Skip to content Finding Your Voice: How A Biomedical Scientist Became One of the Leading Conservative Voices & Digital Missionaries for Gen Z with Renowned Content Creator, Live-Streamer, & Best-Selling Author, Isabel Brown, Ep. 200 Mar 18 · 54 min ...more
Finding Your Voice: How A Biomedical Scientist Became One of the Leading Conservative Voices & Digital Missionaries for Gen Z with Renowned Content Creator, Live-Streamer, & Best-Selling Author, Isabel Brown, Ep. 200
March 18, 2025 · 54 min
In a day and age where social media has quickly become an untapped mission field, we need more people who are bold and courageous to step up, speak up, and stand on biblical truth. Thankfully, that is exactly what our very special guest today, Isabel Brown, does on a daily basis. Isabel Brown is a full-time independent creator, livestreamer, and author giving a voice to Generation Z by breaking down culture’s most important topics to thousands of viewers in a real-time, authentic format. Isabel’s streams and other content reach millions of people around the world daily, covering everything from politics to dating, faith, and the latest internet trend. She published her first book, Frontlines: Finding My Voice on an American College Campus, in 2021, sharing her encounter with radical leftism from the heart of America’s university experience. Her new book, The End of the Alphabet: How Gen Z Can Save America, makes a compelling case for why Generation Z may be the last hope to save Western civilization from the upside-down Left, and why we shouldn’t write them off just yet. Isabel speaks regularly on high school and college campuses and to activism organizations worldwide. She is a Contributor with Turning Point USA, and has previously worked and collaborated with The Daily Wire, PragerU, Students for Life of America, and Live Action. You may recognize her from the cover of Newsweek magazine or her regular appearances on national and international television and radio representing the voice of Generation Z! Ultimately, Isabel is a women who has her finger on the pulse of culture and society today and I believe you will be encouraged by the work God is continuing to do in and through her life. Follow Isabel on social media: https://www.instagram.com/theisabelbrown/reels/?hl=en Pick up a copy of Isabel’s Books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B08W4WRKPQ Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.
Series The Built Different Podcast with Zach Clinton March 18, 2025 · 54 min · The Built Different Podcast with Zach Clinton
In a day and age where social media has quickly become an untapped mission field, we need more people who are bold and courageous to step up, speak up, and stand on biblical truth. Thankfully, that is exactly what our very special guest today, Isabel Brown, does on a daily basis. Isabel Brown is a full-time independent creator, livestreamer, and author giving a voice to Generation Z by breaking down culture’s most important topics to thousands of viewers in a real-time, authentic format. Isabel’s streams and other content reach millions of people around the world daily, covering everything from politics to dating, faith, and the latest internet trend. She published her first book, Frontlines: Finding My Voice on an American College Campus, in 2021, sharing her encounter with radical leftism from the heart of America’s university experience. Her new book, The End of the Alphabet: How Gen Z Can Save America, makes a compelling case for why Generation Z may be the last hope to save Western civilization from the upside-down Left, and why we shouldn’t write them off just yet. Isabel speaks regularly on high school and college campuses and to activism organizations worldwide. She is a Contributor with Turning Point USA, and has previously worked and collaborated with The Daily Wire, PragerU, Students for Life of America, and Live Action. You may recognize her from the cover of Newsweek magazine or her regular appearances on national and international television and radio representing the voice of Generation Z! Ultimately, Isabel is a women who has her finger on the pulse of culture and society today and I believe you will be encouraged by the work God is continuing to do in and through her life. Follow Isabel on social media: https://www.instagram.com/theisabelbrown/reels/?hl=en Pick up a copy of Isabel’s Books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B08W4WRKPQ Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us. ...more Show the full description Show less In a day and age where social media has quickly become an untapped mission field, we need more people who are bold and courageous to step up, speak up, and stand on biblical truth. Thankfully, that is exactly what our very special guest today, Isabel Brown, does on a daily basis. Isabel Brown is a full-time independent creator, livestreamer, and author giving a voice to Generation Z by breaking down culture’s most important topics to thousands of viewers in a real-time, authentic format. Isabel’s streams and other content reach millions of people around the world daily, covering everything from politics to dating, faith, and the latest internet trend. She published her first book, Frontlines: Finding My Voice on an American College Campus, in 2021, sharing her encounter with radical leftism from the heart of America’s university experience. Her new book, The End of the Alphabet: How Gen Z Can Save America, makes a compelling case for why Generation Z may be the last hope to save Western civilization from the upside-down Left, and why we shouldn’t write them off just yet. Isabel speaks regularly on high school and college campuses and to activism organizations worldwide. She is a Contributor with Turning Point USA, and has previously worked and collaborated with The Daily Wire, PragerU, Students for Life of America, and Live Action. You may recognize her from the cover of Newsweek magazine or her regular appearances on national and international television and radio representing the voice of Generation Z! Ultimately, Isabel is a women who has her finger on the pulse of culture and society today and I believe you will be encouraged by the work God is continuing to do in and through her life. Follow Isabel on social media: https://www.instagram.com/theisabelbrown/reels/?hl=en Pick up a copy of Isabel’s Books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B08W4WRKPQ Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.
