The Eric Metaxas Show - Jonathan Isaac

Episode Date: July 23, 2022

Jonathan Isaac of the Orlando Magic, with his new book, "Why I Stand," addresses his controversial stance against forced vaccinations and coerced kneeling to condone BLM's Marxist ideals.

Folks, welcome to the Eric Mattaxas show, sponsored by Legacy Precious Metals. There's never been a better time to invest in precious metals. Visit legacy p.m.investments.com. That's legacy p.m. Investments.com. A Texas show with your host, Eric Mettaxas. Hello, there. Hey. Do you remember Marty Allen?

I'd say, hello there. Hello, there. It's Friday. Friday. Okay. In a couple minutes, we've got a big deal guest, Albin. A big, big guest. In fact, he's 6 foot 11. he's NBA Big Shot. His name is Jonathan Isaac plays for the Orlando Magic.

He is the starting center for the Orlando Magic. And he is way more than just a great athlete. He is a courageous young man who refused to kneel when everybody in the NBA was saying, well, we got to kneel, we got to take a knee when the national anthem plays. He says, no, I think for myself, and I, I, I don't want to do that, and I won't do that. So he stood. So his book is titled Why I Stand.

He also refused to get the vaccine, which is also obviously a smart thing for a young person to do, especially, I think for everybody, but especially for a young person. He's a hero. So we're talking to him in the first hour. I am looking forward to a slam dunk interview. Yeah, slam dunk. Yeah, basketball terms. And then in hour two, we're getting into biblical archaeology. we are going to rerun my interview with the archaeologist who discovered biblical Bethsaida.

I love talking biblical archaeology. I wrote about it in my book, Is Atheism Dead? And archaeology is a big piece of that. Okay, we also want to mention, as we go into the weekend, I think as this airs, we will have sent out the link on my, the, sorry, the newsletter that I sent out, that I sent out, not Salem Radio or whatever, my newsletter, Ericmetaxis.com. If you're not signed up, please sign up, please.

Because there are things we can share there that we can't share other places. And the most important thing that I want to share is that on August 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 8th, we are taping the talk show starring Eric Metaxus in this building, not in this studio. But if you come to the theater downstairs for that taping, Maybe you'll come up to the studio, maybe get to see the studio. We'll be mingling. Albin and I want to mingle with you. We want to meet you.

We are practicing our mingling skills. We're very excited because we're going to have some kind of big deal guests. I can't share really who, but I will simply say that this is going to be fun. This is going to be amazing. Four days, the third, the fourth, the fifth, and the eighth. And so two weeks from today is the fifth. So we want you to be there. If you can get to New York, if you can't get to New York, you can't be there.

But if you can get to New York, you can be there for all three or four of those dates if you want. As of now, we have the room. As soon as this fills up, it's going to fill up. It's a small, beautiful theater right off Union Square. It's just great. Easy to get to, and we're going to be here. And it's just going to be fun. I can't believe.

part of me can't believe we're really doing this, but we are doing this, and we want you to be there. So you have to sign up at, there's an event bright page. I'm posting it on my social media, but you should get the email from us, I think, today, or we'll send out the link again either over the weekend or Monday. But it's first come first served, August 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 8th. We're going to have musical guests. This is like nuts. It's nuts.

and we have professional joke writers, not like, you know, this stuff. Like professional, one of the writers for Letterman, one of the writers, like, you know, these are big deal people. So it's really, it's just going to be a blast. So we've got to get that information out. Okay, got to say that. Then we also have to say that next week,

we have a couple of special guests on the program next week, and now they went out of my head, probably years too. Yeah, they went out of my head too. Oh, come on. I think it's Doris Day and Frank Sinatra. I'm pretty sure it's Doris Day and Sinatra. Jonathan Kahn's going to be back, and he's got a new movie that's at SalemNow.com. So Jonathan Kahn, who has Harbinger.

Oh, that guy. Jonathan Kahn, that's one of the people. There's somebody else I can't remember now. Jonathan Kahn, Greg Lorry. Aha. Guy remembered. Victor, Victor Davis Hansen. Victor Davis Hansen.

