Culture & Christianity: The Allen Jackson Podcast - He Died and Met Jesus—And Was Sent Back With a Warning [Featuring Gabe Poirot]

Episode Date: April 10, 2026

What happens when you die? In this episode of Culture and Christianity, Gabe Poirot shares the moment he died, encountered Jesus, and returned after 18 days in a coma. His story challenges the difference between knowing about Jesus and truly knowing Him—and what that means for how we live today. This conversation will stretch your understanding of eternity, deepen your love for Jesus, and invite you to a life of surrender to God and His ways.

Welcome to Culture and Christianity. I'm delighted to get to introduce you to a new friend, Gabe Perrault. He's the author of a book that is releasing this week. 18 Days in Heaven, this is a fascinating story. Full disclosure, I haven't finished the book, but I'm going to. Because once you started, it's hard to stop. So we just finished Easter weekend. So my time was a little limited, but I got into it. And I thought, I don't want to meet this man. I want to get to the rest of your story. So you have this phenomenal life-changing event. You have a background in Christianity, but had an accident. Maybe we start there. Tell us how you got to the point before you had a miracle. Yeah, for sure. So before October 25th, 2021, which is when the accident happened, I certainly love the Lord. I was born again.

I loved speaking up, and I didn't back down. I grew up in a very liberal town. And, of course, you know, going to all the liberal public schools, I, I, quickly understood how toxic the culture of the schools was, especially the public school system, but that's another conversation. And so I started to get a backbone, but. Because you were in social media talking about. You were using your voice for the kingdom of God. Right, exactly. And I knew a lot about faith, right? You know a lot about the Bible. You learn all these things about Christ. You speak up for him and it's great. There's a big difference between knowing about him,

though, and where I was headed for. And this is so important. I don't want to just, I'm sorry. I'll interrupt a little bit. So you could have passed a Jesus test or gotten past your New Testament summary quiz if I'm hearing you or if I understood what I was reading. Correct. So it wasn't that you didn't know about it or you hadn't been engaged in the culture. Yeah. So, no, I certainly knew about it and I would have passed the test. But I always just tell people there's a big difference between knowing about versus knowing.

And that's what I was soon to discover. And it was just an ordinary day. It's about 70 degrees outside and my life changed. So tell us about, you had an accident? Yeah. You had a devastating accident. Very. So I had this electric skateboard and it would go anywhere.

Yeah, yeah. Well, it was a thing. Most companies actually went bankrupt because of accidents like mine. So many people actually died from it. So I missed my opportunity. I missed your opportunity. So sorry. So sorry.

So I, it was about 70 degrees out. We were just hooking around the curve of the road. road. My other buddy had gone back to the house and I had sent to my friend John Michael, you know, why don't we race? And so we had just started hooking back around and that little light bump in the middle of the road became my best friend, if you know what I'm saying. And I immediately actually flipped off the board. I was going roughly 15 to 30 miles per hour. I don't know how fast I was going. It was too fast. And I landed directly on my head with no helmet, of course, because helmets are for weirdos, nerds. You know what I mean? And my skull

actually cracked down from the top. And I immediately flatlined right there. Blood gushed out of my ears. It didn't have anywhere to escape. Vomit filled my lungs. And I was barely even able to breathe at all, if that. My friend turned around. So I'm describing these things, right? Because I literally was like a vision outside of my body. But it wasn't just a vision. It was more real than anything I experienced on the earth or it certainly felt like that okay so my friend turned around he thought i was pranking him i wasn't pranking him i was gone he ran to my body and held up my body as it was a complete plank it was lifeless in his arms you know i have a friend and i want you to finish your story but he's a general surgeon yeah and he's he's told me this story that um they brought a lady into

oar that had been stabbed in the heart and it didn't seem like there was much to do but he did surgery and saved her life. And scroll forward, it was 15 years later, he's still, he's working in the hospital. And a man stops him in the hall and says, well, you step into this room. My mother's here. You did surgery on her years ago. And he stepped in and it's that woman. Wow.

