Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 849 ｜ Responding to Candace Owens & Andrew Tate ｜ Guest： Jonathan Isaac

00:00:00.000 Andrew Tate and Candace Owens sat down and my name came up. So I'm going to respond to that

00:00:07.060 little bit of their conversation. Also, we have a friend here. We have Jonathan Isaac. He is a

00:00:12.760 forward for the Orlando Magic, a Christian and author, and he has just launched a new brand

00:00:18.340 called Unitas. It's a values-based sports and apparel company. And so we are going to talk

00:00:23.420 to him about that, also his faith journey, all that good stuff. This episode is brought to you

00:00:27.680 by our friends at Good Ranchers. Go to GoodRanchers.com. Use code Allie at checkout. That's

00:00:32.200 GoodRanchers.com, code Allie. Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Wednesday. All right, two very

00:00:47.120 different parts of this episode. My interview with Jonathan Isaac, who is amazing, about his new brand

00:00:53.680 and just about his faith and fatherhood journey and all of that will be coming up. But first,

00:00:57.680 I wanted to respond to something that I've been meaning to respond to for the past few days.

00:01:01.380 But as always, there's just so much to talk about. Andrew Tate and Candace Owens, they had a sit-down

00:01:06.860 conversation and they mentioned my name as well as my friend Liz Wheeler's name because we were two

00:01:14.900 people that were criticizing Andrew Tate after he had the interview with Tucker Carlson. And a lot of

00:01:22.320 videos were circulating from several years ago where he is talking about convincing women to fall in love

00:01:30.420 with him, have sex with him so that they will do webcam work for them. And also talked about lying to

00:01:39.380 them, about how much they were actually going to get paid, about tax forms and things like that.

00:01:47.100 And so we talked about that at length a couple of weeks ago. We did two episodes. One episode was a

00:01:52.840 very thorough explanation. And I worked really hard to make sure that the clips that I had that I knew

00:01:59.020 as much context as possible. There were several incriminating clips that I could have played of

00:02:04.200 Andrew Tate that I didn't because I didn't know all of the context of them. So I won't rehash all of

00:02:10.720 those. I have my criticisms of Andrew Tate based on what he has said. Ten years ago, five years ago,

00:02:17.780 he has not ever come forward and say, I regret doing that. That was wrong to do. In fact, at the

00:02:23.920 beginning of this Candace Owens interview, he says, I don't apologize for things. I did what I did. I had

00:02:29.420 a hard upbringing and, you know, whatever. Obviously, I take issue with that. And I take issue with the

00:02:37.260 things that he said, with the things that he's done. I'm not weighing in on whether or not he is

00:02:42.660 guilty of the Romanian charges that are before him. I am weighing in on whether or not he is a moral

00:02:49.580 exemplar and a man for young men to follow. And if you go back and listen or watch on YouTube,

00:02:55.820 I was extremely fair. I laid out the case for why he is so appealing to young men. The things that he

00:03:04.420 has said that are very true, that are very uniquely true, that are interesting, that are compelling.

00:03:10.400 I'm not someone who has just said, I just don't get this. I don't see where he's coming from at all.

00:03:15.800 No, he has said true things. He has said right things. And I see his appeal to young men and why

00:03:22.640 some young men may be flocking to Andrew Tate and his message. However, you know, moral issues.

00:03:28.600 So I laid out my case there. And I think that I was as fair as possible, certainly as honest as

00:03:34.520 possible. And Liz Wheeler, I haven't seen all of her critiques of Andrew Tate, but she has done a

00:03:40.200 very similar thing, has been very strong. She was blocked by Andrew Tate because of her strong stance

00:03:46.840 against him, which, of course, I agree with Liz on the things that she's saying. And, you know, then

00:03:53.040 Andrew Tate has to sit down with Candace Owens, which as much as I don't like the kind of like

00:03:58.900 morality that and the so-called virtues that he has pushed over the years and the things that he's

00:04:06.860 done over the years, I don't at all fault Candace Owens for sitting down with him. I get a lot of