Yep. And now Jonathan Khan, all the films at SalemNow.com, we recommend. One of them is the Michelle Obama 2024 film. We had that guest on. We should replay the interview with him because that was really very, very informative. It's important for us to understand the Marxist leanings of people that we think of, oh, that's a nice person. Well, maybe they seem nice.

but if they want to take the country in a Marxist direction, that's not nice. It's going to hurt people, and we're supposed to care about people. So we recommend you go to Salem Now.com. Also, 2,000 Mules is there. If you haven't seen it, I'm pretty sure you're a Marxist or just a communist. Either one. One of them. 2,000 Mules is there.

But the Harbinger film, this is like the second Harbinger film, right? This is like Son of Harbinger. Yeah, it's both. Actually, he had two books. He put them together in one movie. And he's going to go on with some other things. Could I even ask him? Jonathan.

Yeah. Jonathan. Starring in Son of Harbinger. No, it's the bride of Harbinger. No. Aberdeenostellamee Harbinger. Everybody's a Harbinger. Harbinger the musical.

Anyway, SalemNow.com. Check it out. We should also mention, because it's July, this month only, Nutrametics.com is giving us 30% off if you use the code, Eric. That's my code, but I'm letting you use. use it, Eric is the code, 30% off. I don't know why they chose to do this. They did it for just a few products at the end of last month, and I think they decided to entice you to try their great stuff, because I'm convinced once you've tried their stuff, you understand it is the best. I mean,

they're the king of the nutraceuticals, and basically they give 50% of, I mean, what makes them amazing to me is they give 50% of their profits to missions organizations. So if you take vitamin C, vitamin D, melatonin, zinc, magnesium, all these things for immune system, the stuff that you should be taking every day, why not get it from a company that shares our values, and why not get it during the very month when, if you use the code Eric, you get 30% off, not the normal 20, which is good, but 30? That's pretty good. So we recommend that. And you know who else would like 30% off? Next week in the studio is going to be Dick Morris. What? Yes. Dick Morris? Yes. In the studio.

In the studio? No wonder I did it was in the back of my head. I know. Dick Morris is going to be right here. Here he comes. So next week is so amazing. I would just blow this week off. Just blow off.

Today's Friday, just ignore it and just skip to next week. No, we have, my next guest is Jonathan Isaac. He is actually a very big deal. I don't want to forget also to say that my store.com. Mike Lindell is launching a raft of new products at mystore.com. When you go there, when you go to Mypillow.com, please use the code Eric. But the most exciting new product, it's something I use every day. Can you guess what it is?

I'll give you a hint. It's spelled C-O-F, and I won't say the rest. Can you guess? Cough medicine? I'm going to wait. No, no, that's a good guess. That's a good guess. Thank you.

But cough medicine can make you sleepy. This kind of wakes you up. Oh. So, C-O-F-F-F-E-O-F. An amphetamine cocktail? No, it's coffee. Come on. That was so easy.

So if you go to MyPillow.com, or sorry, if you go to MyStore.com, you can get coffee. And he calls it, of course, he calls it My Coffee. So it's like, yeah, I'll be right with you. Just let me finish my coffee. I got to tell you, I'm excited that if you use the code Eric, you can buy coffee. Yeah. This is, look, folks, Mike Lundell, all of his products are next level, like everything. You know, it's all made in America, blah, blah, blah.

It's great stuff. And you're supporting an American hero. He has been indefatigable. Whatever that means. I don't know what that means. He's been indefatigable and wonderful. And you're also supporting this show if you use the code. Eric, don't use those other codes.

No. If you use the other codes, let me be blunt. It goes right into Nancy Pelosi's purse. right next to her pills. And I want to say we don't want that to happen. We want you to use the code. Eric, help support this program, help support Mike Lindell, Mypillow.com, my store.com.

The fact that he has coffee, I'm just, I'm going to go crazy. We'll be back with Jonathan Isaac, a hero, modern day hero. Stick around. There's a must-see new movie on SalemNow.com called Michelle Obama, 24, her real life story and plan for power. film director Joel Gilbert takes a deep dive into the life of Michelle Obama from Chicago to Princeton to Martha's Vineyard. He says Michelle Obama will run for president in 2024 and base her candidacy on a life story that is more racially divisive and nearly as fictitious as that of her husband, Barack. Check out the stunning new movie on Salem now, Michelle Obama, 2024.