Series The Built Different Podcast with Zach Clinton
168K followers
M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, doctoral student in Clinical Psychology. Host of ‘The Built Different Podcast’ with guests like Kirk Cousins, Albert
168K followers
Up next Autoplay More from Zach Clinton Dr. Caroline Leaf: Managing the Mind - How to Overcome Overthinking & Reclaim Your Peace, Ep. 327 Zach Clinton
Dr. Lee Warren: How to Renew Your Mind & Rewire Your Brain - The Neuroscience of Healing, Breaking Negative Thought Patterns, & Finding Hope Again, Ep. 326 Zach Clinton
Rodney Holmstrom: Breaking the Chains of Addiction - Shifting Your Dependency, Finding Freedom in Christ, & Celebrating Recovery, Ep. 325 Zach Clinton
Dr. Monty Burks: Fighting Addiction - Moving From a Pill Culture to a Purpose Culture, Ep. 324 Zach Clinton
Ryan Miller: MEEK AS A MUSTANG - Finding the Strength to Surrender Your Wild Heart to Jesus, Ep. 323 Zach Clinton
John Cooper: HURT BY THE CHURCH, HELD BY CHRIST - Deep Suffering, Deconstruction, & Discovering the Sweetness of Christ After the Storm, Ep. 322 Zach Clinton
Baily Hager: Don’t Give Up, It Gets Better - Trusting the Comforter Through the Process of Healing, Ep. 321 Zach Clinton
Ian Simkins: Every Table An Altar - How Presence, Community, & Hospitality Can Heal a Divided, Distracted, & Lonely World, Ep. 320 Zach Clinton
Denny Thompson: Stop Playing it Safe - The Privilege of Failure, the Risk of Never Taking the Risk, & Why the Best Life Rarely Goes According to Plan, Ep. 319 Zach Clinton
Sheila Walsh: The Cost of Pretending You’re Okay - Buried Emotions, Depression, Mental Health & the Courage to Heal, Ep. 318 Zach Clinton
Mike Jarvis: Dreams Don’t Quit, People Do - Perspective, Patience, Perseverance & the Power Forged Through Waiting, Ep. 317 Zach Clinton
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
0:02 Life audio. Build Different is a production of the American Association of Christian Counselors. To support this podcast and learn how you can help us to promote all our biblical content, spread the gospel, gospel, and0:12 provide mental health resources and training to people everywhere, just go to a a c c foundation dot o r g. Again, that's a a c c foundation dot org.0:24 Have you ever felt like you're behind in life? Like you should be further along or that things don't turn out the way that you hoped? Tanner Olsen's new book, Getting Through What You're Going Through, is a reminder that0:35 you're not behind. You're right where you're meant to be. This heartfelt collection of over 100 poems and reflections invites you to slow down, breathe, and find hope in life's0:47 ordinary moments, a warm cup of coffee, a walk with a friend, even a simple pancake. Tanner reminds us that God is present in both the highs and the lows and that hope is0:59 always within reach. Preorder your copy of Getting Through What You're Going Through Wherever Books Are Sold.1:09 Want to keep God's word with you wherever you go? The King James Bible Study KJV app by Salem Media makes it easy to read, study, share, and pray daily with the timeless KJV translation. Enjoy features like offline1:20 access, audio Bible listening, smart search, and tools to highlight bookmark and take notes, all designed to keep your bible study simple and organized. Best of all, it's free to download in the Google Play Store. Grow1:30 in your faith every day. Search for King James bible study KJV and download the app today.1:41
1:52 friendly podcast for a new generation. At Built Different, our mission is to provide encouragement, hope, and challenge to help push you past your limits and reach goals you never thought possible. Colossians 2 verse 6
2:02 says, so then just as you received Christ Jesus as lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him. Amen? Now let's roll.