00:04:11.460 messages saying, oh, this is so bad. Like, how dare she give him a platform? What do you think about

00:04:17.700 her talking to him? Like, I don't really buy that. As someone who is also in the interviewer seat,

00:04:23.700 very often, like, you talk to the people who are interesting. You talk to the people who other

00:04:31.120 people want to hear from. You talk to big names, whether or not you agree with them. Now, maybe

00:04:36.320 you don't platform the little guy who no one knows about and is just like evil and terrible and

00:04:41.940 shouldn't be given a larger platform, but he already has a huge platform. If Andrew Tate agreed to sit

00:04:47.760 down and talk with me, yes, I would talk with him. So I don't blame Candace at all for,

00:04:52.820 for having this interview and for talking with him, talking with him or Tucker for that matter.

00:04:59.100 Like, yes, you take the Andrew Tate interview because, wow, there's so much to talk about.

00:05:03.600 And they had a three hour long conversation. I didn't listen to the whole thing. There were

00:05:06.740 definitely things that I disagreed on, like really within the first few minutes. I really disagreed

00:05:13.760 with the things that I like. Oh, my gosh. I had to like pause and really think about it. But it was

00:05:19.700 an incredibly interesting and wide ranging conversation, even though, gosh, I just disagree

00:05:26.980 with him so adamantly on so many different things and his moral reasoning. Oh, my goodness.

00:05:31.920 Um, but someone told me because I didn't get to this part myself yet. Someone was like, oh,

00:05:37.180 did you see the part of the interview where your name and Liz Wheeler's name is mentioned?

00:05:41.200 Um, and so I wanted to watch it and then I wanted to respond to it a little bit.

00:05:46.300 I think what I will actually I want to get to what your belief in is in terms of when you start

00:05:51.860 talking about the Matrix, because I will say I some of the people that have been going after you,

00:05:56.440 Liz Wheeler obviously has been one of them. Ali Suckey has talked a lot about it. I know

00:06:00.060 these young women. They're not a part of the Matrix. OK, I have a lot of disagreements with 0.90

00:06:04.960 them. Stylistically, we have disagreements. Ali's a is a means what she says. Even if I 0.94

00:06:10.680 disagree with her point, I know she means she said it's not an act for her. She's not trying

00:06:13.720 to do anything. She says it because she believes it. I don't say this to insult Liz or anyone else.

00:06:18.480 I don't know them enough or respect them enough to give a what they made or what they say.

00:06:23.040 I don't care. However, I don't believe it was well intentioned. I think that there is certainly

00:06:30.860 a degree of jealousy that came with my massive influence in the number of views I got in the

00:06:34.780 Tucker Carlson show. I think that the fact that 10 year old videos, which have been debunked 30

00:06:40.920 times and now coming up again is not well intentioned at all. But I can't be entirely

00:06:47.480 sure of that. So I can't comment specifically on their attacks because I haven't watched their attacks

00:06:51.900 Oh, no. Andrew Tate doesn't respect me. Oh, no. The pimp and hose degree guy. He doesn't give me

00:07:01.160 his respect. I'm so sad. Look, I the reason why I talked about Andrew Tate is because I see some

00:07:09.940 people flocking to him and thinking that he is a good example for young men. And my point is that he's

00:07:15.800 not. I mean, I'm a Christian. This is a Christian show. He doesn't claim to be a Christian. So I never

00:07:20.000 said he's a bad Christian or he doesn't live up to, you know, what I think he should be as a Christian

00:07:25.500 man, because I don't think he's a Christian. I know he's not a Christian. He's a Muslim. 0.98

00:07:30.120 And so I'm not expecting him to be Christlike. But I'm saying to my Christian audience, just because

00:07:36.580 someone says something that is true, doesn't mean they should be looked to. Doesn't mean they should

00:07:43.240 be worshipped, of course, doesn't mean they should be admired. You take everything that anyone says,

00:07:48.660 but especially someone like that who has admitted to manipulating girls for money, using sex and using

00:07:56.700 fraud with a grain of salt. Now, again, if he had repented of these things, if he had apologized for

00:08:03.340 these things and said, that is so not me anymore. That is, I would never pimp girls out on webcam.

