Ep 974 ｜ Candace Owens, ‘Christ Is King’ & the True Gospel
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Summary
Candace Owens, Christ is King? What this really means and why it all matters? We ve got all of this and much more on today s episode of Relatable, which is brought to you by GoodRanchers.
Transcript
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Candace Owens, Christ is King, what this really means and why it all matters.
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We've got all of this and much more on today's episode of Relatable, which is brought to
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Hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far.
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Okay, as promised on Instagram, I am going to break down this Christ is King drama and
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how it relates to conservative media and just the right wing in America in general.
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If you have no idea what I'm talking about, that's okay.
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I'm going to try to break this all down in a way that not only you understand, but hopefully
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And I will explain to you why all of this matters.
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Now, before we get into it, I just want to set us up.
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And I just wanted to read you the passage from John 12 that describes the triumphal entry of
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The next day, the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to
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So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, Hosanna.
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Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.
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This is the description of Palm Sunday that we read in John 12.
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And it would have been a beautiful thing if that is why Christ is King was trending over
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the weekend, that we were simply repeating what this large crowd was shouting at and to
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Jesus Christ on this Palm Sunday when he was entering Jerusalem before he died, before he
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was raised again, declaring that Jesus is King.
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Now, that may be the heart behind most people who were declaring that Christ is King on Twitter.
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There are a lot of different fragments and factions on right-wing Twitter that have co-opted
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this phrase, Christ is King, in a way that is very troubling to me.
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And while we are going to talk about how Candace Owens ties into this, how The Daily Wire ties
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into this, how conservative media ties into this, and we will kind of start with that.
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I'll tell you what I know and what I understand about her departure from The Daily Wire.
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I just want to make clear up front that this episode is not about Candace Owens.
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It's not about any one person or any one faction or any one subset that I mention.
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I know some people at The Daily Wire have known them for a long time.
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And so my desire in this is not to pit people against each other.
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I am going to do the best that I possibly can to break this down in an honest way, in
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a helpful way, and again, hopefully in a biblically encouraging way.
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And in fact, I can guarantee that by the end of this, you will be biblically encouraged.
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So I'm trying to explain this, though, the best that I can as someone who kind of knows
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a lot of the people involved in a way that is objective while also at the end sharing my
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So let me kind of give you a big picture summary, and then I will back up, and then I'll go into
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the details of what all of this even means as your dear Sherpa to the normal, non-perpetually
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online moms who still want to know what's going on in culture and politics.
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So as I said, the phrase Christ is King was trending globally on X, formerly known as Twitter,
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The trending phrase coincided with both Palm Sunday and the split between conservative
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Some of you out there had no idea that she departed from the Daily Wire, but yes, it is
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On Friday, Daily Wire CEO Jeremy Boring tweeted,
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Daily Wire and Candace Owens have ended their relationship.
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It's obviously not because Candace wasn't successful or that her show wasn't big enough.
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Like, I can say that personally that a lot of my friends follow Candace Owens.
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They might not know anything else that's going on in politics, but they listen to Candace Owens.
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And of course, they listen to my show because they have to, but they can tell me something
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So she is very popular, I would say, among a wide range of people.
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All different kinds of people listen to Candace Owens.
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And that just speaks to her talent and how magnetic she is.
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And so they separated, not because she's not insanely successful, because she is, but because
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At least that's what we can deduce, I think, from what has been publicly displayed from
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both hosts of the Daily Wire, namely Ben Shapiro and Candace Owens.
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Yes, the Israel-Hamas war, but it goes back even further than that to her relationship
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You probably know they have a strong relationship, have a friendship that started several years
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ago when Kanye West tweeted famously, I like the way or maybe I love the way Candace Owens
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He made comments not too long ago saying that he is going death con three on Jews.
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He has made some very troubling comments, particularly on Alex Jones's show about Hitler, about Nazis,
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And so I think that there was probably already some tension because of that.
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And the position that she has taken on that, a lot of people deem controversial, including
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And we will get to how all of this relates to Crisis King.
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So this is about a month after the original Hamas attack on Israel.
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She tweeted, no government anywhere has a right to commit genocide ever.
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I can't believe this even needs to be said or is even considered the least bit controversial
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And so she is kind of defending some of the questions, some of the criticisms that she's
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had, not just about Israel's actions in the war with Hamas, but also I think America's
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And she would say this is just not a controversial statement.
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Some people interpreted that to mean, well, you're playing both sides in this when really
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it was Hamas who launched an unprovoked attack on Israeli civilians.
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And so we don't need to kind of play both sides on this.
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And that is the stance that Ben Shapiro of the Daily Wire took.
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In a video that was circulating at a private event that followed these statements about Israel,
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Ben Shapiro called Candace Owens' response to the conflict and her behavior, quote,
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That ends up going around on Twitter where he says, I think her behavior during this has
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I think her faux sophistication on these particular issues has been ridiculous.
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And he called her commentary on Israel disreputable.
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So as that video was circulating, again, this was in November.
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Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.
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Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom
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Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of
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Either you will hate one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the
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Candice responded to her tweet, Blessed are the peacemakers, et cetera, saying, Candice,
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if you feel that taking money from the Daily Wire somehow comes between you and God, by
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Candice responds to that by saying, you have been acting unprofessional and emotionally unhinged
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for weeks now, and we have all had to sit back and allow it and have all tried to exercise
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But you cross a certain line when you come for scripture and read yourself into it.