And she describes for him, she said, well, I know you. I watched you do surgery on me. And at the time when he did the surgery, he was a generic Christian. Sure. But he had a dramatic transformation in his faith. And he said, I'm standing there thinking, your eyes were taped shut. And she described what he had done, how he had done the procedure. She had watched him. So when you say that to me, it's not the first time by any stretch. I have heard something similar. So you know, it's just crazy because as I just slipped right out of my body, this light wasn't a visible object. This light wasn't even just a thing. This light was a problem. This light was a problem. person. And this light had an appointment for me. He was waiting on me. Such an ironic thing to say, especially when you're at the, you could say the end of your life. Yet it was like the start of my life. And as I exited my body, I felt like I took a breath for the first time. So how does that unfold in? So as I'm suctioned, it wasn't just like vertical, but you start to

Your senses come alive, all seven times 77. And so I'm just passing through and I'm suctioned up. As I go higher, I witness just in my peripheral. I'm aware of the chaos that's on this earth, a spiritual chaos specifically. I see nations, cultures, atmospheres, presidents, influences, media, portals. They weren't just flesh and blood. They weren't just physical items. They weren't just random.

there was a great, I say, interaction between the spirit and the physical. And so just in my peripheral, I just remember saying, wow, that's chaos. It felt like a spiritual civil war that I was surrounded by. So something like when you're a dream and you know things and you don't know how you know them. So you just had an understanding. It was like, I just know. And it's like people are like, well, what exactly did it look like? Or what do these spirits look like?

I don't know. It just were dark. But they didn't just appear as dark. They almost looked comfortable. They almost looked beautiful. But you just know their agendas are wicked. And I just, I saw like nations as if they were like puppets. And they were just being controlled and manipulated.

And each person thinks it's themselves that has those feelings and identities and thoughts and temptations. But it was never them in the first place. They literally are being run by these demonic spirits. Like Ephesion 612 came to life. We wrestle not with flesh. in blood, but against principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness of this world. And you met Jesus.

Yeah. So I was suctioned up through what I describe as like this second heaven almost, but I was suction up and I was brought to this light. And it was like he waited his entire life just for me. I was his everything. And as I'm brought before him, I'm struck with a holy reverence. I am not entitled to him. I don't deserve him in my own ability.

concerned because I'm just like, you know what? It's like black and white. The list of my mistakes is going to get pulled up. I'm done for. I don't deserve to be before him. He's holy, reverent. My face is down. He picked me up. He looked me in the eyes. And he said, Gabriel, why are you concerned about that which I paid for? So did you see Gabriel? Like the one we know from the book? I don't remember any angels. Can I tell you why? They were there, and you know, angels were there. But there's actually a reverence. They don't even want you to look at them. People don't share that a lot, but it's the truth. Because it's been awkward if Gabriel took you aside and said, dude, you're representing. You better. I mean, we share the

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So the angels, your sense was they didn't even want to look at a reverence. There's a reverence. There's a fear. It's all about him. People think of heaven and they ask about all the things. Well, what about my mansion? What about the streets of gold? They've missed the entire point. You look left, you look right, you look up, you look down. You'll see him. He is, John described the second heaven and second earth. And he said at the center of the city, there's no need of sun or moon. For the lamb is the life. people don't understand that. He is, he's not just the light of heaven, he's the breath of heaven. He's the song of heaven.

Everyone, everything is living. There's no thing in heaven. Everyone is alive. The animals are alive. The plants, everything's alive. But you look like the leaves and the trees. They weren't even trees. I can't describe them as trees because they're beyond words,

but as they would blow with the wind, they would sing, worthy as the lamb. And that same note would be received by the rivers of life, of water. And as they, the wrong, Raves would crash back and forth, and they'd sing the same note, worthy as the lamb. Streets of gold would receive it, it'd reverberate back. And it's just like all of heaven sings, worthy as a lamb. Now, I don't claim to know all about heaven or as if I'm some like, let me tell you all

about heaven. I just saw one percentage, and I'm just even trying to put it back into English. But ultimately, I just point people to Christ and Scripture. I had all my questions in such an orderly manner, but now that I get to talk to you, you know, when you're describing that, I think a bit about the book of Revelation. And how hard it must have been for John to put down on paper what he experienced because he was seeing things that were beyond his experience. And our vocabulary fails us. Yes.

