The Eric Metaxas Show - Carl Jackson

Episode Date: November 16, 2021

Salem Radio's Carl Jackson shares highlights of his journey from growing up on the mean streets of Los Angeles to hosting his own conservative talk show.

Welcome to the Eric Mattaxas show with your host, Eric Mettaxas. Hey there, folks. It's the Eric Mataxis show. And as you know, I've been talking a lot about my new book, Is Atheism Dead? I'm very proud of it. I think it has very important information in it. A lot of people read it and compare me to Melville and Tolstoy. And I want to say that, you know, I've been doing a lot of radio talking about. about my book, His Atheism Dead. And I was supposed to be on the Larry Elder Show because I thought Larry was my friend.

But they booked me on that program when he had a guest host because he was doing something silly, like, I don't know, running for governor or whatever. I don't even know if that was real. But the fact is that the guest host, Carl Jackson, I hit it off with him so much. I said, I got to get this guy on my radio program, not to talk about his atheism dead,

but to talk about Carl Jackson. and he is my guest today. I'm the host. Carl Jackson, you're the guest. Welcome. Hey, thank you, Aaron. I appreciate you having me on. Well, I just, you know,

there's certain people you just hit it off, and I just thought I really love talking to you and getting little bits and pieces of your story, and I thought you should come on my program and, you know, I want my audience to get to know Carl Jackson, and the only way I could really do that is to have you on the program. So now you...

Did we just lose him? We lost them. So I'm going to keep going. It was at 120, so I'll just keep going. Okay, here we go. So you seem to have a really interesting story, your faith story, and everything. And I said, you've got to come on the show and talk about that, talk about how you got into radio.

But where did it all begin for Carl Jackson? Actually, before we get to where it began, where are you now? Because you're doing a radio show. You're not just guest hosting for the great Larry. elder when he's not there. That is correct. I'm currently living in Orlando, Florida, and I broadcast on AM 950 The Answer, Salem

in Orlando here. So you're part of the Salem faculty as the great Sebastian Gorka calls it. Well, so, okay, so you're on the air in the Orlando area. But you've got an amazing story. I just got bits and pieces of it. So let's just start with

tell us your story. How do you? it began? Well, I got to tell you, I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, born in the city of Compton, raised primarily in the areas of Linwood in Long Beach. My mother died when I was 11 years old. She was obviously the matriarch of the family. She was the glue that held the family together. And after she passed, I was 11 years old. I remember the day vividly. I can remember virtually every detail, very tough day. And I had a father, and I still do. My father is still alive living in Los Angeles.

And he was a disciplinarian. He was tough. I didn't have the greatest relationship with him at the time. I do have a much better relationship with my dad today. And I love him dearly. But he was a disciplinarian. And my mother, obviously, was the nurturer of the family. And she did a great job of it.

So when she died, I went from being an honor roll student and gifted and talented. And unfortunately, I'm not having that tight bond with my dad. I kind of drifted and got into some things that I shouldn't have gotten into. Fortunately, I was raised, albeit in a cult initially, thank God. It's no longer a cult, a worldwide church of God under Herbert W. Armstrong. strong. I had some biblical foundations, some basis in the Bible, although that was a weird view. And again, thank God, they're no longer a cult. But so I ended up moving to Orlando, Florida when I was 15, 16, living with an aunt and uncle, and I left Los Angeles because I wanted to make sure that I stayed

out of the streets. And then unfortunately, living here a short period of time, I ended up getting men to trouble with the law. Got arrested a couple of times. Now, before you go on, Carl, that's fascinating. I mean, your mother dies, you're very young. It's horrifying. And obviously, it's interesting, too, that, you know, when we talk about same-sex marriage and stuff, I mean, the idea of having a mother and a father, they're very

different, and they work usually together, ideally, right? Because just having a father, just having a mother, but they work together. So that you clearly were not doing well with just your dad. But then you took it on your initiative to get out of that area and to go at whatever, 15 or 16 to Orlando. So it's not like your father sent you away. You said you wanted to do that? Yeah, I wanted to do that. And obviously it hurt my father at the time.

