The phrase “Christ is King” is, in itself, a core Christian affirmation: Jesus Christ is the divine ruler of the universe, and society is not exempt from God’s commands. The phrase is not inherently antisemitic, political, or sinful. Its meaning depends on who uses it, how it is used, and whether it is joined to contempt for Jewish people, Holocaust denial, conspiracy theories, or other forms of bigotry.
The controversy surrounding Candace Owens and The Daily Wire arose because “Christ is King” became associated online with a far-right movement that has repeatedly used Christian language alongside antisemitic claims. Candace Owens did not explicitly aim her posts at Ben Shapiro or any other Jewish person, but the timing of her statements, her public conflict with Shapiro, and the phrase’s use by Nicholas Fuentes and his followers caused some observers to interpret it as an antisemitic dog whistle.
Why the phrase became controversial
In this episode Trent addresses the antisemitic controversy surrounding the online use of the phrase “Christ is King” in light of staff changes at the Daily Wire. Last week, Candace Owens and the Daily Wire ended their relationship and there’s been a debate about a phrase that’s become popular on the internet since then.
On the one side you have people saying this is an affirmation of the Christian faith and a desire to not give into secular culture. On the other side, you have people saying the phrase Christ is king is antisemitic, or it can be antisemitic and it’s being used by others to express contempt for Jewish people.
A row has exploded on X (formerly Twitter) over the phrase “Christ is King”. Surely this is something all Christians believe. So why has it become contentious? The war has raged online, and it’s been a particularly vicious battle, especially in American conservative circles.
This time, it’s been over the statement “Christ is King”. You might think this is a fundamental Christian belief that should be proclaimed from the rooftops with no problem. But, as with many other issues of late, people of bad faith can cause confusion and misunderstanding, even when it comes to terms that appear on first glance to be uncontentious.
What happened between Candace Owens and The Daily Wire
It started when the outspoken commentator Candace Owens left conservative media outlet The Daily Wire. She has, among other things, been using the phrase “Christ is King” online.
It’s difficult to know for sure and the reason for her departure from The Daily Wire has not been made public. However, she has been critical of the state of Israel in recent weeks, which has led to a public bust up between her and fellow Wire commentator Ben Shapiro.
Shapiro is both a staunch defender of Israel, and Jewish himself. Candace did not explicitly aim her tweet at Shapiro, or any other Jewish person. Nevertheless, some have assumed that was her intention.
In November 2023, Candace Owens, the conservative pundit who hosts a podcast for the online network The Daily Wire, posted a cryptic message on social media consisting of Bible quotes about persecution and the worship of money, and the statement “Christ is King.”
The posts, her first on the platform in two days, came shortly after Ben Shapiro, the Orthodox Jewish pundit who is also her employer, called Owens’s response to the war in Gaza “disgraceful.” Owens has not responded to Shapiro’s comments.
The posts on the social media platform X appeared to some as an antisemitic dog-whistle, alluding to Shapiro’s comments and invoking ancient anti-Jewish tropes through its use of Biblical language and its appeal to the Christian faith. Yashar Ali, the prominent journalist with more than 700,000 followers on the site, shared a screenshot and said, “I know what Candace’s tweets mean.”
The first post begins with a passage from the Gospel of Matthew (5:9-11): “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” It continues, “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.”
Owens then jumps to a different section of the Gospel of Matthew (6:24) that reads: “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” The second post just reads, “Christ is King.”
Shapiro then responds by saying: “Candace, if you feel that taking money from The Daily Wire somehow comes between you and God, by all means quit.” Owens then responded by posting: “You have been acting unprofessional and emotionally unhinged for weeks now. And we have all had to sit back and allow it and have all tried to exercise exceeding understanding for your raw emotion. But you cross a certain line when you come for scripture and read yourself into it. I will not tolerate it.”
Owens’s criticism of Israel and her public profile
Candace Owens has also been at the centre of controversy for her repeated criticism of Israel. In October 2023, in response to Israel bombing the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City, she wrote on X: “I have been disgusted by the propagandists pretending a Christian church was not bombed. Christians were killed. No Christian should stay silent.”