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So she, it seems to say there when she said, blessed are the peacemakers, persecutors, you
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can't serve God and money, that she was not talking about Ben Shapiro, but that is how her
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tweet was interpreted because what he said about her was circulating in a video, but she
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And this also reminds me, we don't have it in this document, but back when the Kanye West
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thing was happening, when he was making those comments, Ben Shapiro also said something publicly
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And she responded basically saying, like, you can just text me.
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So again, this is not the first time that they have had tension.
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I don't know this for a fact, but I remember when, I remember when there were, you know,
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the vaccine was like the most contentious, the COVID vaccine was the most contentious
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I remember wondering if there was tension there during that time at the height of COVID, because
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you'll remember that Ben Shapiro at that time was very pro-COVID vaccine.
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And Candice was really one of the first people to be anti-COVID vaccine.
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And of course, she's openly anti-vaccine in general.
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Like, how are they able to kind of maintain that relationship?
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And to both of their credit, they do seem to have been able to be respectful of one another
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But that does seem to have unraveled over the past year or so when the disagreements have
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become more fundamental, particularly when it comes to Israel and when it comes to perhaps
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And so in the midst of that, her tweeting, Christ is King.
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And that is part of the relevance of this story and everything that devolved on Sunday when
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Christ is King was trending, because it didn't actually start with Candice Owens.
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I'm not sure exactly where it started, but it started, I don't know, at least a few years ago
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and not as a triumphant declaration of Jesus's lordship, but as something, I believe, pretty sinister.
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Okay, so how can Christ is King, that victorious statement, that biblically true statement,
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how can it have any sinister meaning whatsoever?
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I'm not saying that this is what she meant when she said that Christ is King back in
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November or any time that she has said it since.
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She may not have even known that it was associated with anyone else besides her just declaring
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Now, we can talk about what was meant when she used Christ is King in relation to the conversation
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about or with Ben Shapiro, but I'm not sure exactly what she would say about that.
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Maybe one day she'll come on the show and we can break this all down with her.
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But some people did see that Christ is King that she says as a retort to Ben and his Jewishness.
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I don't think that she would accept that interpretation of what she said, but that is how it was interpreted
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interpreted by many people, partly because of the association that the phrase has with someone
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Now, this is not someone I have probably ever talked about on the show before, but there's
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really no way around talking about him when it comes to the subject.
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And so this is how the Christian Post describes him, and I'm sure that he would probably take
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issue with this description, but this gives you just kind of an idea.
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Nick Fuentes is an American radical far-right political commentator who has become well-known
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for his anti-Semitic, racist, and Holocaust-denying statements.
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He has been kicked off of all major social media sites, including Elon Musk's newer pro-free
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For his extreme rhetoric, he does have a rumble page.
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He is the founder of the America First movement.
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He talks, or he describes it as the synthesis of traditional values, Trumpian populism, and
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Now, he would probably say that these were jokes, but this is part of why he has been kicked
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And Fuentes, on video, has jokingly compared Jews to cookies baking in an oven while trying
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to say that the math doesn't add up to the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust in
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an August 5th podcast episode since removed from YouTube but reported by Right Wing Watch.
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He referred to Daily Wire columnist Matt Walsh as a Shabazz Goy race traitor because he works
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Fuentes added, yeah, okay, keep typing on Twitter.
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Com, F-A-G-G-O-T, and then says that again, says that again, race traitor, you work for
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So Nick Fuentes has a history with Ben Shapiro.
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He was kicked out of a Turning Point USA event in 2019.
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He proceeded to harass Ben Shapiro, who was walking into the event with his family.
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Elijah Schaefer and Andy Ngo are with Fuentes documenting what's happening.
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Why did you give a 45-minute speech about me at Stanford?
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I know you're with his family, but I think it's anywhere else.
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Well, that's our free speech warrior, everybody.
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That is like one of the worst things that you can possibly do.
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Ben is with his little children and with his wife.
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And so that's Nick Fuentes kind of harassing him.
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I'm pretty sure their first run-in was in 2018.
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And Ben Shapiro, I think, called him a, called him an anti-Semite for something that he said
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So that's who Nick Fuentes, that's who Nick Fuentes is.
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And we also have a video of him kind of telling his views of what is wrong with, quote unquote,
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And then again, using this Christ is King chant.
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The word is getting out that we've got to get rid of Jewish power in America.
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We are here to say that America is not a Jewish nation.
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If Christ is the king of the world, then Christ must be king in America, must be the king of America.
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And I have something to say just about that last point that's made about Jesus being king
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of the world and king of America and all of that.
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But I'm still just trying to explain where this kind of Christ is King is coming from.
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Again, I'm not sure if this is original to him or original to his followers or original
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But this phrase as a chant goes back at least several years.
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Now, just the other day before Daily Wire and Candace split, this Nick Fuentes made a video
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She has been in a full-fledged war against the Jews and specifically some of these Zionist
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Yeah, so then the ADL, the Anti-Defamation League, which is a left-wing organization, they
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tweeted out, white supremacist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes is praising Candace Owens
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It's hardly surprising, but it does set off alarm bells when bigoted people come together
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to push antisemitic agenda, it adds fuel to the fire of hate.