2:11 What's going on everybody? And welcome back in to this week's edition of the Build Different Podcast. I hope and pray each and every 1 of you had a blessed
2:23 weekend and having a great start to your weekend. As always, I hope that this conversation today would just be a dose of hope, encouragement, and motivation for your life, but also for those that you love. As
2:34 always, I'll be your cohost today alongside of my dear friend, mister Joshua Broome. And let me tell you something. We cannot wait to release today's conversation because just a couple of weeks ago, we were joined by a
2:44 very special guest by the name of miss Isabelle Brown. Isabelle is a full time independent creator, live streamer, and author, giving a voice to generation z by breaking down culture's most important
2:56 topics to thousands of viewers in a real time authentic format. Isabelle streams and other content reach millions of people around the world daily, covering everything from politics to dating to faith into the latest
3:08 Internet trends. She published her first book, Frontlines, finding my voice on an American college campus in 20 21, sharing her encounter with radical leftism from the heart of America's university experience.
3:19 Now her newest book, the end of the alphabet, how gen z can save America, makes a compelling case for why gen z may be the last hope to save western civilization from the upside down left and why we shouldn't write
3:31 them off just yet. Isabel speaks regularly on high school and college campuses and the activism organizations worldwide. She's a contributor with Turning Point USA and has previously worked and collaborated with the
3:42 Daily Wire, PragerU, Students for Life of America, and live action. You may even recognize her from the cover of Newsweek magazine or her regular appearances on national and international television and radio,
3:53 representing the voice again of generation z. Now today, she lives with her husband in the heart of Washington DC. And let me tell you something, God is doing an incredible work in and through her life. I saw recently
4:03 she collabed on an Instagram Reel with president Donald j Trump. She's done so much incredible work with the White House, and she's just someone who has her fingerprint on the pulse of culture and
4:15 society today. And I believe that she's a leading voice for conservatism, especially within our next generation. My friends, you're going to love her. She's bold. She's courageous. She's fiery. She is
4:27 someone who is on fire for Jesus, and she wants to do nothing more than to stand on truth and to share the good news of the gospel. With that being said, let's join the conversation now again with my cohost Joshua Broome
4:38 and our special guest today, miss Isabelle Brown. Isabelle, our friend Josh and I have been looking forward to this conversation for quite some time. Thank you so much for joining us.
4:47 I am so excited to be here. Thank you guys so much for having me.
4:51 Yeah. I was I was
4:52 just gonna say, man, I remember it was like 3, 4 years. Who knows? But you invited me to be on your podcast and I flew out to Phoenix and, you introduced me
5:04 to, like, 2 people and it kinda flipped my world upside down. So you gotta have, you know, your our friendship is the the catalyst for a lot of the things that, you know, God's moving and he does what he
5:15 does. But I I just appreciate you so so much, that you've had my back and you've introduced me and I've walked into rooms because of you, because of, the equity that you have and the trust that you have
5:27 in me. So I just appreciate you so so much.
5:30 Well, and vice versa, obviously. Josh, it has been such a privilege to see the impact that you're having in our society right now. And I really think culturally, we are in the midst of potentially the greatest cultural
5:42 revolution in modern history across the Western world. A huge part of that being a return to traditional values and what people are looking for that's going to bring them happiness and satisfaction and fulfillment out of
5:54 their life. And you are 1 of the leading voices leading the charge on that. So thank you for the work that you're doing.
5:59 Oh, thank you so much. And man, was telling him, it's like you you've had a you've had a wild year. You know, I don't wanna steal any of thunder but I mean, like all the things like you've you know, married,
6:11 pregnant, like all like all these amazing things going on in your life. You know, doing collabs with president Trump Come on. The White House. That's cool. So much expect
6:22 that to happen, by the way. When I got invited to go to that event, it was so exciting. It was basically their first event that they were inviting influencers to. And spoiler alert, we moved to Washington DC. I
6:33 remembered the other day I told people we were moving out of Florida, and I never told people where we were moving. So we're gonna be posting that this week. But we moved Washington DC. I got a call from some of my
6:45 friends who work on the White House comms team. And they said, hey, we're doing this bill signing. I know you've been or executive order signing. I know you've been really outspoken about men and women's sports. That's
6:54 what the topic is. How about you come in? We'll film some stuff. It'll be really fun. So I filmed for maybe 30 seconds in the blue room there in the White House, and they said, yeah. We don't really even know what we're
7:05 gonna use yet, but thank you so much. This was great. And the next day, I had an invitation twice to collaborate on Instagram with the White House account and with the president of the United States on Instagram, which
7:15 was
7:16 Come on.
