about him. He is the single tip of the spear of this he had on Bret Weinstein. Eric Weinstein's utterly vapid and stupid brother this week to talk about, among other things, the somewhat infamous Hezbollah pager operation. This conversation really got off the rails. Go ahead and watch this.
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Unidentified Caller/Interjection
What am I to make of the fact that you have these exploding pagers used to kill terrorists? Obviously, that's not the only people who were killed, but nonetheless, that was their purpose. And then one is delivered to Trump. You can read it into totally different ways, right? The normal way to read it is that this was maybe a tasteless celebration of a successful operation and yada, yada, yada. On the other hand, it can obviously be read as a threat.
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Josh Hammer
And
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Unidentified Caller/Interjection
it's hard for me to imagine. I can imagine the meeting in which somebody says, hey, maybe we should send President Trump a golden pager after our successful operation. Somebody should immediately shoot that idea down and say, no, we can't do that, because it could be read in another way.
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Josh Hammer
Okay, so this Looney Tunes brother of Eric Weinstein, Bret Weinstein, who was a behavioral psychologist and a second rate one at that, at arguably the nation's single most left wing university in Washington State, there a guy who is now doing his whole amateur cosplay routine in evolutionary psychology, trying just to evolutionarily survive, it would seem, in today's deeply fraught climate. Good luck with that, bro. With your last name, Weinstein, I'm not sure that Tucker's podcast audience will necessarily save you from what they horrifically, perhaps even intend to do. But anyway, I digress. There's this whole sustained operation. I mean, Brett Weinstein, they are ludicrously saying that with the golden pager that Netanyahu delivered to Trump as a gift last year, Ludicrous was saying, suggesting that Netanyahu was sending a message. A message, kind of Luca Brazzi with the fish. He sleeps with the fishes back in the Godfather there. These are lies. These are horrific, destructive lies that are being told with impunity. They're not paying a price for it, if anything. Unfortunately, some of the ratings of these shows, the downloads, the clicks are not going down. Sometimes they're actually even going up. But what they're really trying to do, folks, it's. The Jews here, there and everywhere are a stepping stone. They're a proxy. A proxy for objective morality, for the difference between truth and fiction, between right and wrong. That's what monotheism is. That's what the people of the book have always represented. So this is an attack on that. It's an attack on what built America, what sustained America, all that we hold dear. They must be defeated and they are seizing on this war to try to drive that wedge further. And we're not going to allow it to happen. You guys can take this effort and you can shove it in a place that I will not describe. You can probably imagine where I am going with that. Well, we're going to bring on a great guest for you folks to unpack this and much more. Eric Stockebeck, host of Sapath tonight on Trinity Broadcast Network, joining us after a very short commercial break. Stay with us, Eric. Stop joining us on the other side.
- [12:36]
Max Lucado
Want to be the CEO of your rental portfolio? Throw out your spreadsheets, DIY lease and manual rent payments and simplify your rental management. Get started for free@turbotenant.com.
- [12:53]
Josh Hammer
Welcome back. So as mentioned before the break, we have the perfect person to join today to unpack all of these topics and more. And that person is someone who I've gotten to know recently. He is a wonderful man. He is Eric Stackleback. Eric Stackleback is the host of, among other things, Stackelbeck tonight on tbn, Trinity Broadcasting Network, where I've been pleased to be a guest over the past year, year and a half or so. He's also the host of the Watchmen newscast on YouTube. You can follow him on xericstacklebeck. Eric, thanks for joining the program. Really appreciate always enjoyed my conversations with you on your show. And it's about time that we, I think, turn the tables a little bit here.
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Eric Stackelbeck
Great to be with you.
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Josh Hammer
You bet. So let's begin with this war against the Iranian regime. Operation Epic Fury is the American name for it. Operation Roaring lion is the Israeli corollary to it. What is your assessment as to how things have gone over these first almost two weeks now? It's hard to believe this started almost two weeks ago. And I think the even more relevant question, perhaps, Eric, is what happens now?