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And Candace Owens responded to that by saying, I do not know Nick Fuentes, but you already
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What I do know is that everyone can see what you guys are doing to me.
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Your pattern is well established and the world is waking up to it.
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My crime is having stood up for myself against your network of smears.
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And by the way, I think that she's telling the truth.
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I don't think that she knows Nick Fuentes at all.
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I don't think that she is repeating Christ is King as a specific targeted antisemitic trope.
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I don't think that she knew that this was the phrase or the motto or the chant that his followers
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had been using to kind of, I think, as a cover for their outright Jewish hatred.
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I don't think that she knew that, but that is all a relevant part of the story to explain
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to you why Christ is King was trending on X on Saturday.
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So it is not completely clear after all of this, after this kind of conversation about Nick
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Fuentes and Candace Owens and from the ADL, it's not exactly clear how this relates to her
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That was on Thursday that this was happening last Thursday, the 21st.
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And then on the 22nd is when Jeremy Boring declared that their relationship had ended.
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So I don't know if Nick Fuentes and his words and his history and his history of harassment
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of Ben Shapiro and then him praising Candace, I don't know that that has anything to do with
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the departure, with the severing of the relationship.
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I'm guessing that the talks were probably already happening before this, before the announcement.
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Maybe that was kind of just the straw that broke the camel's back.
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And like I said, Candace is saying that she doesn't even know who Nick Fuentes is.
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And Nick Fuentes is saying some really awful stuff about Candace.
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Now, things that he thinks are great, but that are actually awful that I don't think anyone
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Like he's saying, for example, that he said that Candace is going full.
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He said that, I love how the intro is so generic, but it's like she's going full 1488.
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She's going, well, no, she's really going full 88.
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1488 is a combination of two popular white supremacist numeric symbols.
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The first symbol is 14, which is shorthand for 14 words, a slogan, we must secure the existence
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The second is 88, which stands for Hail Hitler.
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So I don't think that Candace wants this kind of association.
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So I'm not saying that that is what caused her departure from the Daily Wire.
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But this all kind of came together in an unfortunate and perfect storm and somehow kind of led to
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this Christ is King chant going viral and spreading on Sunday.
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Now, it's interesting because Candace didn't recently say Christ is King.
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So it's not like she started it off and said, okay, everyone needs to start tweeting this
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It's not really clear who first started tweeting it, but it is in response to this whole conversation,
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And it absolutely does have to do with the topic of Israel and the Jewish people and all
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And there are some people saying, well, no, Christ is King.
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This has nothing to do with Israel, has nothing to do with Judaism, has nothing to do with
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Candace Owens or the Groypers who that's kind of the name of the people that follow Nick
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Anyone saying that is just trying to signal to the left.
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And then you've got people over here saying, no, this is clearly being used as an anti-Semitic
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And so I'll break all that down for you, kind of the discourse and the debate about that
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Okay, so let me read you an exchange between Jeremy Boring, the CEO of Daily Wire and Jason
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Whitlock, because it kind of explains both perspectives on why Christ is King was trending.
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So the Blazes' Jason Whitlock asked a question, and it's sincere.
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He's not trying to be funny or to play a rhetorical trick.
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He asked, how is saying Christ is King anti-Semitic?
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And so Daily Wire co-founder Jeremy Boring responded.
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He said, how is saying that Christ is King anti-Semitic?
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He says the same way anything becomes anti-Semitic when it is used for the purpose of expressing
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anti-Semitism in the same way that someone would answer the question, how does a shovel
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And he says, so he's kind of doing a question and answer format in his tweet.
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Additionally, saying Christ is King for an evil purpose, like using it as a weapon to
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express your hatred or disdain for the Jews, is a grave sin.
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Thou shall not carry forth the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
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And then he goes on to explain his view that yes, Christ is King, sure enough, King of heaven
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Yet a bruised reed he will not break, a faintly burning wick he will not smother.
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So don't use his name as a cudgel to bash those in whom the light of God yet flickers.
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If you do, you are a blasphemer and an anti-Semite and a piece of crap generally.
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Of course, not that Christ is King is innately anti-Semitic or that it has anything to do with
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trying to purposely or pointedly slam Jews, but anything can become that way.
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Now, the response to that by some people would say, well, that's not how people are using it.
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Who even cares if a tiny group of people is co-opting a phrase when the vast majority of
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people who are saying it are just declaring something strongly, declaring something that
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So that would be probably the response to what Jeremy Boring has said and also what Andrew
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Now, I'll give you my response to that response in a minute, but let me explain also what Andrew
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Clavin said, because this is probably also what tipped it off.
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It's probably also what created more of a conversation around this Christ is King.
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It was Andrew Clavin's response to her departure, to Candace Owens' departure, and specifically
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this use of the phrase Christ is King, which you'll remember she said back in November in
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this whole conversation with Ben Shapiro, or at least about the conversation with Ben Shapiro.
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So he says, when you use that phrase Christ is King to say that God has abandoned his chosen
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people, the Jews, through whom he came into this world incarnate, that he's broken his
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promises, his covenant with the Jews, you are quoting scripture like Satan does.