He didn't even talk to me in English. His words were like spears to my heart. The way we're communicating right now, it's great that we can talk in English and don't get me wrong. I'm glad we speak the same language and you're not from another country and we can't talk to one another. It's another conversation. Right. But I'm glad that we can talk to one another. But our communication right now is pretty limited, actually.

We can only get to know each other a little bit. People don't know that. But when Christ looks you in your eyes, I believe that. And when he communicates with you, there's no hiding. There's no lying. There's no running. You're sinking into an ocean with no floor.

It's like he knows the thoughts and intents of your heart. Oh. And when he asks you a question, he already knows the answer. But he does that through the Gospels, he does that. You know, what were you arguing about? And they tell him, he's like, I know what you were arguing about. So like he already knows the answer, right?

Like, and it's like he already knew my sin was forgiven, right? Like, and people are like, well, it's like I was a sinner. I was broken. And my own ability, I don't deserve him. But his blood had paid the price. And it didn't like partly pay the price. The case was closed. Closed.

Because he showed me those wounds. His wounds had a name, Gabriel. The spear and his side, Gabriel. Crown of thorns. Gabriel. He did it just for me. I was his only one. He's very intimate, personal.

Now, of course, he has the ability to do it for you as well. And for... Thank God. Thank God, right? It'd be a really bummer if it was just you. Dude, I got great news. Kind of. But that's how it felt.

No, but seriously, like... I get it. Like, he did just do it for me. Like, and that offends so many people. But, like, I'm communicating the heart here. You know, like, he's so intimate. So you're in a... coma for 18 days. Yeah. Is in a coma in a hospital for 18 days? Yes. And, you know, the hospital

and doctors even actually publicly come out and testified of this miracle because that's truly what it was. So my skull was cracked. The bone right here was just my brain was like mashed potatoes. They were talking about me in past tense. They were even telling my parents where he's his last will. And thank God for the doctors and nurses. Jesus used their hands to do the best they could and minister to me. I'm thankful. But ultimately, it was his grace that actually sent me back. He showed me. He looked at me in the eyes and he said, Gabriel, tell my family who I really am.

He was the opposite of religion. Opposite of this, like a Americanized church religion that we have pulled up. Opposite. We present Jesus as if he's some soft, like doughboy who's just going along with the flow. Like he's just some feminine, like as if his hair is some flamboyant. You know. You always whispers. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like, it's like, not the Jesus I met. Jesus I encountered. He's the lamb that was slain. But when he's coming, you'll see him as the lion on his horse. And he's not playing around. I agree. So what did your time in heaven? How has that impacted how you live?

Yeah, for sure. Well, I was miraculously sent back to my body and given grace. I remember waking up and joking. I said, give me my skateboard. Let me ride it out of this hospital. And no, but I sold the skateboard. Smart man. Yeah, you think, right?

I mean. So it truly has marked me. And, you know, but I share my testimony with strangers on the bus with the same amount of passion and love as I do on cable TV because every, I see how every life matters. And I see, I truly understand that now. And so it's no longer about chasing numbers. or influence, it's about just living for him because he's enough. He's my everything. And so since that time, I really have just given him my daily yes because that's all he's asking for. It's our yes today and turn for my own ways, repent of my own desires and just give him our yes. So now I am

just preaching even more. I'm going to college campuses. I'm speaking up for babies specifically. I have really turned into a lot more into pro life. We sidewalk council at abortion clinics too. In fact, me and my wife were infertile, but God told me to go to the abortion clinic and we went there and we saw two babies saved. And then it was a month or two after we found out we were pregnant. So things like that. You just see miracles all the time. I saw, I could tell you, I could tell you story after story. I saw a husband. I didn't know this at the time, but I was at a store and God just told me to love on him and encourage him. I didn't know this. He was an alcoholic and his family was about to get divorced and ruined. His wife, Sanasadee, and he said,