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Eric Stackelbeck
Yeah, Josh, number one, I do think the past 12 days for the US and Israel, this historic joint operation has been really a smashing success. If if you look at it, number one, over 40 of Iran's top leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, eliminated in the first hours of this conflict. Not only that, Josh, the missile launchers, which look, we think about Iranian threats, one number one, obviously, one A was certainly the nuclear program. One B had to be that massive ballistic missile program. Now a good chunk of their launchers have been destroyed. And since the early days of the war, look, day one, Josh, I think it was 360 missiles were launched by Iran and now we're seeing maybe 10 missiles a day now. They're still lethal by the way. They're using cluster warheads which are very lethal. But the numbers have diminished dramatically as well as the drone launches. That's number one, the leadership has been decimated. Number two, the military infrastructure. Number three. Now we see, Josh, Israel in particular targeting the besiege, the IRGC on the ground in places like Tehran. The repression network, the repression machine that cracks skulls, imprisons and executes the Iranian people. Now in taking them out, targeting them, we're laying the groundwork for the next phase. You asked what comes next. I think the next phase, now that the regime's military machine has been completely decimated, is God willing for the Iranian people to rise up. I think the US And Israel have certainly laid the groundwork and created the conditions that for the Iranian people to go and finally hopefully seize their freedom. I think that's the next step here as this moves on. But President Trump has said, look, we're actually running out of targets to hit at this point. But I think that repression network will be key now. The Basij, the goons on the street, quite frankly, and the IRGC and Mojtaba Khamenei, by the way, the new supreme leader may not be long for this world. We'll see what happens there as well.
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Josh Hammer
A lot of good stuff to unpack there. You can follow Eric Zuckerbeck on X. EricSsucke, I'm really happy that you mentioned the besieged. This is essentially their Nazi esque paramilitary what the Gestapo and the SS were to the Nazis. The Basij is essentially that for the Iranian regime. And the fact that Israel in particular is now engaged in direct operations against the Basij is intended, as you say, to permit the conditions for the Iranian people to take matters into their own hands. Eric, I guess one question that I am struggling with, I've been kind of publicly tossing back and forth on the show over the past week and a half here is is there such thing as victory if the regime is not totally replaced? If the, if the regime is chastened, subdued, kind of the kind of the Venezuela model, you know, Delcey Rodriguez there in Venezuela is basically this Marxist Leninist, essentially Hugo Chavez, Nicolas Maduro type person. But she knows that she messes up essentially she's going to be next as she basically follows, follows her marching orders there. Is that a viable scenario in Iran there or is nothing less than the full scale replacement of this regime going to suffice?
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Eric Stackelbeck
I would prefer the latter, Josh. Personally Speaking, I would find it incomplete. It would feel incomplete to me if elements of this regime are still in power in Iran when the dust settles. But that may be an outcome here. Maybe there is a more pliable regime figure perhaps who will work more closely with, with the west, or maybe not attack Israel on a daily basis and agree to those kind of conditions because they'll be so neutered militarily that they wouldn't be able to cause the usual havoc they have over the past half century or so. But it would feel incomplete to me because I think for me, personally speaking, Josh, I love the Iranian people. No one has suffered more than the Iranian people over the last 47 years. Again, nearly half a century. It's a proud people with incredible ancient traditions. And I think the Iranian people are capable of incredible things. I dream of. Look, we talk about the Abraham Accords, which by the way, may be a byproduct of this more Abraham Accords, peace treaties when the dust settles. But a Cyrus accord between Iran and Israel, I think there's such great potential and looking back historically, even biblically, Josh, look, the Iranian people, the people of Persia and Israel always had a strong relationship for thousands of years ago. I'd love to see that reinvigorated today. But I don't think that can happen if regime elements are still in power. It would feel incomplete to be. And again, the ball is in the Iranian people's court here and they've risen up time and time again over the past 30 years or so, but not with this kind of pronounced strong support from the US and Israel. Now they have it and the conditions are being created and my prayer is that they seize it. They're certainly capable they that they seize it and the regime is cast into the ash heap of history, completely where it belongs.