Michelle is following the same formula as Barack to become president of best-selling autobiography, the keynote convention speaker, and a voter registration organization. First Barack and now Michelle Obama want to transform America. Michelle Obama 2024 now playing at SalemNow.com. This new movie has stunning game-changing revelations about Michelle Obama's past. The film director says only the truth can stop her. Michelle Obama, 2024, watch the movie on demand or buy the DVD at SalemNow.com. SalemNow.com Michelle Obama, 2024, check it out. Portions of the Eric Metaxis show are brought to you in part by Michelle Obama 2024 and Salem Now.

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And here he is. My guest, Jonathan Isaac, welcome the program. My man, thank you so much for having me. Glad to be here. Listen, we, so many people have just been so, so proud of you because at times like these, standing up for what you believe in is not a small thing. So I want to know your story. What brought you to that moment? Now, I know you write about it in the book that I have here called Why I Stand. But how does Jonathan Isaac get to be the kind of a person who dares not to kneel when everybody says, oh, you got to kneel? You got to kneel.

What brought you to that point in your life so that you are, you know, starting forward for a huge NBA team and you decide that you're going to take a stand literally? Well, I'm glad that you said that so much of it is in the book. And so it's a pretty long story. a long journey at that. And so I won't be able to go into everything. But what makes it significant is that much of my life growing up and even in college, I was not the person who would have ever dared to stand out in any way at all. I struggled severely with anxiety, fear, self-insurity. When I was the number one player in the state of Florida at Florida State University, I was on anxiety medication to play and to practice. And it wasn't until I started

to develop a relationship with Christ, where I started to find my identity. in him and grow in that way. Okay, so at some point, you got serious about your faith. How old were you when, you know, because a lot of people say, like, oh, I grew up in the church or whatever, but your faith is very important to you. When did that happen for you? So I grew up in the church as well, but it wasn't something for me that was tangible or real. It was just tradition.

It wasn't until I got to the NBA and got to experience everything that I thought I wanted and needed and found it unsufficient. And then through a crazy story of circumstances and God really making himself real to me, I was able to really profess faith in Christ, and so many people are intricate into doing it,

and that's why a book is available. All right, so your faith becomes real to you, and that's usually what it takes to have this courage, or for many people, that if it's one thing to say, you know, I'm a Christian, or I believe in this, or I believe in that,

But to have the courage to stand up when the pressure not to stand up, in this case, literally, to Neil, is just tremendous. So what happened around that time? I mean, when this happened, you know, whatever, a year and a half ago, what were we talking about two years ago? When this happened, what were the events around that? I mean, what were you thinking? How did you hear that, oh, yeah, everybody in the league is saying we've got to do this and I don't want to do this? Right. So it was just a crazy time.

So obviously the tragic George Floyd video breaks. It's all over Twitter. It's all over social media. And everyone is responding to this in anger and resentment and all these different things. And then you hear this Black Lives Matter organization kind of spring to the forefront. And they are the leaders who are going to pioneer us into a better time. And so during that time, we get into what's called an NBA bubble because COVID has shut down the league. And in that time, a lot of the NBA players are talking about.

about making the decision to kneel for the national anthem. And so detailed in the book, we have a team-only meeting to where we have our president, our officials, all in the room. And they say, look, a team kneeled yesterday during the bubble. So, you know, we have a game tomorrow. You guys get to decide whatever you want to do. You guys make the decision. They all leave the room.

And so now it's just me and my teammates. And my teammates are all saying, we don't have a choice. This is easy. Everyone's going to kneel and that's it. And then one of my teammates turned towards me and says, Jonathan, what are you going to do? And I said, fellas, I'm not kneeling and I'm not putting on that t-shirt. And chaos erupts.

Everybody's, oh, my gosh, this thing is going to be crazy. It's going to be awful. But somebody stands up and said, look, everyone do whatever you want to do. And we leave the room. And that night, I'm on the phone with my pastor. And I'm talking to him and saying, look, I'm not going to kneel for the national anthem. And I'm trying to make it clear to him how crazy this is going to be. I'm going to be a coon.