him the month later said our family was saved he stopped drinking alcohol ever since you shared that encouragement with him so you just love people like you don't learn you learn not to like preach at people but you just love which is who he is which is who he was to me and that's what's changed my life so your time in heaven has completely changed how you engage with people in time absolutely you see us people differently you see everyone differently because i saw how he saw me he didn't even have some love for me didn't consider whether or not i was accepting it didn't consider whether or not I made it. I was loved not because it was some of him.

It was him. It was his very nature. So I can't hide from his love anymore. Like I can't run. Why would I even try to run? Let me just allow him to love me and let me love him. Like it's a family. He's not a religion.

He's a family. Well, I would imagine that an experience like you who had completely reshapes how you think about death and eternity. What's different in what you understand now and before you had the accident? I don't talk about, when I do find out if someone's body died, I don't even say that they died because they didn't die. And as Jesus said, he that believes on me will never die, John 11, 25.

The reason is because death is in our end. And people need to understand that. So, you know, parents talk about, I lost my baby, I lost my kid. I tell them, you didn't lose your baby. Your baby's waiting for you. Your kid is waiting for you. So we really need to not think of death as if it's the end. We need to live for eternity now because we are eternal beings actually.

Now, where you go for eternity is another question, but we are eternal. So kind of the classic Christian description of that is you are a spirit. You have a body. You live in a body. Right. But you have a soul. Yeah, your body's like your earth vehicle is what I call it. I call it my earth suit.

Yeah. Those people that listen to this a lot have heard me talk about an earth suit. Yeah. And to have authority here in time, you need an earth suit. An earth suit. But you are not defined by your earth suit. Exactly. Dude, you got to go to school.

You got out of 18 days. What took me more than 18 years to learn. So that's pretty cool. So your family and friends are in a hospital, 18 days? Yeah. While you're not? But Jesus. They were eating bad food and drinking bad coffee and you're with the Lord.

That's not quite a bargain. To this day, they are the ones with all the trauma. I look at them, I say, tell me about it because it wasn't me. I was fine. I mean, still, it's like five years since it happened and still like. So how did they process all that? What are they doing for those 18 days? I'm sure they've talked to you about it.

Yeah. Well, they were praying. They were, I mean. Because there's going to be pressure in the hospital. They were wailing their eyes. eyes out and praying at the same time. I mean, it was truly chaos. I also had a lot of friends.

I'm so thankful. I also had a praying nurse. There was a nurse that prayed for me the day before I was sent back to. But all my friends and family were praying for me. They were doing worship nights. They were doing like worship live streams. And a lot of people all over the world were praying for me. I'm fair, I'm so thankful.

And I saw those prayers from heaven's perspective. And I saw prayers aren't just like something imaginary. Like, our prayers agreed with the word of God are real. They matter. We should never think of a prayer as a forsaken prayer or even a prayer that isn't answered. Even if it doesn't come to pass on earth, I tell people, don't give up. Like, the story's not over. Even if the end looked like it happened on the earth, that doesn't mean it's the end.

So I always encourage people with that. So how did you, did you have a visual, do you have a visible awareness of prayers? Yeah, I literally was like a, it was a visible awareness. Because the Bible talks about bowls of prayer. Like in the golden bowl. Yeah. So in Revelations 4 or 5. Yep.

So I saw that actually. So what I saw is these prayers were like building blocks or structures. And literally Jesus gathered them up and put it and put and gather them into this bowl. And then he presented them to the father. Now I didn't see the father. I didn't. I wasn't able to see the father. But I knew that.

You didn't get the full tour. No. No. And no. And no. Like people like you know all about heaven. I can't. I'm sure you know.