In November of the same year, she further stated: “No government anywhere has a right to commit a genocide, ever.” The continued criticism and subsequent fallout with Ben Shapiro, co-founder of The Daily Wire, led to her departure from the media company in March 2024.
Owens did not elaborate on the meaning of her posts, and she did not post again until the following day, to announce an upcoming interview with Tucker Carlson, to be released Wednesday evening. The two have both been accused of antisemitism in the past.
Owens has also faced repeated condemnation for a statement in 2019 that “If Hitler just wanted to make Germany great and have things run well - okay, fine. The problem is he had dreams outside of Germany,” to illustrate a distinction between nationalism and imperialism.
Owens went on to call Hitler a “homicidal, psychotic maniac,” and rejects any claim that she meant to endorse Hitler’s activity in Germany, but the remarks are frequently cited by those who criticize her.
Owens thought Jerusalem’s “Muslim Quarter” was a state-imposed ghetto. Both Owens and Carlson have been critical of the US’s support for Israel since Hamas’s attack on October 7.
Carlson criticized American lawmakers, in particular Republican Lindsey Graham, and the presidential candidate and governor of Florida Ron DeSantis, for their comments following the attack. Carlson suggested that Graham was speaking recklessly and risking escalation without a plan, and that DeSantis was focusing on the plight of Israelis in a way that he wouldn’t on the plight of Americans.
Candace Owens has criticized Israel’s prosecution of the war against Hamas, writing on X that “no country has a right to commit genocide, ever.” Owens said that she was not alluding to Israel in particular, but many made the connection given the timing and social context.
Those opposed to Israel’s activities in Gaza have increasingly accused the country of committing genocide in the war against Hamas, despite Israel’s documented efforts to limit civilian casualties and protect those fleeing the more active parts of the warzone.
Political criticism of Israel and antisemitism are not identical
It’s not antisemitic to be critical of the modern nation of Israel, and it’s not antisemitic to simply offend Jewish people or their sensibilities provided what you’re saying is the truth done in charity.
Candace did not explicitly aim her tweet at Shapiro, or any other Jewish person. Nevertheless, some have assumed that was her intention. The vast majority of Jews, Shapiro included, do not accept this belief, so some people have been concerned about the religious offence seeking to be caused, and take exception to that.
Not every charge of antisemitism is true. It is not antisemitic to be critical of the Jewish faith by pointing out that it contains falsehoods such as the Jewish faith’s denial of Jesus Christ’s messianic and divine status.
For example, in 2021, Pope Francis gave a homily on St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians where he said, of the mosaic law, which is the foundational text of Judaism that the law however does not give life. It does not offer the fulfillment of the promise because it is not capable of being able to fulfill it. Those who seek life need to look to the promise and to its fulfillment in Christ.
Leaders of Judaism in Israel criticize these remarks, but the Pope was just saying what the New Testament teaches in Galatians 3 21. For if a law had been given which could make alive, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.
The mosaic law does not give spiritual or eternal life with God. Only Christ’s sacrifice can give us that kind of life. It’s not antisemitic to say that all people, including Jewish people should become Catholic and receive the gift of eternal life.
However, the Second Vatican Council condemns racial hatred and unbending ideologies that continue to divide men and place them in opposing camps and also with respect to the fundamental rights of the person. Every type of discrimination, whether social or cultural, whether based on sex, race, color, social condition, language or religion, is to be overcome and eradicated as contrary to God’s intent.
What antisemitism means in this discussion
Now almost everyone agrees antisemitism is sinful. They just disagree on what counts as antisemitism. For example, nearly everyone agrees that hating people because of their genetics and trying to exterminate them is evil, but critics who are accused of antisemitism often say they don’t do that or they’re not arguing for that, so they are not guilty of the sin of antisemitism.