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You are quoting scripture to your purposes, and that to me is specifically wicked.
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Now, in my opinion, this particular point of Andrew Clavin, who I think is a brilliant guy
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and I really appreciate, that is a very complicated and nuanced conversation about eschatology and
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about Israel and about the physical state of Israel, the physical nation of Israel, God's
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chosen people of Israel, or who God's chosen people is.
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And that is not people who have disagreements about Israel and about the fate of Israel and
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about the fate of the Jewish people. There are serious and sincere theologians who disagree
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about that when it comes to the end times, when it comes to their eschatology. And so not everyone
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who debates dispensational theology or what people sometimes call the replacement theology or whatever,
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they're not evil. This is not like necessarily a good versus evil debate. And I don't even think
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that's what Candace is doing. I don't even think that's what Nick Fuentes and all of these people
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are doing or knowingly doing. I don't think that they have that sophisticated understanding of their
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eschatology and theology. I think for not Candace, but the rest of those people, it really is just plain
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and simple, let me declare this as victory over the powerful Jews. But he does make the point that
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when you use a truth to mask wickedness, that that becomes problematic. And I think that he's
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obviously right. I think that Jeremy Boring is obviously right, that true phrases can be used in
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an evil way. Of course they can. Of course they can. That doesn't mean that everyone who is using the
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phrase is evil. That doesn't mean that Candace is using it in an evil way. But I would venture to say
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that using the Lord's name in vain by saying Christ is King to mean something other than Christ is King
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for reasons other than sharing the gospel, for reasons other than giving hope and peace to the
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Christian is not very French. That it's actually happening a lot more pervasively and is happening
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via very prominent people. It's not quite as, oh, this is just this thing happening over here that we
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don't need to pay attention to. Actually, what we're seeing online is not just people who hate Jews
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saying this as a slam to Jews, but we're also seeing outright Muslims and non-believers saying this
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as a slam to Jews. You've got Sneeko, who is, I don't even know who Sneeko is, a huge influencer. He's
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Muslim. He tweeted out, Christ is King. And then you also have Andrew Tate, who is a Muslim. He said,
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as a Muslim, it warms my heart to see the resurgence of spirited Christian declarations.
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Christ is King. And I pray Christianity regains its strength and protects its societies against
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the pervasive and constant erosion of morality by the devotees of Satan. If you accept everything,
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you stand for nothing. Yeah. You're just not going to convince me. You're not going to convince me
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that the guy who recently converted to Islam, whose faith says to kill the infidel,
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that he really believes in the strength of Christianity. I know for a fact that he doesn't.
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I know for a fact that he doesn't. So we should maybe ask ourselves, what would be the motivation
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for someone who is a Muslim, who disdains everything about the Christian moral order,
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obviously, by how he orders his own life? What motivation would he have to declare that Christ
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is King? Let's just put our thinking caps on for a second, use some deductive reasoning,
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use the logic that God gave us the ability to use in our God-given brains and ask ourselves,
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why would a prominent Muslim be interested in declaring something like Christ is King?
00:31:48.080
I think it's fair to ask. And then Seth Dillon pointed out, he posted this screenshot. Not everyone
00:31:54.880
is hiding what they mean by it very well. And the screenshot is, Christ is King, you nasty Jew.
00:32:01.020
Joel Berry, also of the Babylon Bee, tweeted out someone's tweet, Christ is King, you Zionist
00:32:07.140
slime. Jake Shields says, is saying Christ is King antisemitic? And then Isabella Moody,
00:32:13.540
now maybe she would say that she was joking about this. She says, hopefully, that's why I say it.
00:32:19.900
Um, and then you've got classically Abby, that's Ben Shapiro's sister. She's a very sweet woman that
00:32:28.240
just talks about motherhood and modesty. And, uh, she posted a picture of her with her baby and
00:32:35.280
someone responded, nice nose, careful you don't poke the baby's eyes out, which of course is an
00:32:40.280
anti-Jewish trope. Also, Christ is King. Um, and so that is part of what is happening, uh, on X right
00:32:49.740
now. And those are just a few examples. Again, I am certainly not impugning the motives of everyone
00:32:55.140
or even most people saying Christ is King. I'm not saying that it is bad or wrong to say Christ is King
00:33:02.060
as a Christian. That is a source of comfort and hope and strength and victory for the Christian.
00:33:08.840
But I just want us to really understand what that means. I just want us to really get it and to make
00:33:16.800
sure that we are saying Christ is King as people who understand who he is, understand what his
00:33:24.300
kingship actually implies, understand the gospel, understand the good news. If the good news of the
00:33:32.080
gospel is not something that you believe is not something that you cling to, then you really have
00:33:38.980
no business saying Christ is King because one day you will wish he weren't.