It's like I barely know a thing. Still. I know a little bit, but still, I just know the small preview, you know, like, that's why Paul said, you know, I know a man caught in the third heaven who can't even talk about what he saw. He wasn't saying that to say, you are legally not allowed to tell of a testimony. He was saying that because you can't put it into English description. Or it says, you know, now we see through the glass darkly. Darkly. But then we'll know fully. Come on now. Full. Come on. Who doesn't want to be a Christ follower? I want to go back a minute. Because I want to go back a minute. Because I don't. I think it's such an important point when you, you know, you said you were as alive as you are now just outside of your body. And your pro-life awareness post this trauma. I mean, we've had 60 million abortions in America, but there have been hundreds of millions of abortions worldwide. We're going to see those people.

We're going to answer for them. We're going to meet them. Yeah. And they're going to want to know why we were quiet. Oh, yeah. You know, all the babies and kids are in heaven. And while I didn't see the details of the nurseries and the fields where all the kids are, I knew they were there.

I knew the babies and kids were there. And we're going to have to answer for them being there and never being on the earth, like they were sent for. I saw that every life when we're conceived in our mother's womb, before we're even conceived, he chose us. Before we're even conceived, he thought of us. And saying no to life in the womb is actually, it's saying no to the very life that heaven has sent.

We were all sent and loved and chosen by God. And so it's literally like the most demonic thing you could possibly do is call life just a clump of cells. It's satanic. Yeah, you showed me a video where you went to TCU. Oh, yeah. The Christian University. Yeah. And they're not alone.

But you were, you had a, you were asking students to sign a petition to save puppies that were being aborted. and you described it were they're being dismembered and vacuumed out? A week before they're born, yeah. And they were willing to sign that. Every one of them was. Yeah. And then you asked them to sign a similar petition for babies. Yeah, I just changed the word puppies for babies.

And they wouldn't sign it. They walked away and told me that puppies were cuter. Yeah, and they were open and honest about it. Yeah. And that was actually not just those students, a lot of others. In fact, most of the students would walk away when I would turn the page. And so did the administration thank you for exposing the weakness in their education at their Christian university? Of course, they even called the cops on me and escorted me out, gave me a public escort

with telling me that I was harassing students. You were expelled from campus, not welcomed. Yeah. Truth can be awkward on a college campus. So be it. Almost everybody I know wants to be healthy or healthier. And I think most of us would like it to happen to us by accident. But that hasn't been my experience.

So what do we do in a world where there's so many options and diets seem to be like fashion trends they change with every season? How do we respond? Well, I want to tell you about something that I trust, something that has worked in my life. Ancient nutrition gives you a whole menu of supplements, sources for protein and collagen that I have found made a difference in my life. You know, I decline most of sponsorship invitations. But this isn't something that is just an invitation to be a sponsor for something.

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to give those of you who are listeners to our program. If you'll use the code fuel 26, you'll get a 26% discount sitewide on ancient nutrition. That's ancient nutrition.com. Let's make choices to be healthier, and maybe we can limit the pharmaceuticals will be dependent upon. That would be a God thing. God's moving in the earth, and we can be a part of it by what we put on our fork. and not just the pills we take. Well, outside of just the physical miracle of surviving, what's been the most dramatic change for you? Because you can't see Jesus and go to heaven and be the same.

I'm thankful for it today. Even when things go really wrong, like really bad now, I don't view them as a failure because I'm thankful for what I do have. And like, I'm just thankful for the breath in my lungs. So it's like I really now can't lose because even if things go wrong, like I still win in him. Like, I have him. So take everything else.

I'm happy with him. So you understand that. And like everything in life changes. This is the first time you and I've had a chance to sit down and talk. Yeah. And you don't quote scripture, but your conversation resonates with the tone of scripture, which I talk to lots and lots and lots of people.