But I thought it was the best, thought it was the best thing. Obviously, I was very young. and, you know, he was willing to allow it to happen to give it a shot. And I'd say with an aunt and uncle of mine for approximately about a year or so before moving out on my own with some friends. But did you, did you, I mean, what was going on where you were in California at that time that you said, I need to get out of here? Quite, quite frankly, I mean, growing up and being surrounded by gang members and everything like that, I just didn't want anything to do with that. We didn't have a lot of money.

I knew that we couldn't afford to live in areas that would be safe, quite frankly. And I just didn't like it. At one point in time, we came to Florida, vacationed in Florida and visited my aunt and uncle. And I thought that was pretty cool. I also had a friend in California that lived in Corona, California, Riverside County. So sometimes I go up there to visit him. And I just have this, I always wanted, I never wanted to be in the hood. You know, I survived in the hood, but I think anyone that's honest will tell you that, listen, it isn't, it's not paradise when you live in the hood.

So I didn't want to be there. And I felt like my only escape was to go to a safe place, a place that I knew. And that was Orlando, Florida with a man and uncle that I was. Okay. So you get to Orlando. with good intentions, but you said you got in trouble anyway. So go, go ahead, keep going. Yeah, so I moved out. I lived with my aunt and uncle for about a year. Then I, I moved out, moved in with a friend of mine, and eventually just started dating different girls and getting

into that scene, started hanging out with the wrong crowd, and eventually started getting into trouble. You know, just, it was, it was stupid stuff, too, Eric. I mean, it was, sometimes I would just go to, I ended up getting into a theft ring, to be quite honest with you. Into a what? A theft ring. Yeah. So I go around, you know, I hung out with a group of guys, go into stores, much like California does now legally, so I wouldn't be a criminal in California today.

But what California does legally now, or people can do, I literally did it as a thief for a very short brief period of my life, probably one or two years maybe. and got in trouble for doing it, but made a lot of money to be honest doing it. But God started, it was weird. Even when I was joining, I knew that it was wrong. I had that upbringing. I felt God tugging on my heart. And honestly, I would just ignore it.

Just to be frank with you, I would ignore it. God put me in a position where I got arrested and I had to go to jail for a short stint. During this period of time, I also had a child out of wedlock. And the culmination of the two events, I really do believe God used it to just radically change my life. And I'll be honest, one of the gentlemen that I used to get in trouble with, and he wasn't in the death ring, but it was stupid stuff between girls and fighting and going to clubs and just doing stupid stuff. This guy was one of the worst of the worst, in my opinion. I hadn't seen him in over a year. And then one day I'm on a basketball court and he comes to me.

And he's like, hey, how are you doing? We started talking. And he starts talking to me about Jesus. And I'm like, what are you talking about? I mean, I knew this guy to be, he was a former Chicago gang member. And I just knew he was a bad guy. Do you say Chicago or Chicano? Both.

Are you serious? Wow. And how old were you about this time? At this time, I must have been 18, 19 years old. So he comes up to the bad guy starts talking about Jesus. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I wanted nothing. At the time, I really didn't want much to do with God. And I told myself, I said, listen, you know, I appreciate it. If I, you know, go back to church, I'd probably go back to my old church, worldwide church of God. Ironically, it ended up disbanding. Actually, let's put a pin in it right there. Folks, I'm talking to Carl Jackson. You're not going anyplace. We'll be right back.

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The Eric Metaxas show is syndicated across the country. And I meet so many other radio hosts. It's just so fascinating that are part of the Salem team. Recently, I was being interviewed about my book on Larry Elder's show. And he had a guest host, Carl Jackson. And I just really enjoyed getting to know. Carl, in that brief interlude, I said, we've got to have him on the show. He's got a great story.

He's in the process of telling that story. Carl, you're at the point now where the guy, this bad guy, starts talking about Jesus, and you're basically kind of like, thanks, but no thanks. Yeah, he's a good friend to this day, Daniel Coswick, by the way. But, yeah, it's pretty crazy. I mean, the guy is on fire for God, and he's a fighter for God. It's amazing where God brought him from, but he started tugging on my heart. He mentioned Jesus, and then my brother, direct.

probably six months or so later, he ended up getting saved. And he started talking to me about Jesus. And I was like, what is going on here? And I kind of blew him off to be, to be, you know, frank with you. But I was going back and forth in court proceedings. I'll be honest, I spent a lot of time in and out of court. At one point, I thought I wanted to become an attorney because I was getting to know the system so well, whether it was family court or criminal court.