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Josh Hammer
You know, I couldn't help but smile there, Eric, when you mentioned the Cyrus accord, Cyrus, of course, being one of the two great rulers of ancient Persia along with Darius. I mean, that would be a historic moment. Certainly before the revolution 1979, Israel and Iran got along pretty well. I mean, things were not exactly perfect, but it was really not an issue for the first three decades of Israel's existence. The Shah, whatever his problems were, was a generally Western sympathetic figure, despite whatever autocratic or corruption he may or may not have had there. Clearly it was orders of magnitude preferable to, unfortunately, what we've gotten here. It's historically actually quite similar really to Cuba, where the status quo ante to the Castros was Batista, who similarly was autocratic corrupt, etc. There, but still prefer that certainly to what's happening here. Eric, I want to turn our tables a little bit here. Another theme of today's show is this war, this war on Jewish Christian relations. And there are a lot of people that are exploiting this current war against the Iranian regime to try to drive a further wedge between American Christians and American Jews, which I just hold in the most utter contempt possible. I want to get into some of the trends here when it comes to younger evangelicals and theology in just a few minutes, but for now, why don't we just open with this. What is the staggering success of this joint American Israeli operation? Can you put that in context as to the importance of the rebuke that it serves to the people that have been casting such aspersions on this particular bilateral alliance for years now?
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Eric Stackelbeck
Yeah, I think, Josh, number one to this point, Tucker Carlson, who is demagogue in chief when it comes to this issue, not only viciously anti Israel and anti Semitic. He can deny it all he wants, but the proof is in the pudding. Not only his rhetoric, but his guest on his podcast, but also viciously opposed to Bible believing in evangelical Christians. He was at the White House over the past two months or so three times, including shortly before the launch of Operation Epic Fury. And he has said he's lobbied President Trump nonstop to not strike Iran. Guess what? President Trump struck Iran. Not only did he strike Iran, he did it alongside the world's one and only Jewish state that Tucker detests so much. I can't think of a bigger rebuke to Tucker Carlson than than that. So that's number one, I think. Number two, the Tucker Carlson wing, the isolationist wing, they thought President Trump was their guy. And President Trump has not gotten involved in any sorts of entanglements that have required boots on the ground, long occupations, anything like that. But he's certainly not an isolationist. The Trump doctrine is using force when needed, swiftly, decisively, strategic goals, objectives met. You get in, you accomplish the mission, and you get out. There's not nation building. It's common sense foreign policy. And to that end, the Tucker wing, I just called him the Tucker wing because he's the most visible manifestation of it. Candace Owens is completely out of her mind. Tucker still has the veneer, at least Josh, of legitimacy from his Fox News days because a lot of people, I think now are catching on to what he's all about. And President Trump rebuked him just a week ago and said Tucker has lost his way. He's not maga. I think a lot of people in the MAGA world are saying, wow, I love Tucker 2018, 2019, even 2020. Great monologues, hard hitting, mostly about domestic and cultural issues. Never really delved into foreign policy too much. Never talked about the Middle east and Israel, which I found odd because Israel and the Middle east are usually at the front of the news cycle. But now I think people are waking up, they're saying, wait a minute, this guy is really off the reservation. His rhetoric now. I mean, day one, he called the attack on Iran. I don't even want to say the attack on Iran. It's a response to 47 years of Iranian attacks on the US and US interest. But he called it evil the very first day. He's slammed President Trump throughout this conflict over the past 12 days. So I think heone of the good things come out of this. Josh, he's been fully exposed.
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Josh Hammer
Oh, he's been exposed. He's been sidelined. And ironically, Eric, by calling this evil, he's exposing himself, actually, frankly, I would argue for the evil that he represents as well. Folks, stay with us to a very quick commercial break. Eric Sacabeck joins us again for much more. On the other side,
- [23:00]
Max Lucado
want to be the CEO of your rental portfolio. Throw out your spreadsheets, DIY lease and manual rent payments, and simplify your rental management. Get started for free@turbotenant.com.
- [23:16]
Josh Hammer
Welcome back. So we're still joined by Eric Stacklebeck, host of Stacklebeck tonight on TBN Trinity Broadcast. Now we can follow Eric on X and at Eric Stacklebeck. So, Eric, I want to just pick up right where we left off here you call the Tucker Wing. I call the Tucker Wing, too. He is the leader of this cabal, a cabal that is quite literally being cast out of maga, actually in real time by the guy who essentially created maga, that would be President Donald Trump. But they're not doing this out of the blue. There is something more broader going on here and there is something of a generational divide. Eric, I know you see some of the polls, some of the polls that I see as well, that have been troubling, I think all the way back actually to 2013. There was an essay in Mosaic magazine, this intellectual Jewish Journal, gosh, 12 and a half years ago now, written by Robert Nicholson at the time there, saying that there was a festering problem when it comes to younger evangelicals. A lot of this conversation, I think, tends to focus on Catholics. And we saw this utter idiot, Carrie Brigean Bowler, who was saying that it's Catholic doctrine essentially to be anti Semitic, which it's obviously not, by the way. We actually had on our friend Jay Richards of Heritage foundation to correct some of those lies. But keeping the conversation less on Catholic doctrine and more on your world, on the world of evangelicals, there's something that I think the Tucker's world are trying to tap into here, what is happening in younger evangelical circles when it comes to these issues.
