Who Is Gabe Poirot? Christian YouTuber Details Near-Death Experience - Newsweek

Christian YouTuber Gabe Poirot’s new account of his near-death experience, in which he says he spent 18 days in heaven and met Jesus Christ, has gone viral.

Poirot long claimed he met Christ while in a coma five years ago, and a new interview with Fox News has garnered fresh attention for his description of Christ, which included calling Him a “mustang full of testosterone.”

The evangelical speaker had an accident in October 2021, when he flipped backward while riding an electric skateboard at around 30 miles per hour without a helmet, landing on his head and cracking his skull.

Poirot, 20 at the time, went into an 18-day coma when he says he had a near-death experience, left his body, met Jesus and went to heaven. He has since written a book about it and given his testimony on his own YouTube channel.

This weekend, a clip of a September interview with Fox News went viral, with one post garnering 2.4 million views.

In a statement emailed to Newsweek on Monday, Poirot clarified his statement, saying: "The 'MAGA Jesus' characterization doesn't reflect what I said. I have never claimed Jesus is MAGA. In the interview, I described Jesus as the Lion [of the tribe of Judah] [Revelation 5:5], speaking to His strength, love, authority, courage, and meekness."

He told Fox News’ Kayleigh McEnany that he now tells everyone he meets “of the love of Christ and that He did it all for them and He died and rose again.”

He went on to say he did not meet a “female Jesus” or “a soft or passive Jesus.”

“Jesus is a man and, especially in America, He’s been misrepresented,” Poirot said.

“There’s so many cultural things that present Him as if he’s just some tolerant guy; that’s not the Jesus I met. He’s a lion, but He’s not a lion angry against me; He’s a lion angry for me. He’s a mustang on my behalf.”

Poirot said Christ looked like “pure fire” and was around “6 feet tall.”

“And I mean talk about testosterone, like a mustang, I’m telling you,” he said.

Poirot is a speaker who had been sharing online ministry before his accident. He has 2.2 million subscribers on YouTube, where he shares content about end-times prophecy, healing, salvation and his now-famous near-death experience testimony.

He started out posting Christian comedy on TikTok before moving on towards sermons and prayers, according to a 2020 profile by Christianity Today, where he promoted a #MakeJesusViral campaign during the pandemic.

Poirot was a student at Kenneth Copeland Bible College, in Newark, Texas, but told Newsweek in an email Monday that he has "since cut off all ties with the school and do not wish to be associated with it," adding, "I disagree with a lot of what I was taught there."

"Billy Graham was an early inspiration for me, and still is," he said, noting that it was "separate from [his] break with the college."

He published his book about his near-death experience testimony in April this year - 18 Days in Heaven: I Left My Body. I Met Jesus. What He Told Me Will Alter Your Eternity.

Some took issue with Poirot’s description, including an account called Christian Nightmares (@ChristnNitemare), often critical of Christian figures, who said: “Apparently, this guy met Manly MAGA Jesus in Heaven...”

But Poirot told Newsweek, "My comments were about the character & appearance of Jesus, not a political version of Him or an endorsement of any movement. The interview was about my near-death experience and my faith."

Political scientist and commentator Richard Hanania linked the description to current conversations about how Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico has spoken about Jesus Christ and Christianity.

“It’s over for the Talarico campaign,” Hanania joked.

It comes after President Donald Trump’s super PAC, MAGA Inc., has launched an advertising campaign targeting Talarico and criticizing some of his comments about Christianity.

These include him saying, “There are many more than two biological sexes, in fact, there are six,” Jesus Christ is a “radical feminist,” God is “nonbinary,” and “I always think of myself as a Christian who hates Christianity.”

Newsweek has broken down the context and details for each of these comments here, including him walking back what he said about God being “nonbinary” here.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Ben Kelly, Cristina Diciu, Gray R. Thomas.