And I ended up fighting for custody of my daughter as well. I was in a very bad relationship. And neither one of us were great people to each other. To be frank, it wasn't violence or anything of that nature. But it just wasn't a godly good relationship. And obviously, I was living in sin, you know, at the time. And God started tugging on my heart. And I told this person, listen, I really want to live for God.

And it's a crazy story. As a result of that, this person decided to leave the relationship. And, you know, I was like, okay. But this person disappeared with my child. So it was a crazy story where I ended up having to hire an attorney, a private investigator. And I was broke as a joke. So I thank God, you know, this is why I say America isn't systemically racist. I've had so many people that came into my life early on.

Eric, that were white, that wanted to lend me a helping hand. It's hard, it's hard not to get choked up talking about it because there were so many people. I grew up in an environment where my family, I don't believe, was racist, but I grew up in an environment where so many people, hey, white people are racist and this and that. And it's like God was beating me upside the head. Everyone that came to my defense, I'm talking, including my criminal defense attorney, which was a high-class attorney. I didn't have the money to afford this guy. He worked with me. The same was true for a family attorney. I mean, Hugh McDonald, a criminal attorney, Neva Keller, her, a family attorney. Both of them lives, by the way. I didn't realize that at the time. But just good-hearted

people that saw something in me that perhaps I didn't even see myself at the time, that wanted to help me out. And I wanted to be a father to my daughter. I wanted to get my life on track. And these people, these people lended me a helping hand. And they fought for me in court. And I went into, I mean, I was in a custody battle for my daughter on and off for seven years. Whoa. How old were you when that started? I was, I was 19 or 20.

I mean, that alone is interesting to me that, you know, when you think of a young black man moving around in the circles that you're talking about, wanting that daughter, not walking away, but just saying not only do I want that daughter, I'm going to fight. That's amazing, actually. So can you tell us how that turned out? Yeah, you know, and if I could just as a side note, Eric, I got to say, even growing up in the neighborhoods that I grew up in, people don't realize that, I mean, I grew up in the early, you know, mid-80s, early 90s. even in our neighborhoods, divorce was relatively rare.

And then all of a sudden, it seemed like an onslaught. So when you have this black couple that were divorced, it was like, man, really? Or a single? Really? You know? And it seems like the numbers just started increasing. It's astonishing.

But yeah, I just, I mean, I grew up with a father and a mother. I grew up knowing that marriage was the right thing to do. I knew that I had strayed. But in my heart, I knew the right thing to do. And that's what I wanted. And that's what I wanted for my child. So I continued to fight because her mother just was not refused to live a good lifestyle, if you will, for quite some time.

And thank God that's different now. But it was a hard fight. But what I ran up against constantly were these people that worked inside of government. And it didn't matter how much I tried, how nice I spoke to the people, paying my child support, so on, etc. It was insane. The people that treated me like absolute dirt, the people that treated me like absolute scum, always seemed to be people that were, that resided within some type of government office. And oftentimes, they were black women.

And I really took offense of that, and I really took notice of that. And I'm like, here I am. Fighting for my daughter doing everything I can to be a father. And it seemed to me that the only people that, were trying to stop me were government official. And I really do believe that was a catalyst that really began where God really started tipping away at my heart. And I mean, it really changed my life. And then I did every job imaginable from cleaning toilets, landscaping, started a business in both industries, you know, and I just did everything imaginable. And I had to drive at all hours

of the day and sometimes night. And I started listening to radio a lot in my in my car. And sometimes the only thing that was on would be Christian talk radio, some political talk radio. So I started listening to the ACLJ of all people, J Seculo, for one of the first Christian shows that I listened to. And I think that's kind of where my love for politics began, because even as God was changing my heart, I would hear these stories that the ACLJ was talking about. And I would be like, what? Christians, Christians aren't persecuted in America. But then the more that I would hear about these court cases, and then knowing what was happening in my own court cases, I really started growing an affinity for not just for the Christian faith, but fighting for not necessarily

the Christian faith at that time, but for things that I believed it. I started reading more. I ended up walking into a bookstore. And I read, walked in and I saw this book by Larry Elder. And it was called Stupid Black Man. And I sat there and I said, what kind of idiot? What write a book called Stupid Black. That's hilarious.

