| Erick Stakelbeck | |||||||||||||||
| Image Upright: | 0.85 | ||||||||||||||
| Birth Date: | 21 January 1976 | ||||||||||||||
| Education: | Holy Family University | ||||||||||||||
| Nationality: | American | ||||||||||||||
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Erick Stakelbeck (born January 21, 1976) is an American author, and television host and presenter of The Watchman on TBN and The Watchman Newscast on YouTube.[1] As a Christian Zionist,[2] the show is sponsored by Christians United for Israel,[3] Stakelbeck being the director of its Watchman Project.[4] Stakelbeck has also been noted as an investigative reporter and author on radical Islam,[5] [6] [7] and is TBN's news director.[8]
Stakelbeck had a working-class upbringing in Philadelphia, with his father, who was a factory electrician by trade, also being "an autodidact who loved to study biblical history."[9] [10] Growing up in the Fox Chase neighborhood, Stakelbeck graduated from the Holy Family University in the same city. While a long-time supporter of Israel, he also became increasingly drawn to studying the roots of Islamic terrorism after the September 11 attacks, and began writing articles for FrontPage Magazine.[9]
Stakelbeck worked as a senior writer and analyst at the Investigative Project on Terrorism from 2003 to 2005, and his articles appeared in several newspapers.[11] From 2005 he worked as a television correspondent, host and analyst for CBN News, where he covered "U.S. national security, the Middle East, Israel-related issues and the growth of radical Islam at home and abroad."[11] He has also been a regular contributor and guest host on The Blaze TV, and a regular guest on several Fox News shows. He received the Ben Hecht Award for Outstanding Journalism from the Zionist Organization of America in 2014,[12] and a media "Truth" award from the Endowment for Middle East Truth in 2015.[13]
He began hosting The Watchman on TBN in 2016.[3] For his show, he has travelled throughout Israel, reporting from the borders of Gaza, Syria and Lebanon, and interviewing senior Israeli leaders.[9] [10] He regularly highlights Israel's "strategic predicament", noting its proximity to radical Islamic terror groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas at its borders.[9] He also focuses on biblical end times prophecy, believing that "we live in prophetic times", and that "the miraculous rebirth of Israel ... set the prophetic time clock into overdrive".[14] In 2022, he recorded an exclusive interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.[1] [15] He additionally became a correspondent for TBN's new Centerpoint, a nightly news and analysis program in 2022,[16] and host of the new show Stakelbeck Tonight in 2024.[17]
Stakelbeck has addressed several conferences and events of conservative groups such as ACT for America, the David Horowitz Freedom Center and the Family Research Council,[18] including the Values Voter Summit,[19] [20] and has aligned himself with counter-jihad activists.[21] [22]
He has stated his view that "the Left sees Islam as an ally and Western Civilization and the Judeo-Christian tradition is the enemy" and that Islam and the Left "have a shared hatred for this country".[23] He also claims that there is a "concerted effort by Islamists to infiltrate the very heartland of American society" and that American Muslims are engaged in "stealth" or "civilizational" jihad to impose Sharia in the US.[18]
Stakelbeck is married and has two children, and currently lives in the Dallas–Fort Worth area.[17] He previously lived outside Washington, D.C.[11]