However, there’s more to antisemitism than just the most extreme examples. The easiest way to spot it would be to just replace the word Jews with the word Catholics. If the actions become a sinful form of bigotry when Catholics are involved, then they are also a sinful form of bigotry when they’re done against Jews.
So racism is evil, as is antisemitism, but what is the true antisemitism that’s evil? It is not limited to direct calls for extermination; it can also include collective slander, conspiracy theories, discriminatory political demands, and the attribution of social problems to Jews as a group.
The Catholic comparison
For example, it is not antisemitic to argue Judaism is false or to help Jews convert to Christianity or to criticize the nation of Israel’s political decisions because it’s not anti-Catholic bigotry to argue Catholicism is false or to help Catholics convert to Protestantism or to criticize the Vatican’s political decisions.
I think Protestants are wrong to reject Catholicism and it’s wrong for them to help people leave the church, but I would not say they are being bigoted or prejudicial or anti-Catholic in that sense.
Likewise, a Jew should be able to say he thinks I’m wrong about Judaism, but I am not a bigot if I help Jewish people become Christian.
In one of my past episodes, which I’ll link below, I showed how anti Catholicism is. As the Protestant author Philip Jenkins said, the last acceptable prejudice, Jenkins himself called it the thinking man’s antisemitism.
Though as we’ve seen in stories about Ivy League campuses, antisemitism is enjoying a resurgence among the cultural elite. Here’s a quick survey of past sinful anti-Catholic bigotry and how if you swap Catholics for Jews, you get clear examples of antisemitic bigotry that is incompatible with Catholicism.
Conspiracy theories about control
These would include the following first cartoons that depict Catholics as subversive revolutionaries working on behalf of the Vatican, including as an octopus trying to take over the world. If it’s wrong to slander Catholics with these kinds of globalist conspiracies, then it’s wrong to smear Jews with similar kinds of conspiracies.
Unjust discrimination doesn’t include simply being killed or imprisoned or denied a job. You can unjustly discriminate against a group. You can harm a people group by simply spreading lies about them that motivates others to commit violence against that group.
For example, past conspiracies about the Catholic church led hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan to burn down Catholic parishes because they thought that those churches had a secret weapons cachet in their basement for the coming revolution spurred on by the Pope and history is replete with examples of Jewish synagogues being burned down and Jews being killed in response to similar conspiracy theories.
Complaints about Jewish influence
Number two, complaining that there are too many Catholics in institutions of power, such as at one time there being seven members of the US Supreme Court having been raised Catholic.
If it’s bigoted to say there are too many Catholics in a certain institution, then it’s also bigoted to say there are too many Jews in Hollywood or Wall Street.
Mrs. Feinstein: Think whatever a religion is, it has its own dogma. The law is totally different when you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you.
Stereotypes about collective vice
Number three saying Catholics are prone to certain vices like being drunk, aggressive, being an uneducated immigrant or the more recent stereotype of the pedophile priest.
There are of course individual Catholics who conform to these stereotypes just as there are individual Jews who conform to Jewish stereotypes. But if it’s wrong to say that Catholics as a group embody these vices, if that’s prejudicial bigotry, then it’s also wrong and bigoted to say that all Jews conform to stereotypes or that Jews are uniquely responsible for various social ills when many racial groups are involved in those ills like pornography or abortion.
Expulsion and political exclusion
Number four saying Catholics are so bad for the social order, and so it’s justified for the government to forcibly expel them, such as in the year 1700 when the Massachusetts colony passed the act against Jesuits and pop priests which banned Catholic clergy from the colony or to at least ban Catholics from doing things like holding political office.
Antisemites do the same thing when they say Jews should be forcibly expelled in the present because past governments unjustly exiled and mistreated them. Using past mistreatment of Jews to justify current mistreatment is as wrong as using past anti Catholicism to justify current anti Catholicism.
Historical revisionism
Finally, anti-Catholic to claim to be a historian while rewriting Catholic to suit your anti-Catholic prejudice. This includes falsely blaming Catholics for things in the past. They did not do burning down the library of Alexandria as well as ignoring actual injustices committed against Catholics or even claiming the injustices were made up and never happened.