I don't remember that title. That's hilarious. Larry Elder, of course, is a hero. He's amazing. But it's just funny to me that you stumble on this book and you're like, what is this? But you know what you just said, though, is a very important teaching point. A lot of times Christians are very, they're overly theological, and they're overly cerebral or intellectual. They forget that truth is truth.

And if you're fighting for truth, you're fighting for God's truth. There's no such thing as truth and God's truth. And what you just said about when you see about things that are wrong, injustice, when you're working against that, when you see that happening to you, whatever, and you fight against it, you're doing God's work. And I think it's important, you know, because a lot of times, the reason I'm saying this is because a lot of times people say, like, you know, you're not supposed to be political if you're Christian, and you think, where do you draw that line? I mean, Wilberforce was a politician who used politics to abolish the slave trade.

Over and over and over again, you see these lines are blurred, and sometimes you're forced to be political. So it's just fascinating to me that you saw this, you kind of woke up to both. of these things at the same time, to the situation of life and, you know, big government being bad and all that kind of stuff at the same time that God is coming into your life. Yeah, it was, I mean, it was really eye-opening. Obviously, there were other people as well. I started listening to Rush Limbaugh on my vehicle. I had no idea who the guy was, but I would listen to him because I thought he was entertaining and funny.

I didn't necessarily agree with some of the things at the time. It was the funniest thing. But then over a period of time, I was like, you know, this guy really clicks with me. He makes a lot of sense. He's actually saying a lot of things that I believe. And he would call himself El Fuzzbo and the, you know, El Rushbow and all these things. I had no idea, Eric, because I would travel in my car. Like I said, during these jobs, you know, obviously I was associated with the black community. I never talked to people about him.

This was just some guy. I listened to in the car. And then one day, I was at some type of, uh, it, it, it, it was a black community event of some sort. And somebody was talking about El Rushbow, this racist. And I was like, that's the same guy I'm listening to on radio. And I was like, no, this guy isn't racist. It doesn't make any sense.

So God was working on me. I believe in politics. There's no doubt about it. And I got to say, it's why I love what you do. Because one of the books that I read early on as well was William Wolverford. And I started reading my Wilberforce book. I have your William Wolverford's book. I have your Bonhofer book on my book shelf.

They are referenced book mine. I didn't know that. I mean, Amazing Grace is the title, but yeah, we hadn't mentioned that. I'm thrilled to hear that because, you know, as an author, you know, you're doing radio, writing books. You put this stuff out there. You have no idea is anybody getting anything out of it. Folks, I'm talking to Carl Jackson. He's the host appropriately of the Carl Jackson show, and we'll be right back.

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You, yeah, your story is fascinating. So, okay, you are starting to wake up. You're listening to talk radio. And you just were mentioning that you bumped into my amazing grace. which came out, I guess, 2007. I don't know how that affected you, but how in the world did you bump into that book? I don't know. Where were you at in 2007? You know, I got to tell you, just listening to more talk radio and listening to Christian radio. I'm pretty sure I heard an interview of yours, if I'm not mistaken. But anyway, I was

prompted to get the book. I just wanted to learn more about it. The things that you were saying, I didn't know any of this stuff. I hadn't heard any of this stuff. I didn't know who William Wilberforce was. And I had never heard of the guy. And I got to tell you from reading, I read people like Star Parker, Larry Elder, Thomas, Sol, Walter Williams.

And I was learning all of this history that I had never heard of. And I got to tell you, Eric, I got upset because I went through Los Angeles Unified School District and I felt like I didn't learn crap, to be honest with you. I'm like, I never learned any of this stuff. Look, look, I say the same thing everywhere I go, that everything that I have discovered, I think I mention it with the Is Atheism Dead book, but the story of Bonhofer, the story of

Wolberforce, the stories that I wrote in my book, if you can keep it, about America. Why doesn't everyone know this? Why didn't I learn this? It's kind of shocking when you realize it, and it does make you wake up and say, I need to tell the world. Everyone needs to know this, because if you don't know this, how can you possibly function or think clearly amidst the madness. But anyway, I'm glad I'm not the only one who has that response.