00:08:09.840 Like, I would never I would never do that again. Wow, that was so dumb. I did what I thought I had 0.99

00:08:15.280 to do and I should have. OK, that's one thing. But as far as I can see, even in this interview,

00:08:19.480 there is no regret, no remorse, no repentance whatsoever in that. So, yes, I stand by everything

00:08:24.820 that I said. I'm not going to rehash everything, but go back and listen or listen to or watch last

00:08:29.840 week's episode. We'll include the links of the videos. People have responded to his videos,

00:08:35.300 his self-snitching videos at length with full context. And like you would have to tell me what

00:08:42.260 context helps some of the things that he has said. There again, there are some things that I did not

00:08:48.300 play because I was like, nope, I don't know the full context. He could have been kidding there.

00:08:54.460 I'm not really sure. So there were plenty of things that I did not play because I was like, I'm not

00:09:00.200 completely sure if I know what he's saying. The only things I played was like, OK, there's no amount of

00:09:05.080 greater context that could help what he said, what he said about women, what he said about fraud,

00:09:09.480 what he said about making money, what he said about essentially grooming and essentially what

00:09:14.260 would be trafficking these women. Again, not speaking to the Romanian charges. I hope that 0.99

00:09:19.540 justice comes down on his side if he is not proven beyond a reasonable doubt guilty. Like,

00:09:26.140 I hope that justice truly prevails on the side of truth.

00:09:35.080 Yeah, he's going to incriminate my motives because he thinks that everyone who criticizes

00:09:45.760 him is a part of the matrix. The matrix is basically made up of a bunch of different bad actors who were

00:09:51.140 trying to keep people silent and slovenly and weak and all of that. But look, not everyone who

00:09:56.180 criticizes you is a part of this grand scheme. Not everyone who criticizes you is badly intentioned.

00:10:01.080 That's true for me. That's true for everyone. A lot of people are, but not everyone. Like,

00:10:06.260 have some humility to realize, and we all do, not just Andrew Tate, that some people have

00:10:11.680 legitimate critiques of the things that you have said. And especially when it comes to him,

00:10:15.900 like he's made it really easy. And yeah, those were the first time we saw those clips. If I had

00:10:20.500 seen those clips 10 years ago and I had been in this business 10 years ago rather than being like

00:10:25.660 a sophomore in college, then maybe I would have said something about it. But I didn't know.

00:10:29.960 I didn't even know who Andrew Tate was until a year or so ago. And as for the jealousy piece,

00:10:35.400 do you think that we don't know? Do you think that I don't know that he has

00:10:38.700 a huge platform, a way bigger platform than I do? There's nothing there. There's nothing. Trust me.

00:10:47.620 Trust me. Looking at Andrew Tate's life, there is nothing that he has that I desire. I am very

00:10:52.860 content and thankful for the life that God has given me. And so again, not everyone who criticizes you

00:10:59.500 is badly intentioned. Not everyone who criticizes you is just jealous. Some people, yeah, sure. Of

00:11:07.600 course, there are going to be people like that. Not everyone is going to. And I'm glad that,

00:11:11.860 you know, Candace brought up, we're not, Liz and I are not a part of the matrix. It's possible to

00:11:17.600 have legitimate criticisms, especially from a Christian moral perspective of a guy who had a

00:11:22.400 course called the PhD course, which stood for the Pimp and Hoes degree course. It's possible to have 1.00

00:11:28.080 legitimate negative opinions about that kind of person, believe it or not, without decontextualizing

00:11:33.880 anything. And so, yeah, I guess that's, I guess that's all I have to say about, say about that,

00:11:41.760 say about Andrew Tate. I had no thought that Andrew Tate would like be watching any of my videos. And so

00:11:50.140 the fact, and I, he didn't, I'm sure. But the fact that he would say, oh, you know,