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Eric Stackelbeck
I think this trend has been going on for a while. You mentioned that Mosaic piece from about 12, 13 years ago, and I remember it, Josh. It's been going on for a while, but it's gone into overdrive since October 7th. You would think, by the way, it would be the opposite, right? You would think that after the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust, there would be a massive outpouring of support and galvanizing alongside the Jewish people. We've seen the direct opposite, obviously from the left, but also in that segment of the right, led by Tucker and among young people, I think the podcasting world, look, the Tuckers, the Nick Fuentes, Candace and all the rest, they have great influence on young people. A lot of young people, look, aren't watching, Josh. You know this. They're on their phone, iPad, they're not watching tv, they're not watching broadcast TV in most cases, but, man, are they plugged into podcasters. And I think podcasters like Tucker have had such a pronounced influence on young people. I went out to breakfast, actually, Josh, about a year ago, a friend of mine from my daughter's school, great guy. He said, hey, my son is becoming anti Israel. Can we go out to breakfast and you can talk to him and try to enlighten him. And I sat down with his son. Nice kid, but named podcaster after podcaster. Tucker says this, so and so says that. I said, wow, it really struck me. These are impressionable young minds and they're sponges. And what Tucker is doing, look, he's theologically, historically and geopolitically inaccurate and ignorant. He's a smart guy, but I don't know, it seems to be willful ignorance. I don't know if he reads very much. He doesn't seem to be a student of history, but he's regurgitating these lies for a broad audience. And young people who are 17, 18, 19, 20 years old, again, very impressionable. They're soaking this all up. And it's bad theology as well, at the end of the day. Replacement theology, it's called, Josh, where this notion and it's been around for a while that God is done with the Jewish people, that the Christian church has replaced the Jews. The Jews have no meaning. There's no role for them in God's plan at all. I think a major hitch was thrown into that in 1948 when the Jewish state was miraculously reborn. But I digress. But that's where we're at here. There's very powerful voices that wield a lot of influence in this new media world. And young people, Gen Z, they're all about new media that are having great influence. And it's a poisonous influence.
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Josh Hammer
You know, I think calling Tucker historically ignorant is mild, if anything, frankly, I think back to what he said to Megyn Kelly in early November. He went on, they did a live show on Megyn's show, and Tucker made the preposterous claim that the New Testament and the New Testament alone is responsible for the birth of Western civilization. Now, I am absolutely not downplaying the importance of the New Testament, but he might want to go to Philadelphia and see what's written on the Liberty Bell. I'm pretty sure It's Leviticus, chapter 25, verse 10, that thou shalt proclaim liberty throughout the land and to all the inhabitants thereof. There's of course, more examples than one could possibly count. In fact, there have been studies on this and they literally show that the most cited and most quoted text is in the American colonies over the course of the second half of the 18th century, aka the Revolutionary period. The single most cited text was actually the Hebrew Bible, AKA the Old Testament. The imagery of the Exodus, the fleeing of oppression there was ubiquitous, frankly, in the minds and consciences of the American founding generation. So, Eric, I want to do dive a little more deeply on the theological question for you. I'm reading this fascinating book right now. It's a book that came out in 2018 by, by a Jewish man by the name of Samuel Goldman. And the book is called God's Christian Zionism in America. And it's a really long historical view. I'm only about halfway through. And he really helpfully, I think, persuades that Christian Zionism goes way back, all the way to the Puritans in 17th century Massachusetts. These old Puritan sermons in Boston from the 1660s talked about the Holy Land and the feet of the Jews a lot. So can you just correct the record a little bit here? I think a lot of folks are saying that dispensationalism, which is this 19th century and onward movement started by John Nelson Darby, a Lot of folks say that this is heretical, that it's a distortion of what Christian doctrine has been for centuries and centuries there. That's certainly not my understanding. Can you address that?