But it doesn't seem contrived with you. It is, there's been a change of perspective, which is, it's not fascinating, it's not the right word, but there's an authenticity in that. I mean, the things that I remember that Paul said over and over again, you know, are resonating out of you, but not as somebody who memorized a lot of scripture and quotes it, because those people get on my nerves sometimes. But a true transformation. And Paul had that. He was an angry, murderous, violent man, and he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. And then he starts praying for people like me that we may know the height and depth and width and breadth of the love of Jesus. And he really had a revelation, which sounds a great deal like what you came away with. Yeah, I saw, you know, just like Moses saw the pre-incarnate Christ.

People don't know that. Moses actually presented all of his failures. You know what God said? God didn't say, well, Moses, you are, you are, you are. You know what God said? God said, I am. Why? Moses found the end of himself was the start of the I am. So he found that he started actually to see the pre-incarnate picture of Christ. Jesus is in every chapter of every book of the Bible. People don't know that. But you see, when Moses saw I am and started to understand the identity of I am, he found himself who he truly was supposed to be.

And then he led a nation out of slavery and out of Egypt and delivered the entire nation of Israel. But it was only because Moses was because of the I am. See, we are one with him. Christ is in us and we are in Christ. We're blood of his blood. Brothers, like, they asked him, they said, Jesus, where's your family? Why aren't you with your family? He said, these are my brothers.

These are my sisters. Abraham, it says, saw Jesus day too. I mean, that's before Mo. People don't know that. Yeah. Well, Jesus said it. Abraham saw my day. And then when he said that, his audience wanted to kill him for that.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, and they're killing me bringing it on. I'm the false prophet. I'm the heretic. So I just accept it. So from the Christian community, you're getting pushed back? The world, you know, I can share my testimony with an atheist, agnostic, Muslim, and they'll be like, wow, tell me more about this Jesus.

But it's the Christians that have, really gone wild and uh because they need to have it all figured out right because it doesn't fit their interpretation of scripture they'd rather you be quiet oh yeah yeah yeah yeah i need to i guess i'm i guess i guess i cracked my skull and half intentionally was in a coma for 18 days intentionally to come up with a story yeah because that totally makes sense that the 20 year old would do that so it's kind of a risky strategy dude just a little bit maybe if that's your strategy for writing a best selling book. I wouldn't recommend it. So what about sense of assignment? How is that different after you came back? Yeah, for sure. Because I'm imagining that's dramatically because you were

you were in social media influencer. You're doing all the things that if we were going to write that for somebody in your age group. But I've got a feeling, I'm curious, did you come back? You're ready to get back into the traces of doing what you've been doing? kind of but um again it's it's like you know all about it there's a difference between knowing about watermelon and hearing all about it and versus like eating a piece of watermelon you know what I mean like and it's the difference even between telling people about telling people in africa about snow versus bringing them to snow you know and you know making it snow on them yeah like like it's just so right like I don't want to tell people about jesus anymore I don't even want to tell

them about the gospel, I want to tell them who he is. I want to tell him who the gospel is. And I want them to taste a slice of Christ now. So I'm sure there's somebody listening to us that knows Christians, knows about Christianity, but has kind of stayed out of that, or at least kept part of themselves out of that. That's the more common thing that I experience. We give a portion of our lives to the Lord, but we hold the portion back. because we think somehow he's going to diminish our joy or our pleasure or our happiness or our prophet or something. I don't know. So if you could speak to those people for a minute, what would you say to them?

Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank God, the king of kings, heaven himself, didn't look at our lives and say, well, let me only give them a part of myself. But he fully came down and he fully became just like us and he fully gave us who he is. and so to only give him a part of us is a great mismanagement of resources, you could say, because he wants relationship, he wants intimacy, and he's jealous for us. And so I would invite everyone watching this. When I tell you to give him your yes, I'm not just telling you to give him a day of the week. I'm not even telling you to give him something you claim to follow or even a show you watch.

Give him everything. Give him everything. Bad, good, ugly, perfect, pretty, fat, skinny. Doesn't matter. Give him at all. Now, I've talked to a number of people that have had similar, different, but similar experiences. They were faced with their mortality or comas or life-threatening terminal diagnosis, and God has supernaturally intervened and restored them. Not all of them come back with that. Some come back and after. after a few weeks go back into their routine. But the ones that make that transition have very similar messages. We did a, I did a podcast with a man who collapsed.