Yeah, it was, you know, just reading more. It was obviously eye-opening, and then as you read more and learn more, it becomes easy to figure out who's deceiving you and who's not, whether it's radio, whether it's television, wherever it may be, politicians. You know, it's funny to me, but reading, it is, it's true what they say. reading takes you to a different place, to a different world, and that's exactly what began to happen with me. And God used the experiences that I went through, the things that I was listening to, the books that I began reading to start informing and shaping my worldview. And, you know,

and so here I am today. Now, was there some point in this journey when you had a hardcore like conversion conversion, or was it more gradual? Yeah, I got to tell you, there was So I would say the biggest event that shaped me was I was actually going to the church that I attend to this date. And I was headed there to serve community service on probation. So I met this gentleman. I met this gentleman at the church building that was the custodial manager, I believe at the time. And I was going to do all of this work, community service. I mean, I had tons of community surface hours to do.

And so I went to this church. My brother had started attending this church as well as the buddy of mine that was the former Chicago gang member. He began attending this church as well. The Chicago-Chicano gang member who was big trouble. He's going to this place. Okay. What year, roughly, is this now? It could be 99 or 2000.

Okay. All right. Yeah. So I started attending. attending that church, but I was still getting, I was still getting in trouble. So actually the probation didn't start until I want to say maybe 2001 or so, because it was, you know, I was going back and forth, one foot in the world, one foot, you know, out of the world, if you will.

Yeah. Just living an inconsistent lifestyle. But I go to serve these community service hours. I meet this gentleman. And I'm sitting there thinking, Eric, I have all these hours. I was calling places to see if I could serve community service hours. hours than I was trying to figure out which place I could go to, which place I could serve at so I could cheat on these hours as much as possible and do as little as possible.

Well, that's kind of the logical place, you know, where the mind goes, right? How do I get out of this mess? Yeah, it was insane. But I met this guy. His name is Jim Angelakis. He happens to be a pastor at the church. His name is Jim Angelakis. Angelicus?

That sounds Greek. He is. He is. I rest my case. Ladies and gentlemen, I rest my case. Jim Angelakis is at this church in Orlando. This church in Orlando. Okay. And what happens with Jim? Oh, I'm sorry, guys. That's all right. And so what happens with what happens with Jim is I meet Jim. I began doing these community service hours. And he was such the nicest guy, the sweetest guy that I just said, you know what, I'm going to serve every hour. He was the first guy.

He grabbed me by my arms, and I get a little choked up. But this Greek guy at a church in Orlando, can you share the name of the church? Is that okay? Yeah, faith assembly of God. Faith assembly of God in Orlando. In Orlando, Florida. And this guy was just amazing, still is amazing to this day. but he prayed with me

and he just hugged me and he said I love you and I got to tell you when he first said I love you and he hugged me because my dad and I love my dad and I love my dad had never said I love you

at this point in time in my life and so I kind of pulled back just a little bit and I was like this felt weird to me I thought it was just to be honest I was like this is what gay men do

that's what I thought I'm gonna I want to pause right right now. You do radio so you know, we're going to pause. We're going to be back, folks. I'm talking to Carl Jackson. Don't go away. Hey, folks, all you out there know that My Pillow doesn't have box stores or any shopping channels. They've been part of this canceled culture and they want to pass the savings on directly

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I'm host the Eric Mattaxas show. You get how it works? That's radio. Carl Jackson, you're telling us your story. All right, so you met this guy, Jim Angelakis. And so he says to you, he's like, like, you know, a lot of Christians at churches like Faith Assembly of God, because those are the kind of churches I go to. You know, they'd be like, hey, brother, I love you. And if you're new to that, you're like, what? You love me? No, I don't, yeah. So yeah, so you're like, it kind of put you off a little bit. So what happened? Yeah, it put me off a little bit initially. And then, honestly, probably within a moment or so, I just broke. I wept like a baby. No one had ever said, no man. had ever said to me, I love you.