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Eric Stackelbeck
Yeah. And number one, just let me add to that Judeo, Christian Western civilization. You said accurately, Josh talked about the Liberty Bell Judeo, Christian Western civilization was born on Mount Sinai 3,500 years ago where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. That's what all of Western civilization ultimately is based upon. You can't have Christian without Judeo because Jesus, helpful reminder, was a Jew. But in terms of the Zionist movement and the history of the Zionist movement, take it really Josh, back to the UK, back to Great Britain, we're talking 1500s, 1600s, 1700s, America, obviously the United States came out of Great Britain. The Zionist movement was growing and strong then. We're talking the 1500s in the UK and here in the United States. Look, Christian Zionists, it's very simple. It's not brain surgery. It's nothing controversial. We believe that the Jewish people have a right to live in their God given land where they lived 3,000 years ago. It's very simple. That is the essence of Christian Zionism, that a Jewish state exist, a Jewish state, that land, we believe that land was given to the Jewish people by the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And Josh, here's the thing, he's a promise and covenant keeping God. He made covenants in both the Old and New Testament to the Jewish people. Very specific covenants. We can look at Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, it goes on and on. Genesis, of course, it goes on and on. Very specific. I think of the book of Amos. God says, I will bring you back to the land I have given you, never to be uprooted again. What part of never do the replacement theology types not understand? So if God was to break those covenants with the Jewish people and the nation of Israel, what's to say he wouldn't break covenant with me and promises with me? How can I trust anything God says in his word in the Bible if he just turns around and changes his mind and breaks covenants and promises with the people who he chose from the beginning? So it's a really simple notion for Christian Zionists that God is a promise keeping God. He's made eternal promises to the Jewish people and to me, Josh, I mean on the ground it seems like God's keeping those promises because the Jewish people were largely dispersed for nearly 2,000 years and then God brought them back against all odds and, and by the way, one quick thing here. There was always a Jewish presence in the land of Israel. Yes, after the temple was destroyed, A.D. 70, the Bar Kokba revolt, 132 A.D. most of the Jewish people were scattered to the four corners of the earth. We know that. But there was always a Jewish presence in Israel to the point that in the 1840s, Jerusalem had a Jewish majority. So Christian Zionists know this history. They know that theology, and that's the basis for our beliefs when it comes to the modern state of Israel and the Jewish people.
- [32:00]
Josh Hammer
Great stuff. So much there, really, to unpack. You know, I've actually never heard the argument presented before in such clear terms that if God is actually going to break his promises, his covenants in the Old Testament, why wouldn't he do the same in the New Testament? That's a very compelling argument. Frankly, Eric, I've not heard that presented as clearly and I really appreciate that you presented it. Look, I mean, speaking from a Jewish perspective, we say in our morning prayers every single morning. There are, of course, various verses that we say every day. Among them are these various verses from towards the end of deuteronomy, deuteronomy chapter 25, deuteronomy, chapter 30, where God very clearly says that no matter how far you are scattered to the edges of the earth, I will restore you to your land there. And I think myself as a Jew and you as a Christian, Eric, we probably can agree that 1948, shall we say, looks a heck of a lot like a Deuteronomistic promise that has been fulfilled. So, folks, great stuff from Eric Zachelbach. He's clearly a brilliant guy you can listen to or you can watch Stackleback tonight every evening on TBN, Trinity Broadcasting Network. Also check out his show on YouTube, the Watchmen Newscast. Follow him on xericstackleback. Eric, we really appreciate you clearing up some of this confusion. God bless you, my friend, and come back soon.
- [33:04]
Eric Stackelbeck
Josh, God bless. Thanks so much, my friend. See you soon.