This kind of person is not an eccentric historian. They’d be an ideologue wielding history as a weapon against Catholics and Antisemites do the same thing when they falsely attribute historical crimes like blood libel to Jewish people and reject true crimes committed against Jews like the targeted murder of Jews during the Holocaust.
Why “Christ is King” is not inherently antisemitic
We should agree. It is true. Christ is king. This is not a bad phrase. I’ve used it myself several times to communicate the truth that society is not immune to God’s commands.
So society, any country can’t defend things like legal abortion by an appeal to separation of church and state. Christ is king overall, but that does not mean every single use of the phrase Christ is king is good.
In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens has addressed the criticism she received for consistently saying “Christ is King”. The phrase, which is found in Scripture (Revelation 19:16, Colossians 1:13, among others), has been a central tenet of Christianity since apostolic times.
In 1925, Pope Pius XI formally instituted the Feast of Christ the King in the liturgical calendar through his encyclical Quas Primas. The incorporation of the feast was seen as a rebuke to secularism, totalitarianism, and the idea that religion should be private or subordinate to the state.
On its own, the phrase “Christ is king” sums up a core tenet of the Christian faith, that Jesus is the divine ruler of the universe. Catholics and many Protestants celebrate a Christ the King Sunday each year.
Many Christians have vigorously protested concerns about saying “Christ is King,” arguing that it should be proclaimed because it is good and true, and we should not allow it to be co-opted by extremists.
Josh Buice, founder of G3 Ministries, said on X: “I don’t care who takes a biblical doctrine and twists it. I believe the Bible. Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt 28:18). Jesus is the King greater than David. His throne has no end. Heb 1:3; Zech 9:9; John 12:15; Luke 1:32-33,” he wrote on X.
“I’m promoting Christ. There are a multiplicity of blasphemous cult groups who use (misuse) the name of God (Yahweh) or the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus, but I don’t get up every morning to search for those abuses to see what I’m allowed to say about Jesus. Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords.”
When a religious phrase becomes a political weapon
But the ancient proclamation can morph into something political, controversial or even sinister, depending on who says it and how it’s said. In recent years, “Christ is king” and similar phrases have been chanted at political rallies, posted on social media and proclaimed in speeches by voices on the right.
At times the phrase is used to support the notion of America as a Christian nation or as one that owes its allegiance specifically to the Christian God. Some current Cabinet officials and recent members of Congress have used the phrase in speeches and on social media.
The phrase is not inherently political, said Brian Kaylor, president and editor-in-chief of Word&Way, a progressive site covering faith and politics. But that fact provides a “deniability” to those politicizing it.
“We’re at a dangerous point with the phrase ‘Christ is king’ because of the heavy activity and use of it on the far right in very fascist, antisemitic ways,” said Kaylor, a Baptist minister and author of several books on religion and politics. “We’re at the danger of that phrase losing its meaning to where this new antisemitic use is the dominant definition.”
Anti-woke activist James Lindsay, co-author of Cynical theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity-and Why This Harms Everybody argues that Christ is King is being used in a similar way to BLM because it is a popular phrase that nearly everyone can get behind, but extremists are using it for purposes beyond the worthwhile, plain, literal meaning of the phrase.
For BLM that was radical Marxism, for “Christ is King”, it is the far right. “Christ is King as it is declared, is a sophisticated and manipulative dialectical trap like ‘Black Lives Matter,’ and Christians are being baited into it by a few public figures and a band of antisocial troublemakers, likely led by a fed,” Lindsay wrote on X.
“Christians are expected to agree with the sentiment because it is, in a way, a cornerstone belief of their religion. They’re often expected to participate in the refrain as well. Just like ‘Black Lives Matter,’ it’s something undeniable (for Christians) but also manipulative.”
How “Christ is King” can be used in vain
Some people who use this phrase are taking the Lord’s name in vain, or they’re using Christianity as a prop to promote their own sinful behavior.