00:33:46.500
Unless you repent, unless by grace through faith, you are made alive in Christ. All of you who are
00:33:54.120
taking the Lord's name in vain when you say Christ is King, so using it for other purposes besides
00:34:00.380
declaring that which is true, aka sharing the good news of the gospel, you will one day wish that he
00:34:07.520
weren't King. That is not a comfort to the non-believer. So I just want to take the
00:34:13.440
opportunity, since people are talking about Christ is King, and I think that, you know, there's a lot
00:34:21.320
of benefits to that, obviously, no matter the motivations behind it. I want to take the opportunity,
00:34:26.560
since this is trending, to talk about what this really means. Not as a politically charged rallying
00:34:34.320
cry, but as the central Christian doctrine. In the ancient world, the Greeks sought reason,
00:34:44.620
the Romans sought physical strength, and the Jewish people yearned for the coming of their long-awaited
00:34:51.220
Messiah, who would come in the form of a king, of a ruler. So when Jesus burst onto the scene,
00:34:57.940
he came not as a scholar, not as a warrior, or as a king, but as a baby. He hailed from the obscure
00:35:05.900
town of Nazareth, north of Jerusalem, and the region of Galilee. He was the son of a carpenter,
00:35:11.640
so he was far from royalty. He was no soldier, and even though he was educated in the scriptures,
00:35:18.300
his teachings contradicted both the Jewish and the pagan scholarship of the time. So he fit
00:35:24.100
no one's idea of a hero. He fit no one's idea of a savior. And yet, there he was, claiming to be one
00:35:31.660
with God, the fulfillment of ancient prophecy, the longed-for Messiah king, healing the sick,
00:35:37.220
forgiving the sinner, and taking to task the religious leaders of his day for their hardened
00:35:42.020
hearts. In a world that prized the Logos, Jesus, whose very existence defied all logic,
00:35:49.380
claimed to be the Logos, the very embodiment of truth, the Tao of the East and the Word of the West
00:35:56.180
met their match in God-made flesh, Jesus Christ. To the Jewish leaders, Jesus was a blasphemer. To
00:36:03.560
the Romans, he was a nuisance. To some, Jesus was a crazy person, a madman, not unlike others in the
00:36:11.200
same era who claimed to be sent from God. But unlike the others, Jesus' existence, his death,
00:36:19.480
his burial, and the eyewitness accounts of his resurrection completely rerouted the course of
00:36:25.420
history. We still count time by Jesus' birth. The anthology that contains the account of his life
00:36:31.600
is the most widely circulated book in history. So whether one accepts or rejects the Bible as true
00:36:38.440
or divinely inspired, that the faith Jesus ignited radically changed the world is undeniable.
00:36:46.380
The human rights advances that have their source in Christianity can hardly be enumerated. Every
00:36:53.260
single foundational idea in Western civilization is inextricably intertwined with Christian doctrine.
00:36:59.200
Not even the most ardent atheists can escape that. So that Christianity changed the world so
00:37:05.720
drastically. It's even more stunning when you think about the fact that its tenets are paradoxical
00:37:14.500
rather than practical. So to live, one must die. To gain, one must lose. To be rich, one must become
00:37:22.000
poor. To be wise, one must become a fool. To grow up, one must become like a child. To be strong, one must
00:37:28.260
become weak. Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. These ideas are only fitting for a faith in
00:37:35.600
which the Savior arrived as a helpless baby, the lion as a lamb, the king as a servant. It's a faith that
00:37:43.100
claims eternal victory but has a cross as its crux, an execution device so gruesome that it was reserved
00:37:52.320
only for unruly slaves, criminals, and the sinless God-man who bore the sins of the world. For since, in the
00:38:02.440
wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom. It pleased God through the folly of what we
00:38:07.720
preach to save those who believe. 1 Corinthians 1.21. So God sent this Jesus, his only son, to die on
00:38:14.740
behalf of sinners, paying our debt, and wiping our slate clean by grace through the free gift of faith.
00:38:20.740
We can be reconciled to a holy God. We can become his children. We can live forever with him.
00:38:25.800
In Christ and in Christ alone do we find salvation, joy, satisfaction, and the peace for which we are
00:38:32.940
all longing. So Christians hang our hope on that fact. We hang our hope on the fact that this Jesus,
00:38:39.800
who is currently at the right hand of God, is returning. Not as a baby in a manger or a lamb
00:38:45.500
led to the slaughter, but as the victorious warrior king. We believe that he will defeat the evil one
00:38:52.260
once and for all. Making all things right, he will do away with injustice, with oppression, with deceit,
00:38:58.140
with sadness, with sickness forever. Yes, Christ is king. This is not just a chant or a motto. It is not
00:39:06.780
a slogan or a slam. It is reality. So he who has ears to hear that, let him hear. I said that on Twitter
00:39:18.540
and somehow some people took that as me justifying the use of the term no matter what. But that's not,
00:39:27.360
that's not my point. So I clarified saying this, using Jesus as king for any other reason than to
00:39:35.520
share the gospel is evil is not a catchy saying or a motivational mantra. I'm not impugning anyone's
00:39:41.400
motive since I don't know them. I just don't want there to be any confusion over that. And I still hold
00:39:46.980
to that clarification. Now, some people got angry at that. So let me clarify, let me clarify further
00:39:53.040
what I mean. Declaring that Jesus is king as a genuine statement of faith, whether as comfort or
00:39:59.600
hope or victory or just an observation of fact as I've done, that's all good. We should all be
00:40:05.900
declaring that. But using it flippantly or as an insult or a method of intimidation is wrong.