And they couldn't resuscitate him for more than a half an hour. So, and I was there when the doctors came in and said, you know, we have revived him, but he's not there. There shouldn't be, we don't expect brain activity. Yep. So they put him in a coma. And when they wake him back up, he's normal. Wow. He has a twin brother.

And there's some debate between the brothers about what normal really is. But it's changed their lives. Yeah. They'll tell anybody. Yeah. Anywhere. And I mean, my own mom was given six months to live and God intervened and brought healing to her. And we weren't Christians.

Wow. She'd tell anybody. As a kid, he used to embarrass me. Yeah. You know, I went to the hospital with her one time to visit. I mean, I was a pastor at the time, and she went a lot. I don't remember why she went with me, but the woman had a terminal diagnosis. And when I stepped into the room, the woman kind of lit out a whale.

And she said, look what they've done to me. And she reached up and pulled out a handful of her hair. And it terrified me. I was young at the time. And my mom kind of pushed me out of the way and went over and put the lady in her arms. And, you know, I mean, it didn't frighten her. It changes your relationship with death. Yeah.

I was intrigued in your book. You include medical documentation, eyewitness accounts. Yes. You wanted to give some facts. Yeah. So that you weren't just a lunatic telling a story. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, my skull, I've MRIs in my skull before and after.

It's miraculous healing. I have photos of before and after I came back. And, you know, the doctor said I would never be normal. And they were halfly correct. I never will be. But my memory did come back. I'm now married and we have a seven-month-year-old baby who's a little fire starter, man. He's just, so I wake up every day.

I hold my baby in my arms and just think of the grace of God. So how old are you now? 25. And when this happened? So I was 20 right before my 21st birthday. Right. Quite a birthday party, you know. Unbelievable.

Unbelievable. The grace and mercy of God. Yeah. So he took a tragedy, heartbreak. devastating injury and has given you a completely different that author and completer of our story verse in Hebrews? Oh yeah. So if you have a takeaway, give us,

if you're going to give us a summary on your takeaway from heaven, five years after the fact, what is the most impactful to you today? You've talked about the love you felt from Jesus. Ancient of days, Alfa and Omega, Yahweh, Eternal One, yet he's not far. He's a lot closer than you realize. And he's on the door of your heart today.

My heart today, every day. The viewer's heart, he's right there. So I would imagine, I'm going to put words in your mouth. Not on a performance basis, but I would imagine that pleasing the Lord takes on a whole different connotation. Because now it's about my heart, right? So it's not about what I look like. It's not about what people think of me. Like, none of that matters.

It's about my heart. right and if if i can give him my heart that's what he's looking for so with all that i do any video i make or live stream or podcast or book or yard that i mow or you know lawn that i'm taking care of or dishes or diaper i'm changing just all of it he wants all of me so right like i can i can give it to him and and even when i fail and mess up i don't repent because i have to or because i have to make it to heaven i have to qualify myself or no i repent because that's not who i am And him. And him now, I'm his son, I'm his righteousness, and his grace. See? So it's because of his grace that I don't want to walk in sin anymore. So if I do mess up, if I do fail, allow him to pick

me up and just wipe that off me because it's not who I am. Sin isn't who I am. I'm a son of God. You know, I often hear people say that we have a real leadership deficit in our nation or in our communities or even in our churches. And I know there's some truth to that, but I would like to refine it a bit. I see people that are great leaders in lots of places. You're great leaders in your business environment, in your corporate settings, in classrooms. You're great leaders in your community or in mobilizing your family. The place where I see this astounding leadership deficit is in our willingness to lead with our faith. We have confidence in the business setting or confidence in coaching an athletic team or coaching a group of students, but we don't have much confidence

to bring our faith view to bear in the places where we have influence. If we don't lead with our faith, our other expressions of leadership are secondary. Well, I've written a new book on guess what? How to lead with faith. And the goal is to help give you the courage and the boldness to lead with your biblical worldview on the matters that will impact our culture and help make our future better. Read the book. Open your heart. God's raising up a whole new generations of leaders and I want to be a part of that. And I believe you do too.