00:11:55.360 they just want to like get at me. They just like want my attention or whatever. Um, whatever he

00:12:00.680 said, I was not for you. I never, uh, intended for you to see my tweets or to watch my videos or

00:12:10.640 to hear what I have to say and care. I'm talking to an audience of Christians and to Christian

00:12:15.520 parents and specifically Christian moms and Christian men too. And just reminding us of the

00:12:22.120 example that we follow and why it's really important to care about the morals and the

00:12:27.780 character of the people that we follow. And I don't think Andrew Tate, even in the very true

00:12:32.180 things that he says is someone that Christian should follow. And I don't expect him to care 1.00

00:12:37.000 about that. So there you go. That's my response, Andrew Tate. Um, but you know what? I very interesting

00:12:45.160 interview, very interesting interview and a long ranging interview. And that's not an easy thing

00:12:49.980 to do. I will say that. Um, all right. That's all I got to say about that. Let's get into our much

00:12:56.100 more, um, edifying portion of this episode, uh, with our friend, Jonathan Isaac. Isaac is entering

00:13:05.280 his seventh season as a forward for the Orlando magic. He's from, uh, the Bronx. We've had him on

00:13:12.160 before. We talked to him a couple of years ago, uh, when he was, he stood for the national anthem

00:13:17.120 when everyone was kneeling in the summer of 2020. Uh, also when he defied COVID mandates,

00:13:24.080 uh, vaccine mandates, he came on the show. And so he also came on the show to talk about his book

00:13:30.260 last year. And so he's just, I mean, he's pretty amazing person. And now he's launching this brand

00:13:36.160 of values-based sports and apparel company on August 1st. Um, and so that was yesterday it's

00:13:42.800 launched now, which is super exciting. So he's going to talk about all of that and more

00:13:46.180 in our, uh, in our forthcoming conversation. Uh, before we get into it, let me just pause

00:13:53.140 and tell you about a sponsor.

00:14:06.640 Jonathan Isaac. Thanks so much for joining us again. Okay. Before we get into your brand and

00:14:12.300 everything you have going on, let's talk about the biggest thing you have going on, which I'm

00:14:15.920 guessing is a chronic lack of sleep. Is that correct? Yes. And no, my wife, a trooper has 1.00

00:14:24.580 been fantastic. And we have somebody that comes in at like 6 AM. So she gets to get in the bed and 0.96

00:14:30.140 sleep. Wow. That's amazing. So you became a dad three months ago to a baby girl, right?

00:14:35.980 Yes. Baby girl, Naomi. Oh, that's so sweet. Tell me a little bit about fatherhood. Like what have you,

00:14:41.840 what surprised you, what has exceeded your expectations?

00:14:47.320 Well, I would say maybe not surprised me, but I remember talking to my, my coach and he was telling

00:14:54.120 me about what you're going to find yourself just leaning over the crib. Like, is she breathing? Like,

00:15:00.820 like just, just standing there watching her, uh, just be. And I was like, okay, you know,

00:15:05.880 I'm sure you've done it before. So, okay, it'll happen. But then I went back to him. I was like,

00:15:09.960 that's absolutely the truth. And I do it to this. And whether she's sleeping and I'm just like,

00:15:15.080 why is she sleeping? Like, can you wake her up? My wife's like, do not wake her up. 1.00

00:15:20.620 And so, uh, it's, it's been fantastic though. You don't, you don't know that you can

00:15:24.780 love something like that. Um, it's right there in front of you. And it does really reflect the love

00:15:30.220 of God. Um, cause it's just like, you know, you, they can't do no wrong in your eyes until they get

00:15:34.620 a little older, but, uh, it really is sweet. Yeah. Gosh, your heart expands so much. And you

00:15:40.440 just realized like in that second that you would do absolutely anything for this little child that

00:15:47.980 you just met, like you would die a thousand deaths for them. I mean, the moment that you meet

00:15:52.560 them, really the moment that you know that you're pregnant or that in your case, your wife is pregnant,

00:15:57.420 but especially like that moment that they lay that little baby on your chest, you're like,

00:16:01.720 I would take anyone and anything out for this child. It's really incredible.