00:40:12.280
And I'm way less worried about the people it offends and much more fearful of the God that
00:40:19.560
it offends. Galatians 6, 7 says, do not be deceived. God is not mocked for whatever one sows that he will
00:40:28.040
also reap. Wow. So saying Jesus is king as a code for anything other than the gospel is wrong,
00:40:36.040
plain and simple. In Matthew 7, Jesus makes really clear that there will be many who call him Lord,
00:40:43.940
Lord, who did great things in his name and yet didn't really follow him. To them, he says that
00:40:49.760
he will say, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Now, can God use
00:40:59.000
the truth that's being shared right now, even though it's being shared in a superficial and
00:41:06.820
sometimes subversive way? Yes. Philippians 1, 18 answers the question of how we should feel
00:41:12.680
about someone proclaiming Christ out of selfish ambition, only that in every way, whether in
00:41:17.900
pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed and in that I rejoice. But that doesn't mean it isn't
00:41:25.200
sinful on the part of the person doing it. Now, I want to point out one more thing. I want to get
00:41:31.960
back to this point that Jesus is king means if he's king of the world, then he's king here too.
00:41:38.780
Jesus is king is a political statement inherently. I want to address that point in just a second.
00:41:55.200
So I just want to say that yes, Jesus is king does have political connotations. Because if Jesus is
00:42:06.060
king, as I've said many times, then he is the ruler, the authority over all things. The government has
00:42:12.280
been placed upon his shoulders. His will is to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Yes and amen.
00:42:18.200
There are no maverick molecules in all creation, no neutral space. C.S. Lewis said there is no
00:42:24.020
neutral ground in all the universe. Every square inch, every split second is claimed by God and
00:42:30.260
counterclaimed by Satan. In every speech that I've given over the past probably four years,
00:42:36.660
I have made the argument that Genesis 1-1 changes and encompasses everything. Because if God created
00:42:44.740
the heavens and the earth, then he is in charge of all of it. He says, what is, what isn't, what's right,
00:42:50.460
what's wrong, what's good, what's bad, what's true, what's false, when life begins, what a woman is,
00:42:55.540
what a marriage is, and what it's not. He gets to be the arbiter and authority over all of that.
00:43:02.120
This necessarily must impact, as Christians, what we think about these issues and how we vote.
00:43:09.000
That doesn't mean that we're ushering in a theocracy because I don't think that the Bible
00:43:13.500
commands us to do that. It means we are voting in accordance with our beliefs, just like everyone
00:43:18.980
else. We are bringing our worldview into the public sphere, just like everyone else. We have the right
00:43:25.980
and the responsibility to do so. So, Jesus's kingship has both immediate, temporal implications
00:43:33.840
and future eternal ones. One day, every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is
00:43:41.240
Lord. And here's what all Christians must agree on. This is the core tenet of our faith, that Jesus is
00:43:48.040
necessary for salvation. For anyone and everyone, for the Muslim, for the atheist, for the Buddhist,
00:43:54.600
for the Jew, the Christian faith holds to John 14, 6, which says that Jesus is the way, the truth,
00:44:01.920
and the life, that no one comes to the Father except through Jesus. No one. That is what Christianity
00:44:09.400
teaches. That's not some fringe, far-right belief. That is what Christianity teaches. Acts 4, 12,
00:44:15.120
and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which
00:44:24.160
we must be saved. I know, as I kind of alluded to a little bit earlier when we were talking about
00:44:31.400
Andrew Klavan's statements, I know that there is debate about Israel, both about the physical nation
00:44:38.220
and about what the greater Israel's places, the Jewish people's places in God's plan. Are they still
00:44:44.820
God's chosen people? Did the Gentiles replace Israel or not? We don't have time on this episode to delve
00:44:51.520
into all of the details of that debate, so I will simply tell you to go read Romans 11 as a starting
00:44:58.620
point. What we see there, and in so many places, is yes, boldness in evangelizing to Jewish people,
00:45:08.220
Christianity is inherently an evangelistic faith, but also a humility and a gratitude for God's
00:45:14.680
willingness to adopt us Gentiles through Christ, as well as a yearning for the Jewish people to know
00:45:20.440
Jesus. Read Acts 7. Read Stephen's sermon to his Jewish audience. I mean, I love that chapter. It's so
00:45:27.640
powerful. I feel like I feel the Holy Spirit every time I read it. He was full of knowledge, truth,
00:45:34.120
grace, courage. You can read Romans 9. I mean, it's not for the faint of heart. There's so much to unpack
00:45:40.720
there, but notice Paul's posture toward the Jews. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews who oversaw the murder of
00:45:47.580
Christians before his conversion. Then he came to Christ, and in Romans 9, he says, quote,
00:45:52.360
I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were accursed
00:45:59.560
and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers. He means the Jews. And I wish I could
00:46:06.200
keep reading. I really do, because Romans 9 also answers so many of the questions that we're talking
00:46:11.460
about here about the plagues of the Jewish people and God's plan of redemption. And so I just encourage
00:46:16.020
you to go read it, get you an ESV study Bible. It'll at least help you break it down.