I'm going to be an uncle Tom. I hadn't signed my contract yet. My contract extension was up the next summer. And he said to me, you cannot stand for him. for God and God not stand for you. And so I decided to do it and the next day I stood. Well, I want to ask you, why would you not kneel? I know why I wouldn't kneel if I'm asked to kneel or whatever, because I think, you know, it's wrong on many levels. It's wrong on many, many levels. But in your case, what was your reasoning? Because there are people,

obviously, most of your teammates, teammates and stuff, who, they don't see this clearly. For them, it's very simple. Why was it not simple for you? Why did you say it would be wrong to Neil? Well, it was a few reasons for me. I think first off, I could not divorce the Black Lives Matter slogan from the Black Lives Matter organization. And for me, during the time of all the riots and everything that was going on, the tone of the organization, the rhetoric of the organization, it didn't sit right with me. I thought it was divisive. I thought it was angry. I thought it was a means to get even, and I didn't see that as something that I would want to support, even though I wholeheartedly believe that Black Lives Matter. And then on top of that, racism and all the

things that plague our society, for me in understanding are heart issues. And heart issues don't get solved by an organization, by a political party, by a movement. I couldn't think of a better antidote for the times other than the gospel. The gospel says that we all fall short of God's glory. We've all made mistakes. And if we're going to be the ones throwing stones, we're throwing stones from a glass house. And so I wanted everyone to just see that perspective to humble ourselves. If we could all humble ourselves and love each other the way that God loves us, which is in spite of our sin, in spite of our shortcomings on both sides, then we could have real change. So as people were standing up and saying, this is what I feel is right in the moment, kneeling for the national

anthem and wearing a black, black, black, black, black, matted t-shirt, I wanted to make apparent my individual reasoning to say, you know what, I don't have to go along with your narrative. I don't have to go along with everyone else is saying, I can be an individual in this moment. It was hard for me, you know, when I finally realized that Black Lives Matter, this organization is a cynical Marxist organization. If they actually cared about Black Lives, they wouldn't be doing half of what they're doing, whatever. But everybody, you know, was told, just shut up, just go along with it. And I thought, no, you can't go along with an organization. They're Marxists.

They don't even believe in God. They don't believe in the family. They don't believe in anything that I believe in or that the Bible teaches. So just because, you know, they have kind of commandeered the moment and they're being the loudest voices, I don't think, you know, people should go along with that. But a lot of people in churches around America, a lot of white people in evangelical churches around America, they bought this. They did not do what you did. They did not go along with what I'm saying. They just said, we need to show solidarity with this movement.

And to this day, as we're having this conversation right now, there are tons of. and tons of churches that are essentially woke, or at least they're unwilling to speak out in the way that you are? Well, I think that fear is such a big proponent in this. And, you know, obviously, you know, all of the white people, you know, feeling into themselves some type of guilt in a sense for, you know, what has happened in our nation's past. And because of the moment not wanting to step on any toes or not wanting to appear racist, and everything at that time was deemed as racist, if you didn't put up a black square on

Instagram or if your company didn't come out and say that you disavowed racism, then you were a racist. And so it was just a tough position to be in. But like you said, the organization and so many things that were going on, which is something that I couldn't agree with and couldn't support. And so I think so many people felt that same way, but because of the fear that was being pushed around, you know, didn't go about it the way they should have. So what has been the fallout for you? I mean, that day, you did not kneel, so you're the lone player standing. What happened as a result of that? Well, there was a ton of backlash, of course, you know, as you would expect.

But at the same time, there was so much encouragement. And people who came out and said, wow, I want to be willing to stand because of what this young man did. And that really gave room to the book. What I wanted people to see through the book was that I have a story and I have a journey. And this one courageous moment, if you deem it, that wasn't just this one moment. moment. It really was a journey of getting there. And so I want people to read the story and get to know more about me. But it really is just a story of what a transformative relationship with Christ can be like. And that's what I've experienced in my own life. And actually, the next game after I stood,