One of the goals of these podcasts is to always leave our listeners with what can we do. Yeah. So somebody's listening, and they've kind of been a generic Christian. Sure. Never really made room in their life to give Jesus first place. Yeah. What are you going to say to them? I would invite them.

Read your book? Yeah. No, it looks great. They will have an encounter. You know, an agnostic told me he read every other religious book or all these books about religion. He said, I felt something when I read your book. I told him, I said, his name is Jesus. So it's not a textbook. It's an encounter is what I call it. But separate to that, I would tell them, put away all the distractions and put aside everything and turn your face to Christ.

Open the door to him. And a practical action step, I love the word repent. It's not popular. Gets me canceled, but I don't care. But people need to repent. Because I'm telling you, they keep thinking Jesus is nice. It's not nice. He's madly in love with them. But it's because of his love. They need to repent. They need to repent. They need to repent. They need to be telling you. They need to be. He's madly in love with them. They need. He's to repent, right? See, they need to repent and they need to listen to him. Because right now we're still in grace. There's a bubble of grace upholding everything and everyone. But one day that grace is actually going to burn away and it's going to be justice kissing grace when he comes on on the clouds. And so whether it's pre-trib, post-trib, I don't know. I'm just going to be with him. I'm just going to be with him. But I tell people that because their last day is a lot sooner than they realize, even if, even if Jesus doesn't wrap it all up, your life. last day could be wrapped up today. The viewer's last day could be today. So I would invite you,

say yes to him while you have grace. There's some important biblical points there. Grace is not infinite. No. There's an end to grace. And we all have to face judgment. Doesn't have to be against us. Judgment can be for us. But there is an accountability. And if we don't trust Jesus for that, then we have to own it. People don't like talking about that. We present Jesus as if he's some Californian boy. No, I got higher hopes for Jesus than Gavin Newsom. I pray for that, man. Because seriously, man.

But I think your comment about repentance, you know, the Hebrew word for repentance, Hebrew is an older language. Sure. And it's very physical. So the Hebrew word for repentance means to change direction. The Greek word for repentance means to change how you think. So repentance, you get both. It's a change of behavior and a change of thought.

Yeah. And the best repenters in the world should be the most repenters in the world should be the most mature Christians. Because on a daily basis, we should be repenting to bring further alignment of our lives with the Lord's wishes and will. And when you're young, you don't even know those. Right. So don't think of repentance as an acknowledgement of some gross failure or harboring deep darkness. Right. It's this desire to comply with the will of Jesus. Come on.

That doesn't disagree with your vision in heaven, does it? Because it would crash my theology. No. I tell people my vision of Jesus and my encounter. it just points to Scripture and to the cross. And I tell them, only receive what you find in Scripture. And you might just read Scripture even differently, right? So I just, I point them to the cross. All right, well, the book is 18 days in heaven. Gabe Perrault, and it's spelled P-O-I-R-O-T.

It is, there are very few books. It's one of those books, if you pick it up and start it, you'll want to finish it. It doesn't take you long to get engaged in the invitation of the book. And you are more delightful in person than your book. So usually if I read a book, I don't like the movie. In this case, I like the movie. So thank you for your candor and your courage. Because to stand in public and say the things you're saying will not bring applause from

everywhere. But if the Lord smiles, we don't give a hoot. I was going to say, I say everything for him. Gabe, thank you for your courage and your testimony. And don't grow weary. Thank you. Thanks for joining me today. Before you go, please like the podcast and leave a comment so more people can hear about this topic too. If you haven't yet, be sure and subscribe to Alan Jackson Ministries YouTube channel

and follow the Culture and Christianity podcast. You can do that on Spotify, Apple Podcast, wherever you get your podcast. Together, let's learn how to lead with our faith. We can change our culture. I'll see you next time.