00:16:06.480 And the eye contact when they look at you and like, now she's like starting to,

00:16:11.480 like when I walk into a room and she locks eyes with me, she gets that, like, she knows who I am.

00:16:15.600 So it's like, it's, it's so sweet. So sweet. Okay. You've got a lot of other stuff going on too.

00:16:23.200 Unsurprisingly, you've got an apparel company that you announced, uh, recently.

00:16:27.860 Unitas. Tell us a little bit about that.

00:16:31.080 Yeah. Unitas is a values-based sports and apparel company, really an alternative to honestly,

00:16:37.900 a lot of the things that are going on in our, in the marketplace and culture, just where we are

00:16:41.740 as a society and a country. Um, back in 2020, I was a Nike signed athlete. Um, I was getting paid

00:16:47.820 by Nike. I got injured at the time and I didn't resign with them. And from then I started to kind of

00:16:53.240 play with what would it look like to start a full blown sports and apparel company, um, that could

00:16:59.400 give people the freedom to buy with their values. And at the time I was talking about it with my

00:17:03.920 pastor and he was like, you should make your own sneaker. And I'm like, I don't know what that even

00:17:09.860 means. Like, how do you, how do you do that? And I started to go down the road and, um, you know,

00:17:14.000 he came up with the name and it was just, we just kind of ran with it, Unitas. And, uh, now we're

00:17:19.340 ready to launch. And, uh, I'm not sure if this is going to come out when it's already launched,

00:17:23.300 but if so, um, I'm just super excited about everything that's going on.

00:17:27.620 Yeah. It launches eight one and we're recording this in late July. So we're going to try to get

00:17:32.600 it out right around, um, when it launches, but tell us a little bit more about the name Unitas.

00:17:38.880 You see it as, uh, you've set a promotion of free speech, um, to promulgate the nation's

00:17:44.920 founding principles in a time of rampant progressive ideology. So talk a little bit more about that.

00:17:50.620 Yeah, there are, there are values that are important to me, um, that I try my best to

00:17:56.840 live out each and every day. And Unitas is founded on three of them that are extremely important. And

00:18:02.200 the first one is faith. The second one is family. And the third one is freedom. And as I look out into

00:18:07.320 our culture, um, especially in the sportswear and apparel space, a lot of these companies are

00:18:13.120 moving farther and farther away from these values and ideologies, um, foundational family values,

00:18:18.500 um, constitutional values that I think are, are important, um, and have value to a prosperous

00:18:24.660 society. And so we live in America and they're free to do so. And, but at the same time, we're

00:18:30.080 free to create an alternative. So that's what Unitas was about for me from the beginning.

00:18:33.520 Can I, can I create something that's high quality that, that people can truly love, but at the end of

00:18:39.080 the day, give people encouragement and confidence that their values are valid. And if they're not going

00:18:43.920 to be celebrated by other people in the marketplace and culture, then we can celebrate them ourselves.

00:19:00.360 This seems to be something that a lot of the entrepreneurial and industrious people are doing

00:19:04.940 right now. They're kind of creating this parallel economy because I mean, people like me, I'm sure

00:19:09.900 people like you too, I mean, you, you do feel hated by a lot of the places that you spend your

00:19:14.580 money. You feel hated by a lot of the artists that you like, by a lot of the athletes that you

00:19:18.900 cheer for a lot of the companies that you faithfully spent money at for the past, you know, 10 years.

00:19:24.800 One of my favorite places that I used to shop that I don't anymore was anthropology. They make great

00:19:30.020 women's clothing. And then they used a man to model one of their dresses. And I'm like, okay, 0.54

00:19:34.600 obviously the faithfulness of a lot of their customer base just doesn't matter. So people

00:19:41.420 really are looking to be represented by brands and spend their money at companies that don't

00:19:48.080 force them to compromise their values. I think that's really important.

00:19:53.280 And it means something like, yeah, from the beginning, it was like, you know, there used to be a time where

00:19:59.020 what people at a company or what a company believed about society, about religion, about

00:20:07.400 politics, it didn't matter. They just wanted to deliver a great product, but the times have changed

00:20:13.080 and it does matter because a lot of these companies and corporations are using those funds to undermine

00:20:18.520 the fabric of our society and to progress things that, that I believe are harmful to us. And so being

00:20:25.100 able to create something that, that, that people can have the freedom to buy with their values and

00:20:30.180 say, I want to stand with a company that I know is going to support my values, um, that is going

00:20:34.500 to be transparent about what it is that they believe. That's what I'm trying to accomplish with

00:20:38.040 Unitas. And I also feel like we, we are going to get to a place in society where it's like,

00:20:43.100 if you don't believe these set of things, you can't shop here. You can't do this. You can't,

00:20:47.900 you can't go here. And if there aren't alternatives for people to turn to, um, like you're talking

00:20:53.120 about that, that parallel economy, then the only answer is going to be to conform.

00:20:57.440 Yeah. Yeah. You're so right about that. So you really have kind of leaned into a lot of the

00:21:03.520 good and bad responses that you got from not kneeling for the anthem a couple of years ago.

00:21:10.700 Of course, we had you on the show. We talked about that, um, at the time, at the height of kind

00:21:16.060 of like the BLM virtue signaling, and then also resistance to the vaccine mandates. You know, 0.52

00:21:23.260 a lot of people would just say, all right, I gained your, your goal wasn't to gain media attention,

00:21:28.800 but I gained media attention from that. Now I'm just kind of going to go quietly into the night,

00:21:33.700 make sure that no one's paying attention to what I'm doing, but I've really seen you use the platform

00:21:37.760 that God has given you to lean into that courage and to try to make that courage contagious for other

00:21:44.320 people. You wrote a book, I stand, and that's what you encourage people to do to stand up for these

00:21:49.780 values that you believe in, even when you get backlash for it. Do you see this brand is kind

00:21:54.840 of a part of that journey that God has put you on since then? Absolutely. From the beginning, um,

00:22:01.820 of standing in the bubble, it was something that I was terribly afraid to do. And honestly,

00:22:07.080 everything that I have, you know, had to walk through, um, that God has graced me to walk through,

00:22:11.880 even though they were extremely challenging. Um, and they were, I was, I was terrified,

00:22:15.640 but as I've, as I've grown up and as I've, I've, again, uh, also pointed to the people that I have

00:22:21.640 around me, um, the pastor that I talked about is somebody that I'm, I'm always talking to. He's

00:22:25.680 always, um, giving me feedback and just, and just how to become better. My family, my wife, um, people

00:22:31.800 that keep me encouraged and moving forward. But the more that I've walked through these storms and also,

00:22:36.920 um, gotten the feedback from people who say, you know what, because of what you did, I now have

00:22:42.920 the courage and want to figure out how I can stand in my everyday life. It has emboldened me and

00:22:48.040 encouraged me to, to continue to do so. And when I talk about, I want people, because I know what it

00:22:54.100 feels like to stand alone. I know what it feels like to be in a situation where you're the only one

00:22:57.520 who believes something, but the more that we're able to congregate in a community and say,

00:23:02.720 my beliefs are valid and I should take pride in them. And if somebody else isn't going to,

00:23:08.280 then I can do so myself. And there is the fear of backlash. There is the fear of what people will

00:23:12.540 have to say, but when it's just one person is one thing, but when there's a community of people who

00:23:17.440 believe the same thing, no matter what you look like, white, black, indifferent, when you understand 0.99

00:23:21.900 the necessity and value of these values and come together, you know, we can create real, real change

00:23:27.940 and just stand up for what we want to believe in. And that's why a brand like this is important

00:23:31.920 because maybe you, you are in a place, you're on a college campus or with your family and your

00:23:36.800 friends where you are the only person who believes what you do. While having a brand like this is just

00:23:42.360 a reminder, if nothing else, of course, it's going to be high quality clothing and it's going to look

00:23:46.820 good and we'll put up pictures as we're talking, but it's also a reminder every time you look at that

00:23:51.880 brand that I'm not alone, that I'm not standing by myself. I'm, it might feel like I'm standing by

00:23:56.920 myself, but there are other people that share my values. And that's, that's a big deal. When people

00:24:02.220 ask me, what's your advice for like an incoming freshman in college or someone moving to a new

00:24:07.260 city, I'm like immediately find people who are like-minded because it's a reminder to you that

00:24:13.560 you're not crazy, that it's okay to swim upstream. We talk a lot on this show about being like human

00:24:20.020 salmon and standing out from the crowd. It's so it's okay, but it's easier to do that when you

00:24:26.460 have someone else that is linking arms with you. I think this brand and clothing brands like this,

00:24:31.880 it's just a way to link arms with people across the country and remember that you're not really alone.

00:24:38.160 That is the biggest thing about Unitas. Like you said, it's one thing about clothes. It's one thing

00:24:42.380 about, you know, launching something. But for me, it is about creating that community across all these

00:24:47.780 different lanes in our society. There's the sports, there is the college campus, there's the high

00:24:53.100 school, there's the parents that want to buy things for their kids that they know support their values.

00:24:57.280 There's the kids that love sports and just, or just want super cool leisure wear to wear around

00:25:01.600 the house or wear to the airport or things like that. And so for me, it is about that community

00:25:05.760 piece. I want people to know that there are people out there that agree with them, that believe

00:25:09.780 like them, and also to show the diversity of thought that there are people who come from a million

00:25:15.360 different backgrounds. I remember I was recently in Nashville and my Uber driver, he was like,

00:25:22.060 you were the guy that stood, you know, for the national anthem. And I agree with you. I agree

00:25:27.340 with who you are. And he said he came over here from Iran. Wow. Like, I love this country and I've

00:25:34.380 grinded and I've worked and I've been able to build a life for myself and my family here. And so there are

00:25:41.340 people from all different backgrounds that look completely different, but who understand 0.56

00:25:44.900 the necessity of these values and want to see them celebrated in the marketplace and culture.

00:25:49.540 And that is a, that's why I want to do this.

00:26:03.720 So you've suffered over the past few years from, um, a few injuries, which I'm sure have felt like

00:26:09.840 setbacks. I'm sure have been really difficult for you as someone who has worked so hard to get to the

00:26:14.020 point that you have in your athletic career. Talk about how you've navigated that through your faith

00:26:21.080 and maybe how, I don't know if creating this brand has also been made possible by some of those

00:26:25.980 difficulties that you've experienced with injuries and things like that. But just talk about how that's

00:26:30.300 been a part of your testimony and even a part of this new stage of developing a new brand.

00:26:35.100 Yeah, it's, it's been, it's been, it's been hard. It's been difficult. Um, but I've also,

00:26:42.920 I feel like I've learned so much about God. I've, I've learned so much about the necessity for

00:26:48.500 community, the necessity for people around you to be strong for you when you can't be strong for

00:26:54.060 yourself. Um, again, talking about like my pastor and my wife and my church family here that have,

00:26:59.800 um, stood with me during everything and have helped me to walk through these storms.

00:27:03.840 And then again, just learning about God, it's like, you don't know God to be faithful until you

00:27:09.860 need him to be. It's like, you know, God talks about all these different attributes that he is.

00:27:13.740 He's faithful. He's, he's just, he's loving, he cares. Um, he's not just the God of the hills,

00:27:18.520 but a God of the valleys, but you don't know that until you go through something. And so to be able to

00:27:24.040 experience the side of God that says, I am with you, even though you're going through something you

00:27:28.680 don't understand, even though you don't know why it happened or why I allowed it, I am with you.

00:27:33.840 And I love you and you're chosen and all these different things. But I had to go through, um,

00:27:38.300 these different things to learn. And another aspect of it is you're able to identify with

00:27:42.960 people. It's like, if you never go through any struggle, if you never go through any pain,

00:27:47.480 how can you identify with a world that's full of it? And so being, having gone through these,

00:27:52.520 you know, these tough times of injuries and things that have happened to me, I've been able to identify

00:27:57.480 with other guys around the league who have gotten injured. And just, and just what is,

00:28:01.400 for somebody to look at me and saying, well, like, what has happened to you? You're,

00:28:04.200 you're a millionaire, you're a basketball player. What do you know about struggle? What do you know

00:28:07.200 about, um, trusting God, um, in these moments? And I can reflect and look at it in my life and say,

00:28:12.360 you know what? I've had several instances where I was upset and angry and mad at God about what

00:28:17.680 happened, but I kept my faith and I trusted in him and he's seen me through. And to your point,

00:28:23.240 a lot of the downtime that I have had through these, you know, different things has allowed me to do

00:28:28.120 the things that I've done, write the book, why I stand, um, create, you know, unites. And, uh,

00:28:33.240 now I'm, I'm fully healed. I'm ready to come back, uh, this upcoming season.

00:28:37.640 Yes. And amen. Well, it's amazing how God uses those difficulties to accomplish the things that

00:28:43.140 he wants to accomplish. I always think about the story of Joseph and Genesis, obviously terrible

00:28:48.540 things happened to him. He was thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, and then God used that

00:28:53.460 evil, uh, to then protect Israel, uh, obviously lead Joseph to a place of leadership and then 0.79

00:28:59.020 provide for Israel during a time of famine. And something that I read that was pointed out in a

00:29:04.040 book to me several years ago was that that caravan from Egypt that eventually Joseph was sold into

00:29:10.560 to go to a place of slavery was already on its way to Egypt before Joseph was thrown into the pit.

00:29:16.720 So God's providence, God's plan, long-term plan, the conclusion of which we can't even see most days

00:29:24.560 is already in motion before we even understand it. And so I think having that big picture allows us to

00:29:33.160 have faith and have strength in times of mystery, in times of confusion, in times of injury. Um, and

00:29:39.260 it's amazing to see the tangible conclusions that have already come through your difficulty and your

00:29:44.480 trials in this brand. Um, so how can we, Oh, go ahead. Go ahead. I, I, that even speaks to where

00:29:51.520 we are as a whole, when it comes to, you know, our country and just the things that are happening.

00:29:55.960 And it looks like everything is going left. It looks like we're, we're, we're losing ground,

00:30:01.040 but God said he will build his church. And so trusting in the word of God. And even that to add

00:30:06.000 is like how important it is to rely and rest in the word of God. And God said he puts his, his word above

00:30:12.660 his own name, like trusting that, that what he said will come to pass. And so creating something

00:30:17.480 like this, I think is on brand with that message and where we're going as a country, that there are

00:30:22.520 still people standing up. There are still people who believe like you and with you and bringing them

00:30:27.720 together across something like this is, is how we get it done. Yes, absolutely. And so the brand,

00:30:33.200 it launches August 1st or launched depending on when this comes out, but how can, is it unite us?

00:30:40.060 What's the website? The website is weareunitus.com. Weareunitus.com. Yeah, weareunitus and the same

00:30:48.760 for Instagram and Twitter. Okay. Got it. Awesome. So everyone should go ahead and follow on social

00:30:54.400 media, unite us, U-N-I-T-U-S. We'll put it in the description of this episode so people can just 0.92

00:30:59.980 link it. Thanks so much, Jonathan, for taking the time and for always sharing your faith. It's

00:31:04.940 really encouraging to me. I really appreciate it. And congrats again on the baby girl.

00:31:10.060 Thank you so much, Allie. Thank you for having me.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - August 02, 2023

Ep 849 ｜ Responding to Candace Owens & Andrew Tate ｜ Guest： Jonathan Isaac

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