7:16 Mind blowing and totally But I think really signals a total shift in our country how people are going to be getting information and news. And it's really exciting to be at the forefront of that here, boots on the
7:28 ground in our nation's capital.
7:30 Man. And I think like just just to kinda that's a a great segue to what I wanted to ask because like, you know, you've got this education in, you know, biomedical engineering and it looked like life was
7:42 going, 1 way that was very definitive. And then all of a sudden, you end up doing what you're doing now. So I I would just love, would you bring some context to that? Just your background and,
7:54 kinda how you shifted into some of the stuff you're doing now.
7:57 Absolutely. I used to tell this story a lot more often at the beginning of my content creator career. And in the last year, God has taken our platform to heights that we could have never anticipated. So it's always fun
8:08 for me to now retell it because so many people have no idea this is my background and my story. But I never ever ever dreamed of working in politics or media or certainly as an influencer.
8:20 I hate that word. I try to stay away from it and say content creator instead. But my dream was really to be physician. My, educational background is, as you mentioned, in the biomedical sciences.
8:32 I went to Colorado State University in my home state of Colorado for undergrad, thinking it would be a pretty friendly place for my Christian values and my generally conservative values as the big
8:44 cowboy school in the state that I grew up in with a huge agriculture program and typically was regarded as a little bit friendlier of a place for people like me compared to CU Boulder down the road, for example.
8:56 Mhmm. And was just hit with an absolute truck in my sophomore year of my college experience when president Donald Trump was running for president for the first time. And we really became
9:08 1 of the leading campuses for DEI, for really insane woke initiatives, for ethnic studies and gender studies departments. And even in my classes where you would
9:20 think I was pretty isolated from some of the propaganda happening in the heart of America's universities, I mean, I wasn't taking gender studies or ethnic studies classes. I wasn't a poly sci major. I wasn't in a
9:32 lot of the general education requirements that you would expect this stuff. I was taking, you know, biochem and human gross anatomy and physiology. And yet even in those classes was constantly
9:43 confronting my professor's political opinions far more than science which is supposed to be about the pursuit of objective truth and not this very bizarre almost
9:55 religious fanaticism Mhmm. For Marxist leftism that I was constantly confronting even in my classes, which was really shocking. I think most people aren't surprised to hear that I
10:07 have never been 1 to just sit down and shut up when my values have not been represented. So I decided to get involved in campus
10:18 activism, which is how this whole journey started for me. And that looks like a ton of different things. I was a part of our student government in a pretty high ranked position, so constantly meeting with the
10:28 administration there at CSU. I started a Turning Point USA chapter, which is essentially a club for conservative students and right of center students on college campuses to talk about free speech and free markets.
10:40 We invited speakers like Charlie Kirk and Candace Owens and Dennis Prager to come speak to our student body and almost instantaneously was labeled as public enemy number 1 Yep. On my campus of about
10:52 33000 students. People would put up flyers of pictures of my face all over campus as that girl you had to go confront about the truth behind all this crazy stuff going on. I got tons
11:04 of death threats and threats of violence against me and became very good friends with the campus police department along the way who kept me safe throughout my educational journey.
11:13 Wow.
11:13 But unlike what I expected, which is that that would deter me and want to push me further into the path that I had originally chosen for myself, traditional sciences, I got really energized by this
11:25 division because I could see beneath the surface, and I could see underneath all of the yelling and screaming and loudness that people were really craving just an honest conversation about values. We
11:37 had removed politics and religion from our national conversation, and then we were dropping 18 year olds off by entire generations for the last several decades to college campuses on their first day
11:48 expecting that they were going to learn from the experts. But instead were constantly being confronted with this barrage of propaganda. So I ended up going to graduate school in Washington DC after a few
12:00 internships in politics. I worked for the US senate in college, and I interned for the Trump White House last time in 2018, which was an amazing experience. And I thought maybe I could blend the policy
12:12 side of things and this new world of politics with my roots in science. So I studied biomedical sciences policy and advocacy at Georgetown University. By then, I had started posting on social media
12:24 totally randomly just knowing that activism was probably going to become a lot more digital as I continued graduating from my educational studies and the world became more digital in the era of
12:35 COVID. And fast forward now about 5 years, I started doing that in the spring of 2019. 5 years later, we have an amazing global platform where we reach
12:46 about 50000000 people every single month on Instagram alone, which is mind blowingly crazy to me.