I tore my ACL. And so that was a huge... Say it again? Say it again. You do what? The game after I decided to stand. So I stood twice. The next game I stood, I tore my ACL. And so I got I got injured pretty bad. And, you know, there was a ton of negativity and backlash around that. But what it's given me, it gave me time to write the book. And so I wouldn't have a tangible book if I didn't, if I wasn't sidelined. But, you know, I'm looking forward to coming back next season and moving on. And that illustrates Romans 828. All things work together for good for those that love the Lord and are called according to his purposes. Even tearing your, what did you tear? ACL. Your ACL. I mean, that is, that is amazing, right? Because the time when these

bad things happen. You say, Lord, why? What, what, you know, and the idea that you got to write this book is, is fantastic. When we come back, I want to ask you more folks. I'm talking to Jonathan Isaac. He has a new book, Why I Stand. Tell me, Eric, why is Relief Factor so successful at lowering or eliminating pain? I'm often asked that question. The owners of Relief Factor tell me they believe our bodies were designed to heal. That's right, designed to heal. And I agree with them. So the doctors who formulated relief factor for them selected the four best ingredients, yes, 100% drug-free ingredients, each helps your body deal with inflammation. Each of the four ingredients deals with inflammation from a different metabolic pathway. And that right there,

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Folks, welcome back. I'm talking to Jonathan Isaac, author of Why I Stand, NBA Star, who, in my opinion, is most notable for his standing against the crowd when every person. Everybody says, you've got to do this, got to do this. By the way, we're both born in the same city. You're born in the Bronx. I was born in Queens. So we're New Yorkers by birth.

Of course, I'm here now. But you also have an opinion that I think is similar to mine on the vaccines and the mandates. Can you talk about that? Because Rolling Stone magazine lied about what you said. I mean, we're living in such difficult times that we have to stand up to not just pressure, but to people actually lying about us. Yeah, and that was the second thing that kind of brought me to the forefront. And both the standing in the bubble and the vaccine was so much about not wanting to be

pigeonholed to someone's agenda, someone's own narrative and being free to make decisions for yourself and say, this is the way that I feel about this. And so after I left the bubble, I'm rehabbing, you know, my ACL and then, you know, we're getting ready to go into the next season. and there are all of these protocols and things that have to go, you know, during the NBA because of the COVID. And then the vaccine is being developed. And everyone's talking about needing to get the vaccine. There's pressure from the league to get their players vaccinated, pressures from our staff.

And I'm kind of holding out. I'm tailing, you know, everybody else is getting vaccinated. They're asking me, when are you going to get vaccinated? And I'm just like, I don't, I'm not going to get it at this time. Now, before you get into that, I know why I didn't get it. What were you hearing? Because to me, that is pure wisdom. A healthy 20-something-year-old, the idea of getting a vaccine is insane. And everybody's telling you, no, no, no, no, no, you got to get this. It's kind of amazing. The medical establishment is telling you. No, no, no, you got to get this. What had you heard or what brought you to a place where you knew this was not a good idea? Well, I had just paid attention. I paid attention to the 99.97 survival rate. I paid attention to people. not being able to talk about natural immunity, not being able to talk about adverse reactions and

side effects to the vaccine and being completely shut down, being canceled, all these different things. You know, you have the whole Joe Rogan-Ivermectin thing going on. It didn't make me comfortable. And so looking at myself, and I had even spoken extensively to a doctor that I had met on Twitter. He's the UCLA. He was the UCLA ethics professor or something like that. And he was fired because he wouldn't take the vaccine. And so for me, it was saying, look, I'm young, I'm healthy, I'm in the best shape of my life. I don't have any comorbidities. I already had COVID in the past and was fine and recovered. I don't see the wisdom in putting this into my body, possibly having an adverse reaction

and still getting COVID and passing it on later because, you know, it didn't stop infection or transmission. And so I said, you know what, this thing isn't for me. And then the real stick in the road was seeing people's religious and medical, you know, exemptions denied, people losing their jobs. It was like, man, they're not going about this the right way. It doesn't make somebody comfortable to do what they're asking them to do. And I said, you know, I'm going to stand with those people who are losing their jobs and, you know, and fear. Well, it's amazing because that was a, I had very similar thinking in the sense that the way they were going about it. It was, it didn't pass the smell test. I said, if this is safe or if this