And here it is, this white guy telling me, Carl, I love you. And it was just, the guy was just so nice, I mean, to the say, he's just such a kindhearted guy. And then when he took me back to introduce me to other staff members that I was going to be working with, he didn't tell anyone that I was there to serve community service. He just said, hey, here's a guy that's going to be volunteering his time to help out, show him the ropes, show him what he needs to do. He told me that I would just report to him that no one needed to know you know why I was there and honestly that blew me away because Eric I was so ashamed I knew better the lifestyle that I was living like I said one foot in the church one foot out I knew better and the

shame was was just unbelievable and at that moment I would say that was the moment that I say God just reached down and he completely just stole my heart. And I was radically changed from that moment on. I told myself that I would work, I would serve the Lord and I would work every single minute of those community service hours. You know, I did just that. And then the pastor, even Pastor Carl Stevens, this is a mega church, mind you. I counseled with him. And this was a guy who literally out of the blue would call me, both of these guys white. He knew that I was going through a custody battle. He knew that I got in some trouble.

He called me at night a couple of times. A megachurch. This guy doesn't know me from now and just wants to know how I'm doing. It follows up with me. And I'm like, this is, it was just blowing my mind that these people would extend their love, you know, just so generously. And it just changed me. And I told God, you know what? I want to be like that towards everybody.

I want to be loved. As loving as these men are, you know, I want to be the same type of person to everyone. That's beautiful. And, you know, it's nice that it's a white guy, but it's really special that it's a Greek guy. That means a lot to me. And by the way, Greeks aren't that white. We're actually olive. We identify as olive.

Seriously, that's beautiful. So that happens, and it's real. And you give your life to God. You're attending this church. Did you have any idea that you wanted to? go into radio? I did. You know what?

I didn't. Obviously, God was stirring my heart politically. I loved talking about politics. I, you know, just made sure that I voted. I ended up getting involved in like a local Republican executive committee, just little stuff like that. And then when Barack Obama became president, just based upon his worldview and some of the things that I was reading and learning about him, I saw how everyone was buying into this

guy because of his skin color. And I was like, wait a minute. This guy supports abortion. I can't remember, you know, taxation, all of these things. You know, free speech. That's called white guilt. That's what that's called. It's called white guilt.

No, it is amazing. You're right. I mean, it's, it's kind of fascinating how these dynamics work. But yeah, his positions were just radically against what, you know, you believe and I believe. And the racist country, the 1619 Project Country America, elected a black man twice just to prove how racist we are.

So, gosh, but that's what's sort of something about that in 2008 got under your skin, so to speak. Yeah, I think leading up to his second election or right after thereabouts, I was just sick of the lies. I was sick of people buying into this guy and being afraid to speak out just because he was black. And honestly, I felt like the church, not my church, thank God. My pastor was pretty strong and spoke about this stuff.

But I knew a lot of Christians that never even talked about politics, never even considered it. And I would say, guys, how is it that you can go to church or sit in a church where your pastor can talk about being a great Christian in your workplace? if you're a plumber or a landscaper or a doctor or a lawyer, but no one talks about politics. You know, like we're supposed to leave that alone when it has such a huge impact on our lives, and not only that, on the culture. And I saw that this guy, Barack Obama,

was changing the culture, if you will, I believe, from the White House. And I thought it was a big deal. And I thought he was godless, and I still do, to be quite frank with you. I really do think that this guy took America back to a darker day. I believe that sincerely. And I didn't want anything to do with it.

So I walked into the local Orlando Salem radio station because I had a buddy that worked there as a salesman, Ariel Gassar, at the time. And I was like, how do I get on radio? I want to speak out about this guy. I don't hear black people. I didn't know Larry Elder had a talk show, to be honest with you at the time. And I was like, I don't hear black people talking about it. this guy. And I'm like, the epitome of racism to me is, is not holding this guy to account simply because he is black. If America is, isn't a racist nation, and I don't believe that it is,

then we need to hold people to account based upon what they do, not the color of their skin. And I didn't feel like enough people were doing it. So I wanted to get on radio and talk about it. Can you believe what Larry Elder had to put up with a white girl, up to him in a gorilla mask. And nobody, can you imagine if somebody had done that to Barack Obama? I mean, it's just amazing the double standard. And it's like we're broken records talking about the double standard. But that was one of the most shocking things.