12:54 Wow.
12:54 I have a podcast where we talk about cultural and political issues impacting young people. I still use my science a whole lot. I just have to use it mostly to remind people what a woman is in
13:05 2024. But I have just fallen in love with really what science was so attractive to me about way back when. And it's that pursuit of objective truth. We just get to do it across the board in
13:17 so many different ways now.
13:18 Yeah. You know, Isabel, something that I find fascinating about you is you are somebody that has your kind of your fingerprint on the pulse of culture and society today. And like you said, you're fighting for the
13:29 absolute standard of truth. Not this postmodernistic, relativistic, my truth versus your truth type of thing. But I mean, you're standing up for these rights. And 1 thing that I live in this mental health space a lot,
13:41 and we've seen it time and time again, you know, our our teenage girls especially, 57 percent, you know, in that CDC report in 20 21, seriously struggling with depression like symptoms, 30 percent seriously contemplating
13:53 suicide. There's a lot going on. You bring up though that you live in this world of technology. I would say that, you know, that has exacerbated some of the mental health challenges when it comes to comparison stuff. But
14:03 what I love about you is you're producing content that is around the truth. That when people come across it, it's pushing them closer toward the heart of God, toward those values that our country was really built
14:15 upon. What are some of the things and how do you fight for truth when it feels like all hell and all culture is running against that?
14:22 Fantastic question. And 1 that's becoming even more important in the era of biased media that we continue to peer behind the curtain around since really 2020, I think, was a huge gross awakening
14:34 for Americans across the board and really the western world at large. Social media is easily the biggest tool that we have to bring truth back to the forefront of our culture and society again. And I think
14:46 a lot of people are uncomfortable when I say that, and there's a lot of backlash to that ideology because social media is constantly labeled as a place of negativity, of division, of clickbait, of
14:57 propaganda. Heck, anything on social media by legacy trusted media outlets is often labeled as misinformation. Right. Not just here in the United States, but around the world. And I've actually found
15:09 the opposite to be true. Of course, there are very divisive and angry and vitriolic posts on social media just like there are news segments on TV or radio sections,
15:21 on radio waves or print media as well. But more than anything, social media is just a tool. It's a tool that can be used for really, really good altruistic purposes, or it's a tool that can be used for nefarious
15:32 divisive purposes. But it's without a doubt in my mind that it is because of social media and largely the rise of TikTok and really authentic personable content that we are watching
15:44 this cultural revolution and truly a spiritual revival Yes. Happen in our country and society. There is so much amazing, great, rooted in truth, God
15:56 oriented content because of platforms like Instagram and TikTok and YouTube that's reaching really unexpected audiences where no 1 else in culture is talking about that. And really over the last several
16:08 decades, we've seen a total takeover, a hostile takeover in many ways of almost every other cultural pillar and institution in our society. Academia, our university
16:20 systems, the k through 12 education system, the family unit, the church, the education or the entertainment industry, politics, legacy media, how we get the news, and everything in between has
16:31 really been taken over with this darkness that's very difficult for us to confront. But in the last 5 to 10 years, you've watched young people realize they have an avenue for virality
16:43 and to reach other people by the tens of millions directly through a single tweet, a single Instagram reel, a single TikTok reaction video that all of a sudden can bring light back
16:55 into the darkness. And as a result, you're watching our society correct itself in real time. I mean, bible studies are up 22 or bible sales, excuse me, are up 22 percent in the last year in America.
17:07 You're watching mass baptism events happen on college campuses. There are more conversions for new believers into Christianity than at any other time in modern history right now. And it's this
17:18 craving for something different in our very broken society that only has a megaphone on social media. So we try to tap into that with all of our content. That doesn't mean we don't talk about
17:30 angry, divisive, crazy Yeah. Clickbait issues every once in a while, But we always try to give it a positive spin and make sure we're rooted in the truth every day.
17:38 I'm gonna stop this right there and jump in to say, you're listening to Built Different. I'm Zach Clinton. We need to break for a brief message from our sponsors. I'll be back with our guests to keep the conversation
17:47 flowing right after this. You're listening to Life Audio.