is a good idea, why are they being so coercive? And why would you tell a, uh, an otherwise healthy person that they have to get the vaccine. It sounds like something else is going on, which should make you suspicious, you know. And I think that if you have a little courage, you say, yeah, I'm going to, I'm going to wait. I'm not, I'm not sold on this idea. And the more time has passed,

the more I feel justified that it was not a good idea to get it. I mean, every time you turn around, there's like some healthy young person dropping dead or having some problems, and you're thinking, what's going on? And that rolls into the Rolling Stone article that you had mentioned. And so I get a call from our team and they're like, hey, there's this Rolling Stone journalist that's wanting to talk to you about, you know, the vaccine and all that stuff. I'm like, hey, let's talk.

I get on the phone with the guy. And the guy is great. He's, you know, asking me great questions. I'm answering them. He's agreeing with me on the phone, like all these different things. So I hang up like, oh, you know, that went really, really well. And then the article drops, I think, that next day, that the next day night. And it says Jonathan and Isaac came to his, you know, vaccination.

status by studying Donald Trump and watching Donald Trump press conferences and studying black history and my jaw hit the floor. And so I call my pastor on the phone and I'm like, yo, you don't understand how crazy this makes me look. People are going at me on Twitter about, you know, how crazy my position is. And he's like, look, you have Media Day the next day and you'll be able to clear the air. And so I'm able to talk about it, you know, immediate media day the next day. The video goes viral of me talking about it on Media Day. But again, it just reinforced that unease and saying, if this thing is really just about public health, why do that? Why, why misrepresent my position? It just, it's, it's, it reeked of, you know, ideology and wanting your, your side to win in

some way. Well, this is where we are today. It's just pure smearing that they just say, we're just going to use words, right? So maybe they can't call you a racist. They'll figure out what words they can use to make you look like trouble. And so, you know, conspiracy theorists, Trump supporter, whatever word they need to use for their audience just to make you seem like a villain. And when people do that, you know they have no argument. If they have to go there, it's pretty clear that they have no case and that they're just trying to, you know, sell magazines or whatever it is. But it's, it's not surprising that they would do that. But it's, it's added to the confusion. And I just want to say, you know, so many of us are so

proud of you because anybody in the public arena who stands up and does the right thing, it speaks to thousands and millions of people who are looking for wisdom, looking for direction. So you have helped so many people. When we come back, I want to ask you more about your faith and your life. We'll be right back, folks. I'm talking to Jonathan Isaac, author of Why I Stand. Hey there, folks. Eric Mattax is here. As you know, our friend, and he's a real friend, Mike Lindell, has a passion to help everyone get the best sleep of their life. But he didn't stop by simply creating the best pillow. Now Mike has done it again by introducing his my slippers.

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I'm talking to Jonathan Isaac. Yes, I am. There he is. Jonathan Isaac, it's fun talking to you, hearing your story, and the title of your book is Why I Stand. You've just been a heroic figure to so many people, because it's so easy to go with the crowd. You hear this all our lives. Be your own man. Be your own person.

But lately, we have not seen so much of that. And so when we see somebody take a stand literally or metaphorically, it's very, very important. I want to ask you about your story a little bit about growing up. How did you grow up? You grew up partially in New York and then you moved to Florida. Is that right? Yes, sir. I grew up in Bronx, New York, until I was about 10.

And my parents split up. And I went with my mom, my four brothers and sister and left to Naples, Florida. And did you go to church every week? Was that important to your family? Or was that something? How did that develop in your life? Super important. So while we were in New York, my dad is like the,

Holy Ghost Roller. Like we were in church. It felt like every day. We had to memorize whole Psalms to recite in church. It was intense, but it was fun at the same time. But for me growing up, it was more so tradition. It was this is what we did. It wasn't something that was tangible, you know, a real live relationship with Jesus. And so as you're growing up as a teenager, it was, I guess, less important to you. Right. And as I got to Naples, Florida, my mom would still have us to go to church from time to time, but it wasn't as drilled or as strict as it wasn't we with my dad in New York. And I also had found basketball. And so finding basketball kind of stole my attention and I really started to shape my identity and who I was by the basketball player I was on top of wanting to