- [33:07]
Josh Hammer
Folks, stay with us through a very short commercial break. We're going to have much more to close out today's show on the other side. One bad tenant, one late rent cycle. That's all it takes for your year to spiral Turbo tenant. Helps you prevent rental nightmares before they happen. With trusted screening, customizable leases, automated rent collection and timely maintenance tracking, you can stay ahead of every issue. Get started for free@turbotenant.com. Welcome back. So much to unpack there, from what I thought was a terrific conversation with Eric Stock, host of Stock Tonight on tbn, we'll start with the Iran piece of the conversation and then I do want to talk about the broader piece of conversation which is this war on Jewish Christian relations, this war on the very notion of geo Christian civilization, this war on US Israel relations and so forth. So starting with the former and then segue into the latter, I thought it was very important that we, that we discuss what are these increasing attacks, not just on the formal apparatus of the regime, not just on the irgc, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, not just on the ballistic missile sites, not just on the nuclear infrastructure. The navy, the Air Force, etc. And the Navy, Air force are essentially done at this point. The Navy, 60 plus ships of it are now sinking and they're just sitting at the bottom of the sea floor essentially there. But it's notable that there is now this, this, this military action against the Basij, which is the paramilitary. It's less formal in the regime's infrastructure than the actual outright conventional military. The besieged is essentially the street thugs, the guys who are, who are roaming street to street, the plainclothes enforcers with guns essentially threatening to blow your head off if you go out in the streets and say something against the regime or you want to try, God willing, to try to topple this regime. So Israel in particular is now starting to act against the Basij. The United States is certainly helping some of that behind the scenes as well. And the goal here is to permit the conditions whereby the Iranian people can ultimately take matters into their own hands. The issue that I keep on coming back to is that there's a generally unarmed population and I don't necessarily have any grand great ideas as to how to get more weapons, frankly even just small weapons, small firearms, shoulder hoisted rifles, etc. Into their hands. I continue to hold out some hope that people smarter and more forward looking than me, people like Donald Trump, people like Pete Hegseth, people like the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Kaine, maybe some folks over in Israel itself and the idf. I continue to hope that there are some folks who, who have thought this through just a little clearer. On yesterday's show we played this clip from Reza Pahlavi, the exiled Crown Prince who said, await my final call, now's the time to take matters into your own hands. Destiny there, easier said than done. These are people that just watch their fellow countrymen be mowed down to the tune of tens and tens of thousands of people there. And it does raise the possibility, as we discussed here, as to whether or not there is such thing as victory in this operation if the regime does not fall. And I continue to think that the answer is in theory, yes. In practice, I'm not so sure. In theory, The Venezuela model seems to be at least somewhat appealing. We had Mike Duran of the Husband suit join the program last week to essentially say that's his prediction, actually, as to what this will all look like about a year from now. You'll have this subdued, chastened irgc, this subdued, chastened malacracy whereby the mullahs are essentially a bunch of minos, not rhinos. They're minos. They're molas in name only. That's Mike Duran's prediction. I frankly, I think it's an entirely possible outcome as well. Does that actually work in practice? Well, it depends. These people have even the tiniest iota of rationality in their bones. These are indeed 72 versions in heaven. Aspiring Islamist jihadists, no doubt about that. They've proven that zeal over and over and over again. But if there's even the tiniest morsel of rationality between these two people's ears in the middle of their brains, then perhaps they will know in the situation that if they act out, they will be killed. Do they care, really? I don't know. I think that is the most relevant question there. But certainly at this point, we're all hoping, as Eric says, as Frank Gaffney said in our show this week, we're all hoping at this point for a full scale replacement of the Iranian regime. You don't take out Ali Khamenei, you don't take out the irgc, you don't take out any of this unless you're trying to replace the regime. Certainly that would qualify for President Trump's criteria of unconditional surrender. No doubt about that. I also want to talk a little bit about the rest of the conversation that Eric Zachaback and I just had, which is this war on judo Christianity, this war on Jewish Christian relations, and more concretely in foreign policy terms, this war on US Israel relations. There are a lot of folks that are saying that the very notion of Judeo Christian is something of an oxymoron, that these are two religions that are in irreconcilable loggerheads with one another. And a lot of this comes from these irksome, horrible podcasters, people like Tucker Carlson, people like Candace Owens, that are trying to bamboozle and gaslight young Christians in particular, to essentially turn on the Jews, turn on the Hebrew Bible. You see this play out in some forms of theological heresy. Actually, Tucker Carlson sounds a lot like a Marcionite, which is an ancient 2nd century Christian heresy that basically says that the God of the Old Testament is not the go New Testament. It's