00:46:20.240
Um, so when I hear people online say, in light of all of that, oh, don't you know that Jews hate
00:46:27.060
Christians? Why defend them? Blah, blah, blah. Look, yeah, non-Christians have always hated the
00:46:33.100
gospel. That's nothing new. But I don't hate them in return. I have Jewish friends who love me. They
00:46:39.680
don't hate me, but I am pretty confident that they don't like what I believe about Jesus, which is
00:46:47.460
understandable. Like, I don't expect them to like it. I don't demand that they like it. I want them
00:46:53.380
and all people to one day believe it, but I understand why it is offensive. The gospel is
00:46:58.600
offensive. The gospel is offensive. The gospel will always be divisive. It's always been divisive.
00:47:06.940
It always will be divisive. Ephesians 2, uh, also in speaking specifically of Jews and Christians,
00:47:16.380
Ephesians 2 describes a dividing wall of hostility between Gentiles and Jews. It describes a distance,
00:47:22.800
a separation between the circumcision and the uncircumcision, a distinction between the two
00:47:27.560
groups, one who was far off the Gentiles, one who was near the Jews, two groups that had nothing to do
00:47:32.880
with each other, two groups that really had a lot of historical animosity towards each other in a
00:47:37.380
variety of ways. What is the only thing that can tear down the dividing wall of hostility? Ephesians
00:47:43.760
2 says the blood of Jesus Christ. Quote, but now in Christ and Christ Jesus, you who once were far
00:47:50.620
off have been brought near by the blood of Christ for he himself is our peace who has made us both one
00:47:55.600
and has broken down in his flesh, the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments
00:48:01.280
expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself, one new man in place of the two. So
00:48:07.520
making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the
00:48:14.900
hostility. That's Ephesians 2, 13 through 16. That's good news. That's such good news. I do believe
00:48:21.940
that God has a plan of salvation for both the Gentile and the Jew. And that plan is Christ.
00:48:28.680
That's what Christianity holds. That's what all of true Christianity teaches. And we hold that in
00:48:36.100
humility, in earnestness, in love, and in grace. Not in these vapid, superficial, vain declarations
00:48:47.940
in the culture war over people who either you perceive to be your enemy or maybe in some way is your
00:48:57.160
political enemy. Christ is king has so much better and greater and bigger and deeper implications
00:49:06.720
than all of that. And so that's why I just wanted to take the opportunity to share the gospel,
00:49:14.220
essentially. Because maybe there's someone listening or someone watching who you've seen
00:49:19.200
this discourse unfold or unravel and you're like, understandably, I don't want to be a part of that.
00:49:24.360
That's crazy town. Like there's just no way to even explain to someone outside of this discussion
00:49:31.080
what this all means. All of it. I mean, because I didn't even go into a lot of the weeds and the
00:49:37.780
details and the subgroups and everything that's going on. But really the most important truth in all of
00:49:43.160
this is what Jesus is king actually means. That he died a sinner's death on our behalf so we could be
00:49:52.100
reconciled to God and that no one is too far gone. No one is too sinful. No one is too messed up. You
00:49:58.200
know, a lot of religions tell you how you can get to God. Islam tells you how you can get to God.
00:50:04.660
Um, Buddhism tells you how you can understand and be one with a sort of the divine. Hinduism is the
00:50:13.100
same way. Many faiths can tell you how to get to God, what rules to follow, how to climb up the
00:50:19.820
mountain so you can finally attain some sort of righteousness and please God enough to earn some
00:50:28.000
form of salvation. Lots and lots of religions tell you that. But Christianity is fundamentally
00:50:34.020
different. In Christianity, we don't learn how to clean ourselves up. We don't learn how to wipe our
00:50:42.520
own slate clean. We don't learn how to become righteous on our own so we can finally be pleasing
00:50:48.980
to God. We don't learn how to make our way up the mountain. What we learn is that God came down the
00:50:54.660
mountain to us. What we learn is that we are completely unable to help ourselves. We are unable
00:51:01.940
to make ourselves clean. We are unable to make ourselves righteous. We are unable to save ourselves.
00:51:07.020
That we are actually completely dead in our sin. That we are so lost that we are like a sheep
00:51:14.580
wandering. We have no idea where we are going. We have no wisdom, no goodness to offer to the Lord
00:51:22.480
and that he, like a good shepherd, comes and finds us at our most helpless, at our most vulnerable,
00:51:30.960
at our most distraught. That we have contributed nothing at all to our salvation. That we have
00:51:36.220
contributed nothing at all to the righteousness that Jesus gave us. Christianity is different
00:51:41.840
than every other religion, than every other belief system, than every other faith. Because God came
00:51:49.160
down the mountain, taking the form of a baby, obliterating all expectations of what a Savior
00:51:55.200
should look like, only to turn the world on its head and to give us the good news of salvation
00:52:01.180
through Christ. And this Jesus, he's defeated death once and for all. He defeated death when he rose from
00:52:12.160
the dead three days after the crucifixion. The crucifixion, a brutal, brutal form of death. He defeated
00:52:20.760
it when he was raised to life three days later. That's what we're celebrating this weekend. And that's
00:52:27.140
what Jesus is King really means. If you do not believe that, don't say it. Because as I said, if you don't
00:52:35.500
believe that, if you never come to believe that Jesus is King, you will one day wish he weren't.