experience everything that the world had to offer. And when did you hit 6'11? How old were you at that time? I hit 6'11 really late in my high school. I said I was 6'10, probably my C.10, probably my C. senior year of high school, probably getting to, I probably wasn't 6-11 until I got to the league. The only reason I ask is because I have not hit it yet, and I just want to, you know, I want to know what I have to look forward to. You know what I'm saying? You're on your way. So, all right, so you, um, basketball becomes, you know, like your God, I guess, in a way. For a lot of people that, you know, you get consumed with something, and it's not like you're worshipping the devil, you just get, you're distracted and you're consumed

by something else and it sort of pulls you away. So what was it, uh, that, uh, that, you're, made you get serious about God. How did that work for you? It was honestly his love. And so much of the story is about the love of Christ, how unconditional it is. And as we look at these, the Black Lives Matter situation and the struggle between white and black and all these different things that we look at, the unconditional love of Christ that has been shown to us that we could show to someone else is going to be the thing that is going to help change the world that we live in. And so for me, growing up, leaving from Bronx, New York to Naples, Florida, I went from an all-black community to an all-white community, and I really, really struggled. I tried my best to fit in as much as I could. My nickname was Ethiopia, and I had some troubling experiences that I detailed in the book when I was young, and it really developed an anxiety in me and a fear of rejection and not being loved.

And finding basketball was the thing that helped kind of mask that for a time because as I started to play basketball and get good, the girls started to like me, the guys wanted to hang out. And so I started to develop these friends that I had only through basketball. And so I started to see my identity and my worth only through what I could do on the basketball court. And that was troublesome because whenever I would do good, I was on top of the world. Whenever I would play bad, the house of cards fell. And so for me, when it comes to Christ, it was developing a relationship with Christ. And the story details a man, Dr. Hepburn, he's my pastor now, but really coming into my life and teaching me what the love of God was like where I could finally relax. I didn't have to work for love. I didn't have to make a shot for somebody to say that they loved me or cared about me. God loves me for me because he created me. And so in developing my relationship with him, I found my identity in him, my confidence in him, my sense of self and assurity in his word. And that's what has helped me to go on and do some of the things that I've done. Well, it's so amazing because, you know, not everybody becomes a basketball star.

For example, I did not. But everybody has the same issue of we want love. We're made to desire love. And we think we can get it by performance or something. And if, you know, if you're lucky, if you're blessed, you realize pretty quickly, no, it doesn't work that way. that I'm unconditionally loved by God. He does not want me to strive for approval. He doesn't want me to.

So it's interesting how, you know, you learn that lesson and you come to faith in Jesus. But because of this thing that you've been through more recently, you know who you are. You know whose approval you're looking for. He already loves you. And it changes things. Because I really do think that a lot of the woke madness

comes from people looking for approval. They want everyone to like them, and this seems to be the safest path. I definitely agree with you, and even just for me and finding my identity, and it's still a process. It's not something that I'm completely 100% there, but I'm still working on it.

But I definitely have a sense of self and a sense of, I'm not doing this for me. One of the things that I was praying while I was standing there in the bubble was, God, don't let this be about me. Let this be about you, purify my motive. is because I know that if I'm standing on his word and I'm making this about him, then I can't

fail in it. And that's the same thing that my pastor said to me the night before. And so I definitely agree with you. Tell me what your pastor said, because that was a beautiful quote. He said, you cannot stand for God and God not stand for you. I mean, I'm sure I'm not the first person to mention it, but in the movie Characirates of Fire, you hear that story about, you know, him who he who honors God, God will honor him. And this was an aspect. athlete at a similar moment in 1924 and the Olympics, you know, and the whole world is pushing, pushing, pushing. And he decides, no, I'm going to stand where God wants me to stand. And by the way, let's be honest, you're a fool not to do that because God is God. And but it's so beautiful that

you have a pastor that was able to communicate that to you and that you were able to do that. And I just have to imagine that so many people have come up to you in the time since and said what an encouragement you've been. How many people probably are affected by what you did? Yeah, absolutely. And so many people and what I loved about it is it's not even so much about me saying what I did was the right thing to do. Even though I believe it or you may believe it, it was the fact that I decided to choose an option that wasn't made available to me. The only way to support Black Lives in that moment was to kneel and wear a T-shirt. but that's not the only way to support black lives.