literally the first great heresy from the second century. In fact, it was so heretical that Tartulian, one of the great second century church fathers, wrote, I believe, four different books condemning it. But nonetheless, it's making a comeback. That's what Tucker sounds a lot like these days. But a lot of folks overthink this. Okay, the Christian Bible, you open it up, roughly 75% of it is the Jewish Bible, is the Hebrew Bible, The Old Testament, 75%, give or take. You can count the pages one by one if you would like. But the bulk of that is something that both religions share. Judaism and Christianity share an overwhelming civilizational, scriptural and theological, frankly, even inheritance. There are obviously big theological differences about the nature of God, the Trinity versus the one God in heaven and Earth of Judaism. I'm not trying to downplay those differences at all, but I'm saying that there is so much more in common here than we have not in common. And again, the founders understood this readily, guys. They chose to put Leviticus on the Liberty Bell for a reason. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson chose to propose Moses crossing the Red Sea with the Israelites trailing behind for a reason. Abraham Lincoln famously spoke in Trenton, New Jersey of how Americans are a quote, almost chosen people. He did this for a reason. One of the most underrated presidents in American history, Calvin Coolidge, spoke in the 1920s about the Hebraic mortar, the Hebraic foundation of American Republicanism. Coolidge did that for a reason. Ronald Reagan evoked this famous 17th century Massachusetts language, itself mimicking ancient Jerusalem language, of this notion of a city on a hill, a shining city on a hill. That's from Reagan's farewell address. This imagery, this law, frankly, this morality, it is a core part of the American tapestry. It is who we are. And that is why the folks who are pushing for this assault, this disintegration of this alliance really are trying to burn this country down. That's not an exaggeration. They are trying to take out the very heart and soul of this country. Why are they doing it? Well, that's a conversation from the day. They certainly seem to have a lot of sympathy for America's civilizational arch foes, that's for sure. Tuck Carlson just this week talking about how he believes Russia should be America's greatest ally. What are you smoking, bro? I mean, what do you See, in Alexander Dugin, this, you know, Putin's brain. They call Dugin the guy who hates America with his guts. What do you see in him that makes you want to cozy up to him? It's sick, sick, twisted stuff, really. But. But ultimately, the good guys will prevail in the struggle. That is a story as old as time. I firmly do believe that. One final thing that I want to close on here before we wrap up today's show, a story from across the pond speaking of Western civilization. Western civilization has very few great heroes like Sir Winston Churchill himself. Winston Churchill, personally, on personal note, one of my favorite figures in all of contemporary Western civilizational history, Abraham Lincoln. And Churchill pretty much the top of the pedestal, at least as far as I am concerned. Which, by the way, is one of the reasons that I so aggressively started calling on Tucker Carlson, because he started having on guests who called Churchill the lead villain of World War II, as opposed to, oh, I don't know, that whole Hitler guy. But anyway, this new story coming out of the uk, they are replacing Winston Churchill from the official banknotes, like the actual currency, the cash from the bank of England, and they're replacing him with animals. They're literally replacing Sir Winston Churchill with a bunch of birds and hedgehogs. And I'm not making this up. I wish I were making it up. I trust me. I wish that this were a fake story. I wish this were a Babylon Bee headline. I am literally not making this up. You know, there's a celebrity birdwatcher quoted by GB News known as Nadim Pereira, and she sits on the bank of England's panel of wildlife experts. Apparently the bank of England has a panel of wildlife experts. I really hope the Federal Reserve does not have such a panel. What a waste of taxpayer money that would be. And she's calling this move significant and overdue. Get the heck out of here. Get out of here. This is how nations die. This is how civilizations die. When you have elites that hate your country, that hate your nation, that hate your people, that hate your civilization, and they want to whitewash your history and tear it out root and branch. Winston Churchill is the greatest figure in the history of modern Britain, a man who literally saved Britain from the yoke of Nazi tyranny, that is not an exaggeration. They would be speaking German, not English, in London today were it not for Sir Winston Churchill. He is one of the great heroes in the history of England, the history of Europe, and the history of the West. You want to kill civilizations, this what you do. Frankly, that's exactly. Also what the enemies of the Jewish Christian Biblical alliance are trying to do as well. Folks, have a great rest of your evening. We'll be right back tomorrow with a brand new show, Josh Hammer signing off. We'll see you then.
- [43:46]
Max Lucado
In times like these, we all need a word of encouragement. From pastor and best selling author Max Lucado comes the Max Lucado Encouraging Word podcast. With over 40 years of ministry and more than 145 million books sold in languages, Max shares the greatest story ever told. The living Savior who brings hope for a lifetime. Through rich biblical insight, heartfelt storytelling, you'll be reminded that God is always near, always for you, and always in you. Listen to the Max Lucado Encouraging Word Podcast where hope meets your day. Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts.