I really hadn’t planned on getting into this fray until I read an article by Michael Brown. Brown gets it so wrong that I felt compelled to chime in. Below are quotes from Brown’s article on World Net Daily unless otherwise noted.
What did commentator Candace Owens mean when she posted that “Christ is King” in the midst of a very public dispute with her Daily Wire employer Ben Shapiro? I’m not going to enter into the details of that dispute, other than to say I agree with Shapiro’s concerns.
Here, I want to focus on Owens posting the words “Christ is King” on X (formerly Twitter).
In a previous post, she quoted the words of Jesus that “you cannot serve both God and money,” causing many to wonder if this was a dig on Jewish people, who are allegedly money hungry.
I was going to block quote Mr. Brown but decided to take this one section at a time.
OK so here is the first break with my position, Brown agrees with Ben Shapiro. Shapiro is all in on Israel’s war with Hamas and has even defended Israel’s use of nuclear weapons and genocide in the name of self-defense.
Mr. Brown’s article is on a website run by Christians that hold to a Premillennial view of eschatology. Their view is that the current nation of Israel is a rebirth of the Old Testament nation by that name and that modern-day Israel is prophetically necessary to usher in the Return of Jesus Christ. This is hooey. The biblical nation of Israel ceased to exist in 70 AD. The Jews of today (with few exceptions) are not ethnically related to the Jews of 2,000 years ago. Furthermore, Jews need to come to God just the way the rest of us do, through His son, Jesus the Christ.
For those wondering what could be wrong with proclaiming “Christ is King,” the unfortunate reality is that this beautiful, biblically based truth has been hijacked by elements of the extreme religious right, often with antisemitic implications.
Apparently for Brown, when a person says, “Jesus is Lord” or “Christ is King,” they are being antisemitic. Brown seems to believe the Dispensational view that Jews can come to God without believe in Jesus. Sorry dude but that is not in accord with Scripture. If there is any way to God without going through Jesus, then Jesus died in vain and thus our faith is null and void.
“That chant is now a calling card of Nick Fuentes and America First – a podcast, conference and community within the broader white Christian nationalist movement. It also happens to be a core proclamation of Christians through the centuries.
This paragraph is a train wreck of mashed-up stuff. I will try to unpack this a little bit.
First, who cares about this Nick Fuentes guy. I looked him up on the Internet and the first hits I got were websites attacking Nick Fuentes such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). These guys hate Christians and anyone on the right side of the political aisle. As a high-profile Christian on social media, if you’re not on their bad list then I doubt you stand for the right things.
Fuentes once had dinner with Donald Trump and Kanye West. Fuentes has a group called America First Foundation. It was founded in 2020. Four years after Trump was elected on a platform of America First.
America First Foundation’s purpose is:
Our country is having a crisis of faith. We’ve lost faith in God, in our institutions, and in our destiny as a people. This absence has left the foundational pillars of America in ruins. Immigration has spiraled into a mass invasion, eroding our identity as Americans. Our cities, once shining achievements of our prosperous civilization, are now symbols of decline and decay. Our people have been taught to hate themselves and their ancestors, all the while being encouraged to embrace degeneracy and sin.
Our forefathers created this nation with their blood, sweat, and tears. Their struggle produced a country rooted in Christ, family, and virtue. Following in their footsteps, we aim to restore those lost values while building a happy, healthy, and prosperous future. Much like our ancestors, we strive to create a home with dignity and reverence for God.
While we take inspiration from the past, our movement is focused on the future as we plot a new course for America in the decades and even centuries to come. We are tapping into the creativity of our nation’s young Christian men, born and raised in a technologically rich, but spiritually poor era. It is these visionaries who will remake the American character, grounding it in Christian virtue and societal excellence. America First is carving a path forward that is truly revolutionary. With your continued help and support, this movement can actualize its vision for the future, forging a new version of America, worthy of our posterity.
About America First Foundation
We live in an era of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). These are direct attacks on Christianity, Christian Culture (Western Culture), and American Values. Was America ever a perfect country? Nope. But the Left is openly tearing down the last vestiges of what America once was in the names of socialism, communism, and a bunch of other _isms. Mr. Brown thinks pushing back against the Liberal onslaught of evil by me or Fuentes or Candice Owens or whoever is wrong. Why? I guess things are supposed to get worse and worse until Jesus returns. Many in his camp hold to this perverse view that to oppose evil is to delay the return of Christ.
Also, where and how did Fuentes get ownership of the slogan “America First”? I thought to love one’s country was called patriotism. If God put you in a particular country, then to love your country is to agree with God that His purpose in placing you in a particular place and time is good.
Brown then starts in with rhetoric about the white Christian nationalist movement. What a loaded term. I guess white people can’t have a voice in today’s America? At least that is what Mr. Brown seems to imply. The Liberal message is clear, if you are white, you have no voice. Shut-up because all that is wrong is your fault. If you’re a Christian, ditto. It’s all your fault so shut up. If you’re for America, then you are racist so shut up. However, being for war in Ukraine or Israel at the expense of the US is OK? Supporting marriage as between a man and woman is racist and hateful but gay or trans whatever is honorable? These messages in our culture today are symptoms of great evil and rot in our nation.
Oh, my other thought is when did Fuentes become a name for a white guy? Thought that was a Hispanic name. Then again, the “Proud Boys” were led by a Hispanic guy but somehow, they are white supremacists anyway. Seems like white is a very malleable category. Mr. Brown seems to think the best position for white folks is grabbing their ankles and says, “Please sir, may I have some more.”
“When I say ‘Christ is King,’ I mean something very different from what Fuentes means. While there is a long history of Christian support for violent racism – even using that very same language – a proper theological understanding of ‘Christ is King’ ought to compel us to live at peace with our neighbors.”
Mr. Brown, who doesn’t want to live at peace with their neighbor?
Last I checked, Kanye West was a black guy that loved Jesus. He was with Fuentes who claims to love Jesus at the dinner with Trump who also claims to love Jesus. If he was as racist as you imply, why would he choose to hang out with a black guy?
Oh, by-the-way, loving Jesus is the way to racial harmony and the solution in the Middle East wars.
I didn’t see anywhere that Fuentes is advocating for armed conflict or violence or race wars. To say Christians, have a long history of racism and violence is very provocative and demonstrably untrue, at least in terms of a body count.
More people died in the 20th Century as a result of beliefs underpinned by Darwin and his survival of the fittest than in all the religious wars in the history of the world. Darwin is the basis of humanism, eugenics, communism, and socialism. The body counts of abortion, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, and others could be close to a billion souls lost in the last century. It is estimated that 3.5 million people died as a result of all religious wars in the history of the planet. Clearly, no comparison.
Furthermore, more people are in slavery today than ever in the history of the planet but because we can get electric cars and iPhones cheaper, we look the other way. Fuentes is opposed to tyranny and slavery, but Mr. Brown says Fuentes is a bad guy? Seems like Brown is setting up a Fuentes as a strawman so he can beat him like a pinata? Then Brown is challenging Candice Owens to agree with him or else. Oh, yea. Candice Owens is black, or at least looks to be nonwhite to me, so how is she throwing in with white Christian nationalists? I think Mr. Brown is very confused.
This last part is most instructive.
But without a doubt, there is a growing minority that connects “America first” with the proclamation of “Christ is King” in a way that perverts the very meaning of those Jesus-exalting words.
Yes, Jesus is King and will always be King. He was born a King, died a King, reigns in heaven as King, and will return as King – in fact, as King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16). For myself, as Jewish follower of Jesus, I unashamedly proclaim Him as the Messianic King and the Savior and Lord of all. And yes, in His name and authority we are called to go and make disciples of the nations (Matthew 28:18-20).
But to use “Christ is King” as a political slogan, especially one with racist and antisemitic overtones, is to bring disgrace on that holy and beautiful name.
At the end of his article, Brown finally exposes the defect of his theology. Jesus is just the Savior of your soul. For him, all this Jesus stuff is just spiritual. It has no earthly application. Brown cherry picks the Great Commission as the totality of the mission of the Christian Church because Jesus reigns only in Heaven.
Brown is the one denying Scripture. Clearly, he doesn’t understand the meaning of the Ascension of Christ or His Kingdom. Jesus is sitting on the Right hand of the Father ruling the nations now. Jesus will continue to rule until all nations submit to His Lordship. Brown is blinded by the Dispensational presuppositions that he is trying to impose on the Bible. Sorry Mr. Brown but they aren’t there.
Christian Nationalists want biblical values to be the values of our country, not secular humanism or socialism or communism. God has blessed us as a nation to the extent that we honor and obey His Law. We are currently under God’s judgement for disobeying Him. Christians, including Christian nationalists, want limited government and the freedom to worship God. They want God welcome into the public square not cancelled from it along with His followers. The basis of our Republic was once the Ten Commandments and needs to be again.
Some folks believe that they should actively work to oppose evil in our society and make our laws and values a reflection of God’s Revelation. In short, transform the culture. Some of us are having a healthy discussion as to whether we should use the model of St. Patrick or St. Boniface. We are working to answer the question of Francis Schaeffer, “How should we then live?”
Meanwhile Mr. Brown wants to sit it out and hope the Rapture happens, so we won’t reap what we’ve sewn. Sorry but Jesus ain’t coming back in your lifetime or that of your grandchildren so what now? If all you want to do is wait around for a third temple or some other nonsense, wake up. Scofield was wrong. Hal Lindsey was wrong. You are wrong. Matthew 24 was fulfilled 2,000 years ago.
Some of us hope to leave the world a better and more righteous place than we found it. We must try but the results are God’s not ours.
Ben Shapiro demands that Israel’s interests supersede those of the United States. If you dare to disagree then he starts calling folks racists. Sorry but I and many others dissent. I think the US should stay out of this war.
Meanwhile, Brown only wants us to be involved due to heretical theology. Brown wants us all in for Israel because he thinks we need to bless Israel to be blessed. (Zionism is a part of his dispensational/premillennial theology.) Sorry, but the New Testament Church is true Israel not the folks using that name today that live in Palestine or whatever you want to call Judea in this day and age.
Candice Owens is right that Christ is King. The problem is that our fellow Americans no longer believe that. This is not a race issue, it’s a heart issue. Until Christians live as Christ commanded seven days a week, don’t expect things to get any better. For Mr. Brown to essentially call Candice Owens a white Christian nationalist is beyond laughable.