And my life has been supported by the gospel. So many black lives have been supported by the gospel. And in that moment, both white and black people could have went about supporting black lives in a different way and have still been valid. And so what I did was make a decision to choose my option and what was right for me. And that's what so many people appreciated. I'm just so grateful for you, Jonathan, Isaac. God bless you, young man.

Ladies and gentlemen, the book is Why I Stand. Thank you so much, Jonathan. Thank you so much for having me, my minute. Okay, it's your last chance to sign up, folks. We're not kidding. August 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 8th. We are taping the talk show. The talk show.

A late-night talk show starring Eric Metaxus. I will be playing the role of Eric Metaxus, which you would expect. I've been training for it most of my life. We're going to have some big-name guests. I can't announce them for some reason, but I'm just telling you it's very exciting. And if you want to be part of the studio audience in New York, August 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 8th, we would love you to be there.

But it's first come first serve. Once it's filled up, that's that. So if you know anybody in the New York area who wants to come, if you want to fly in or come in for a few days or I don't know, we would love to have you. I will mingle with the crowd. We'll have a chance to meet and greet and hang out. And I know we've got, we do have friends flying in from all kinds of places like Colorado Springs.

And I can't mention their names. But we've got some friends coming in. Yeah. And it's exciting. And who knows who the guests will be? I know some of them, but I can't really, I can't say it yet. Maybe I will be able to eventually. But August 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 8th, we want you, our friends to be in the audience.

We want to hang out. It's going to be fun. Yeah, fun times. And I want to just remind. you that if you're not signed up for erikmetaxis.com, you don't know how to do this. So I'm just letting you know that you have to sign up for erikmetaxis.com. Otherwise, you're not going to get the email, and then it's not even possible. But this is, I'm telling you.

There's a link to the newsletter. You sign up right there and you get it. Ericmetaxis.com. But I promise you, this is going to be a lot of fun for a lot of people, and we want you to be some of those people. So please look into that. Soon, speaking of good times, How about that, Mike Lindell?

Oh, yeah? He has done it again. He's created a coffee. I don't believe he could claim to have invented coffee. I believe that was, I'm pretty sure that was Leonardo da Vinci who invented coffee. But Mike Lindell has created its own brand of coffee. It's called My Coffee. Yeah.

Not your coffee. My. Hey, hey, let me at least finish my coffee. My coffee is available at my store.com. There's all kinds of new stuff available at my store.com. But listen, if you're going to drink coffee, and I drink a lot of coffee, you might as well get it from people who are kind of on our team. Okay?

Mike Lindell, I've got to support the team. And quoting David Puddy from Seinfeld, you've got to support the team. And if you want to support the team, go to my store.com, get my coffee. You can get anything there. You can get most of my books are available there. The Bonhofer posters. But you have to use the code Eric because you've got to support the team. And my store.com has new products, but we're specifically letting you know that.

Most people drink coffee. And if Mike Lindell raves about it, I'll bet you it's great coffee. But I haven't ordered it yet because we just found out about it, right? So we're going to get my coffee. And remember, it's my coffee. When you get it, it's your coffee, but then you say my coffee. So go to my store.com, check it out. We should also tell you this month only Nutrimetics 30% off if you use the code, Eric,

only this month, folks. 30% off, take advantage. It's not going to be that in August. I promise you, this is like, it's a big deal. 30% is a big deal. So use code Eric. And then we want to remind you to go to SalemNow.com. Yeah, go to SalemNow.com.

There's a whole bunch of stuff there. There's the movie on Michelle Obama, 2024. We need to know what she's up to. 2,000 mules. Obviously, if you haven't seen that, I'm pretty sure you're a couple of communist. Jonathan Conn has a Harbinger film, so that's SalemNow.com. And finally, let me say, for those

of you who've offered up prayers for my dad, I want to say thank you. He's back home. He's doing well. I will see him this weekend. Anytime I'm around, obviously I go up there. But I just appreciate it. He's 95, and you know, when you're 95, things get tough.

And so, but what a blessing that I have him at 95. So I want to say thank you to all of you from the bottom of my heart. And we'll See you later.