I mean, just for the optics of it, if it had been somebody who's black who hates Larry Elder who did that, that's one thing. But that these people are basically given a pass. And listen, I think most Americans are waking. up. They're seeing this stuff. It's gotten so bad that it's really difficult not to see it. Anyway, we're going to go to a break here. Folks, I'm talking to Carl Jackson. Just thrilled that we're getting to know who he is. And we'll be right back. It's Eric Mattaxas's show. The taller the tree, the sweeter the

Give you the whole Maggilla In a one word speech Make like the world's your Hey folks, I'm talking to Carl Jackson He is a radio host In Orlando with the Salem Radio Network He's one of my colleagues

On the Salem Radio Faculty Carl is just great to get to know you And I'm sure we'll continue the conversation Another time but so yeah you decide you want to get involved in radio that's kind of interesting though that you had the chutzpah that's a New York word for just thinking I want to get on the radio I mean you have to really you know know know who you are and what and just have a level of self confidence to be saying I'm going to get on the radio and talk about this that's that's impressive thank you yeah I mean honestly listening to different people on radio from Christian radio to to political radio So, you know, I felt like I had listened to radio long enough where I thought maybe I could pull it off. I wasn't exactly sure. Yeah.

I mean, it's hard work to pull off radio. Obviously, I didn't know all that going into it. But I felt like I had the gift of gab when it came to politics. I'm actually an introvert, believe it or not. But when it comes to fighting for God's truth, when it comes to politics, for whatever reason, my mouth opens why. and I can't shut up. Well, because you know that there are people whose lives are being affected, you know,

like we can't pretend like this is just me. This is affecting all these policies are hurting people. So if you keep your mouth shut, that's on you. Now, if people want to reach you or find you, do you have a website? Yeah, they can find me on the web, Carl Jackson Show.com,

Facebook, Carl Jackson Radio, Twitter at Carl Jackson's show. Those are probably the best places to find me. I would say this, though. I am really optimistic about what the future holds for the United States of America. I know that we are in dark times, but I believe that God put us here for such a time as this. I'm corning like that. I really do believe that.

And I do believe that this is time. It's time for Christians to shine. It's time for Christians to stand up. I know there's going to be a lot of weakly Christians, some that may leave, leave faith and God forbid, but I understand that. And I understand sometimes things work like that. But I think this is a great opportunity for Christians to stand up for the greatest country that God has ever given man. I think we are blessed to live in the United States of America. And again, I believe that God put us here for such a time as this. The fact that we've been

able to send out missionaries all around the world because of the freedoms that we hold, I think it's worthy of fighting for. And I think we're starting. to see, I think we're starting to see truth come around again. Truth is coming back in style. I think we saw that in Virginia. Parents are standing up and saying, listen, I don't want my kids taught, you know, this racist nonsense known as critical race theory or diversity, whatever, whatever other names they go by. I don't want my kids being taught that boys are girls or can be girls and vice versa. So I think truth is making a comeback. I think Christ is making a comeback in this country. And I think conservatives are going to do well because I think we have no choice but to

stand up in fight. So I got to be honest with you. I'm a fighter. And I like being in the fight. I like the fact that God is willing to use me a peon to do something in this world right now. That feels pretty amazing to you. Well, I agree with every syllable. And I, um, I do think that sometimes it is God's mercy. Right now, it's God's mercy that things get this bad so that people will wake up. I mean, things are just ultra disaster everywhere you look. And that's sometimes what it takes for people to wake up and to fight back, because Americans are really nice, you know, but sometimes we're too nice and we don't fight.

It's just great to get to know you, Carl. I look forward to meeting you in person, hopefully, when I'm in Florida. in January and just continue the conversation. Carl Jackson Show.com, did you say? Correct. That is correct. Carl Jackson, God bless you. Thanks for being my guest.

Hey, thanks so much, Eric. I appreciate you taking the time.