17:52 Have you ever felt like you're behind in life? Like, you should be further along or that things don't turn out the way that you hoped? Tanner Olsen's new book, Getting Through What You're Going Through, is a reminder
18:03 that you're not behind. You're right where you're meant to be. This heartfelt collection of over 100 poems and reflections invites you to slow down, breathe, and find hope in
18:15 life's ordinary moments. A warm cup of coffee, a walk with a friend, even a simple pancake. Tanner reminds us that God is present in both the highs and the lows and that hope
18:27 is always within reach. Preorder your copy of Getting Through What You're Going Through Wherever Books Are Sold.
18:37 Looking for a simple way to stay rooted in God's word every day? The daily devotion app by Salem Media gives you morning and evening devotionals designed to encourage, inspire, and keep you connected with
18:49 scripture. Plus, you'll enjoy daily bible trivia and humor, a fun way to learn and share a smile while growing in your faith. Get the Daily Bible Devotion app for free on both iOS and Android. Start and
19:00 end your day with God's word. Search for the Daily Bible Devotion app in the App Store or Google Play Store and download it today.
19:09 Yeah. I mean, I I I
19:11 think about, Colossians 4 where Paul's in prison, for preaching the gospel but praying for opportunities to preach the gospel and, but he's talking about, hey, I want to walk in wisdom towards
19:22 outsiders. I want to be aware of what's happening in culture so that I can speak clearly and my speech can be effective. And I think, what you do an incredible job of is you don't, refrain
19:34 from speaking about things that could be perceived as controversial, but you do it in a way that is absolutely true and you inject that truth that comes from you, as a
19:46 follower of Jesus and just like you being authentic and genuine. I would say to someone that is wrestling with, you know, I in my opinion, I think that,
19:58 you know, social media in general is the biggest mission field that's out there because look how many people are there. And if there's a mission field, God is gonna send missionaries. So we there's an objective
20:10 that we have as followers of Jesus to to go where people are. So I would say to do that with the the grace that you have where you're unapologetic but yet, you know, you're always gonna
20:22 see divisiveness in the comments and stuff like that. But I think you just really have a grace on your life where you do that in a way that doesn't feel abrasive. So you almost like, some there's times where people are
20:33 fighting with me in
20:34 your comments because of something that I said. And I was just saying, hey, what you said
20:38 was great. You're like, hey,
20:39 you don't belong here,
20:40 you know.
20:41 Get out of here, Josh.
20:43 But, I would just say, what advice would you have to someone that wanted that wants to speak truth in that way? And what is some of the the ways in which you like pay just pray and ponder before you
20:55 engage in that content.
20:56 It's good.
20:57 Oh, I love that. And I do see your fights in my comments section every day, Josh. It's wild. I try to come to your rescue whenever I have a few minutes, but, gosh, people really do just say whatever they
21:08 possibly can when they are hiding behind a screen. Digital I think that's 1 of the biggest things that I try to remember going into working on a screen and on social media every single day is that these people don't
21:19 really know you. In many ways, they do, and I'm very authentic, and I share a whole lot of my personal life with my community online. Much to my mom's chagrin every once in a while, she's like, maybe you
21:31 should withhold some of that and keep it a little closer to your chest. But I'm a I'm a true believer in what you see is what you get, and that true full sense of authenticity as a content creator. So we'll keep charging
21:43 ahead. But I try to remind myself when I get the negative comments or the really crazy wild DMs that occasionally I'll get from people, mostly centered around the pro life
21:55 issue. Those are always the worst comments, the worst messages, the worst DMs, that I get from random people who have no idea who I really am and have certainly never met me, know nothing about my
22:06 character. The other day, I was posting about my pregnancy, and 1 of these crazy pro abortion activists DM'd me that they were hoping I would have a miscarriage. And I think people are really shocked when
22:18 I say stuff like that, but I get messages like that all the time. Almost all of my friends in the pro life movement do as well. So it's hard and it's painful. And I think I try to take the same attitude that I had in
22:30 college as a student activist into this experience now professionally on social media to remind myself, these people don't really know you. So they're not actually trying to implicate you in
22:42 what they're saying. They're just very, very broken people themselves.
22:46 Right.
22:46 And it's much easier to hide behind a screen and say these things, than to say that to someone's face. But beyond that, I think more than anything, I fight for a lot of secular political issues. I fight in the culture
22:58 war that we talk a lot about. But ultimately, if I believe that my job every day is to get up and tell people the truth, that's not always going to be received very well because truth has a name and that
23:10 name is Jesus Christ. Mhmm. And we as missionaries on social media, on our college campuses, or anywhere else in culture called to tell the truth are called to spread the gospel. Yeah. And I think we have forgotten
23:21 in our postmodern culture that that's not supposed to be warm and fuzzy and easy and constantly feeling like you have a sense of belonging. For a long time, it was very normal
23:33 to be a Christian in America. Everybody went to church together on Sunday. Everybody watched football and ate chicken on Sunday afternoons after church together. You had this sense of fellowship with youth group once a
23:45 week where you would go to your parish and all of your friends were a part of that. And all of a sudden, very, very quickly, things began to change in the last 2 decades or so where that's not normal anymore. Yeah. But
23:56 in reality, that's what we were supposed to expect as Christians is this sense of backlash and persecution. Jesus Christ reminded us over and over and over again promising us, you will be
24:07 hated by this world. You will be rejected by this world. You will be persecuted by this world, but you are blessed when that happens because ultimately, you're doing what I called you to do to bring the truth to a world
24:19 that's rejecting that very concept of truth. So truly, when I see the crazy comments or the wild DMs or whatever, when people find my email address and try to find my family or do all kinds of crazy
24:30 stuff. I usually wear this like a badge of honor because ultimately, it's a sign that I'm walking in the right direction. I'm not seeking the adoration and the praise and the millions of followers from this world. I'm
24:41 doing whatever I can to try to make this world a little bit more like the next 1. And I think if everybody walked into those controversial online conversations with that type of attitude, a, it wouldn't hurt our feelings
24:53 quite as much Yes. When we got that negative feedback or that backlash. But b, it's also a really great signal post as we're having these conversations to know, am I appealing to the
25:05 demands of this world or am I rooted in godly truth?
25:09 Yeah. Because there's a correlation between truth and love. Right? God's word even says that we are called to speak the truth in love. But I think sometimes what we can begin to do is weaponize that term love. Like, if
25:21 you don't agree with me, then you're not being loving. Right? And so we begin then to debate the individual rather than the idea or the belief at hand. And so for you, I'm even thinking of somebody in our audience today
25:32 who's watching or listening, Isabelle, who is like a people pleaser. They wanna, you know, be comfortable. They wanna be convenient. They wanna be on the sidelines of life. They're afraid to step in, to speak up. To do
25:43 these things like you're doing at the forefront. You're doing at a very high level. Sometimes people might view as someone who says the things everybody is thinking at the end of the day. So how do we, as Christians,
25:54 develop this boldness in this cultural moment for such a time as this?
26:00 Well, if I had the perfect answer, I'm sure I would be a millionaire. That's 1000000 dollar question. Yes. Look, it's hard. It's it's not easy. And I think that's kind of the point. Yeah. Jordan Peterson has had such
26:12 a phenomenal impact on young men in our society, and reminding men that you should be doing hard things for the sake of doing hard things because that's what builds strong men and strong society. And I think we're now
26:24 starting to see that pendulum start to shift for young women as well in particular. And this people pleaser, I don't really need to get involved concept. I often see more with young women than with young men Right.
26:35 Particularly because we're different. Right? Women are are built different than men and we typically are trying to be more empathetic. We're trying to keep the peace. We're trying to be the glue in our families, our
26:45 friend groups, our society. And because of that, you've seen this manipulation manipulation of empathy and love into something that it wasn't intended to be, into something that is incredibly toxic where you feel like
26:57 you have to agree with everyone else's choices, with sin, with evil in order to appear loving to someone else. But the truth is if we love someone, if we truly care for them and we want God's
27:08 best for them Yeah. That means speaking the truth in love, which can be very tumultuous and very controversial and sometimes be a little painful throughout that process, but it's rooted in such a sense
27:20 of seeing God in other people and wanting God's best for them out of a true authentic sense of love for other people. I brought up the abortion issue a few minutes ago, but Yeah. I have found this a
27:32 lot in the conversations that I have on college campuses with young women related to abortion and why I am unapologetically pro life, which is probably the most controversial feelings oriented conversation we
27:44 have in our society today. I'll have people screaming their heads off at me about the proverbial story of some 10 year old girl who was theoretically raped by her father and also has
27:56 all of these health issues. And therefore, if we really care about her, then the only thing we can do is provide abortion to her. But I like to take that, acknowledge those feelings and that sense of brokenness because
28:07 we have emotions and feelings for a reason. That empathy is how God connects us to 1 another in our shared humanity, and that we're made in God's image. He has feeling for us and say, I totally hear
28:19 you. I see that pain and that suffering. And the last thing I would ever want is to add more pain and suffering to that person's life. Mhmm. If we thrust abortion upon her as her only option, she is going to be
28:31 6 times more likely in her life to want to commit suicide.
28:34 Mhmm.
28:34 She's going to have extremely high likelihood of depression, of anxiety, of substance abuse. Heck, there are all kinds of studies proving that this young woman may actually be putting her own
28:46 life in danger through either taking a pill or being on an operating table. So why would we even put her physical life in danger of ending through this process? If we truly truly
28:57 care about her, it has to start with real empathy, not a twisted version of it, and wanting better for her than the lies of this world out of convenience. So, ultimately,
29:09 I'm very happy and satisfied in the direction that our country is going because I think people are starting to see the real way of loving others and that's what it's all about.
29:21 So I I guess I'll I'll just kinda add to what you were saying. I'm just thinking about the way in which we engage with others and we talk about difficult things or,
29:33 share truth in a way that, you know, could be perceived as being offensive. If we if we understand and we've done the due diligence of, hey, here's the data. You know, this is empirical data. You
29:45 know, they're they're yeah. There's these analytical stories that they they correlate with truth. These things did happen, but here's this data. When you compare it, you know, you you mend the things together, it's just
29:56 so impactful. And I'm just thinking about a conversation we had a year or 2 ago and it was around when in Canada, you know, euthanasia
30:08 became a viable option for health care. And would you just speak to just the rise in anxiety and depression and suicidal ideation regarding
30:20 Gen Z and why that thought process of providing that is an answer to be so dangerous and how I believe because of our current president,
30:32 we won't be moving in the direction that we could have. But I would love for you to speak to that.
30:38 Absolutely. You know, we are dealing with probably the single greatest mental health crisis in human history with young people. Although, I think we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. So I will put a
30:50 bit of an asterisk on that. But for the last several years, you've watched record record shattering rates of anxiety, of depression, of substance abuse, of pornography addiction Yep.
31:02 And of suicide ideation among especially young women. Typically, men have a very high, rate at a young age of thinking about contemplating suicide and following through on
31:13 it. That has shifted substantially to be more likely that teenage girls are contemplating this stuff within Gen z than boys. And I think a whole lot of that is centered around this concept of twisted
31:25 toxic empathy like we've been talking about for the last several minutes in that we assume and correlate loving someone with affirming Yes. Everything that they currently believe about
31:37 themselves or the situation and substance of life that they are currently in. Most of that I have found stems from the gender theory and gender ideology movement with this concept and model of
31:49 affirmative care. Yep. Never before in healthcare history have we ever contemplated something like affirmative care. Yeah. Where you hear someone say, I feel like this. And the healthcare
32:00 practitioner would say, great. Let's make you feel more that way in the process. That, obviously, we have correlated mostly with gender dysphoria, but I think we're also starting to see across the spectrum
32:13 of mental health related issues now in the Western world that we are living in. So you're seeing that for anxiety, for depression, for suicide. And instead of pushing back and saying, no, that's something wrong, we wanna
32:24 help you fix that problem. You are worthy of life. You are worthy of joy. You are worthy of happiness. We're now starting to say, great. If you feel that way, we'll just help you end it somehow out of the way
32:36 of empathy, which is incredibly broken, incredibly sinful, and truly rooted in the depths of evil because it is a a true assault on the value of human
32:48 life and our common shared humanity. Canada has probably been the worst perpetrator of this in the last several years with nationally legalizing, euthanasia or physician assisted suicide.
32:59 They call this MAID, medical assistance in dying. And originally, it was intended to only be for people that have a terminal ill diagnosis projected within the next few months.
33:11 That expanded to be a terminally ill diagnosis projected within a calendar year. And then they very controversially have been talking about expanding this to all kinds of other circumstances of life. People
33:23 with, mental health problems, people with disabilities, people who are struggling with poverty and financial difficulties, that if you think it's better for you not to exist,
33:35 we as a socialist health care system will help you end your life prematurely because we care. Because we care about you. It's very alarming, incredibly scary, and is starting toShow more
Zach Clinton
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.