00:52:43.360
And that is a very serious, serious thing to consider. Now, like I said, this is a conversation
00:52:49.700
that is so much bigger than like conservative media. I had to kind of set it up for you and tell you kind
00:52:56.000
of at least what I knew about what's going on with Candace and all of that. But I just, again,
00:53:00.940
I want to make it clear. I'm not impugning anyone's motives. I certainly don't think that Candace had
00:53:07.440
any evil intention behind what she was saying there. But it's important for us to know when
00:53:14.960
something is being co-opted. It's important for us to be able to call out blasphemy where it is and
00:53:19.980
to just take the opportunity to share the truth of the gospel. Just remember, don't let this discourage
00:53:24.920
you or be disheartening for you because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
00:53:29.400
His eternal plan of redemption is always going off without a hitch, no matter what's happening
00:53:33.320
on X. And His work doesn't always make headlines. And yet, it is always busy. It's always moving.
00:53:43.460
And it's always accomplishing exactly, exactly what God wants it to accomplish.
00:53:59.400
Oh, right. I know I told you guys that we were going to be talking about Nickelodeon today.
00:54:03.780
And we ended up just not, we just didn't have time because then all of this happened. And so
00:54:08.340
I felt like this would better serve you. Oh, I did want to say one thing. I almost forgot about this. So
00:54:14.840
we haven't even talked about the fact that Princess Catherine was diagnosed with cancer. Princess Kate,
00:54:22.500
Kate Middleton, was diagnosed with cancer. And she released a video late last week saying that she
00:54:29.920
did have abdominal surgery back in January, as the palace said, and that they thought that it wasn't
00:54:37.180
cancerous. And then after they did the surgery, they did find cancer. And she said that she is,
00:54:41.900
she has, she's doing preventative chemotherapy. Now, I don't know all the medical details
00:54:47.560
of all of that. And obviously, as I've said from the beginning of this whole debacle that we are
00:54:53.640
praying for her, and that we should be thinking of her. Now, I do just want to address that some
00:55:00.040
people were upset that I talked about it at all, and that we entertained any of the theories. And you
00:55:06.140
saw it as very disrespectful. And you saw it as rude and just callous towards her as a
00:55:11.880
mom and as a human. And I do understand that. I do understand that. And I've heard your feedback.
00:55:18.140
And some of the feedback has been given very respectfully and has really made me think about
00:55:22.900
things. And on the one hand, I can see that. Like, on the one hand, I agree with you. On the other
00:55:30.100
hand, I will just say, and I know that you're, some might say, while you're just trying to justify
00:55:35.380
yourself or defend yourself. And yes, I am. I am. Because I do think that we handled it
00:55:41.880
for the most part in the most respectful way that we possibly could. It was not a story that I was
00:55:48.160
interested in until the whole photo thing happened. When the photo thing happened and everyone started
00:55:54.200
talking about it and everyone started questioning where she was, I wanted to let you in on the
00:56:00.740
conversation that people were having online. And as I've said, when something generates enough
00:56:05.560
interest, particularly among my audience, then I am probably going to talk about it. And I did not
00:56:11.700
push any conspiracies. I did not try to get you to believe any conspiracy. Actually, from the
00:56:18.160
beginning, I was extremely skeptical. But I did think, and my focus really was on how the palace
00:56:23.400
handled it, how the PR, how the messaging was going, how the whole editing fiasco was going down.
00:56:31.620
And I wouldn't say everything that I said in those episodes. Like, there were some things looking
00:56:37.900
back that I'm like, okay, we probably could not have gone there or probably not have touched
00:56:44.360
that. But there was a minority of people. And I know that if you're in that minority,
00:56:52.400
you might be offended by me saying that. But it was a very small minority of people who were bothered
00:56:57.380
that I talked about it at all. And thankfully, most people were grateful that I just talked about
00:57:02.360
what was happening and what was being said. But for those of you who were offended by me mentioning
00:57:07.700
it, or you see it as disrespectful, I really do hear you. And I appreciate your feedback. I appreciate
00:57:13.800
your critique. I hope that you can give me the benefit of the doubt. And that my desire was never
00:57:21.260
to hurt or to harm or to disrespect in any way, but that we saw it as really just telling you a
00:57:30.120
conversation, a very popular viral conversation that was happening online. And also, like the
00:57:35.440
whereabouts and the health of the royal family is pertinent and impactful on a lot of people. These
00:57:42.080
are very, very public and influential people. And where they are and the messaging surrounding them
00:57:49.040
and the truth or falsehood surrounding them, like really does matter. Now, all that to say,
00:57:54.900
though, I do apologize for like, any hurt that that has caused, not that she would have ever,
00:58:02.720
you know, seen our episode. But of course, that was never, ever my intent. And so I can apologize for
00:58:11.020
any potential impact without regretting the intent, if that makes sense. And so we should be praying for
00:58:18.280
her absolutely. And just praying that she makes a full recovery very quickly and praying for her sweet
00:58:24.020
children and praying that the Lord would comfort them and that they would, that they would know
00:58:28.680
Christ and that they would feel his presence in the midst of this pain. So I did just want to address
00:58:33.640
that because some of you had sent me some concerned, concerned messages. And I just wanted to say that
00:58:39.220
I hear you and respond to that. All right. That's all we got for today. We will be back here tomorrow.