One example would be Andrew Tate, a self-described Muslim who is admitted to pimping women out and is being charged with rape and sex trafficking by the Romanian government.
He writes, as a Muslim, it warms my heart to see the resurgence of spirited Christian declarations. Christ is king and I pray Christianity regains its strength and protects its societies against the pervasive and constant erosion of morality by the devotees of Satan.
If you accept everything, you stand for nothing. This is a bunch of self-serving garbage, and my favorite reply to this, along with all the actual Muslims who are offended by Tate saying Christ is king, is from Byzantine Scotus who said, if we treated Christ as king, you’d be in prison.
So not every use of the phrase is good. If the phrase Christ is king becomes popular among a group of people who celebrate certain evils, then an otherwise good phrase can become problematic and you can question the motives of that group of people who say it.
The comparison with “Allahu Akbar”
For example, in Arabic, the phrase Allahu Akbar roughly means God is great or God is greater. The word Allah is just the Arabic word for God. It was used by Arabic Christians long before Muhammad preached his religion of Islam.
Arabic Christians still use the word Allah to refer to God.
Muslim BAKED On Arab Christians Calling God, "Allah"!
There’s actually nothing wrong with saying in Allah, even as a Christian I use that term often. What it really means is whatever the Lord wills. So the word Allah in Arabic just means God or Lord, right?
So there’s nothing wrong with the phrase Allahu Akbar because Arabic Christians use this phrase to say God is great, is that some Muslims have co-opted the phrase for sinful purposes like terrorism. They’ll exclaim Allahu Akbar before committing an act of terror.
So if a certain group of people who downplay, mock, or even endorse the sin of terrorism, like to use the phrase Allahu Akbar, then that needs to be called out. Even though there’s nothing wrong with saying God is great in Arabic.
Likewise, if groups of people who downplay, mock, or even endorse the sin of antisemitism, use the phrase Christ is king, then that too needs to be called out even though there’s nothing wrong with saying Christ is king.
The role of Nicholas Fuentes and the Groypers
However, the phrase has also been weaponised in parts of political debate, gaining a particular association with the America First movement led by anti-semite Nicholas Fuentes.
The phrase has gained popularity among far-right figures and their followers. The controversy connects to a larger schism on the right, with some conservatives pushing back against an increasingly vocal faction whose denunciations of Israel, critics say, often combine with blatant antisemitism.
Some of the latter group insist they’re not antisemitic, just anti-Zionist. That itself is a sharp break from what was once a near-consensus of pro-Israel sentiment among Republicans.
Recently there has been a significant increase in actual, real, far-right antisemitism that uses the name “Christian,” often justified using religious language. This group are using “Christ is King” as a slogan and often alongside antisemitic statements such as Holocaust denial, the “Jews run the world” trope, or that Jewish people hate Christians, for example.
Therefore the concern is that Christians who are proclaiming “Christ is King” are unwittingly offering support to extremists. Blake Callens, author of The case against Christian nationalism said on X that those using “Christ is King”, are “unknowingly advancing an obfuscatory narrative from white nationalists.”
This has led to a number of US Christians warning that saying “Christ is King” can in fact be antisemitic.
Fuentes supporters chanted “Christ is king” at the Million MAGA March, a November 2020 rally denying the Republican Trump’s defeat to Democrat Joe Biden in that year’s presidential election.
It’s “using the Lord’s name in an abusive manner,” Dillon said. He testified that the phrase has been co-opted by Groypers, alluding to the followers of far-right influencer Nick Fuentes, who has spread antisemitic views.
Holocaust denial and antisemitic conspiracy theories
With instruments like gas chambers, it is antisemitic to deny the traditional view of the Holocaust if you are doing so so that you can have free reign to extol the antisemitic virtues of someone like Adolf Hitler and use them to slander the Jewish people as being a threat to society, and many people who do this like to say Christ is king while they’re doing it.
For example, here is Nick Fuentes, a well-known holocaust denni at a rally discussing the alleged problem of too many Jews being in powerful positions in society.
Fuentes has said the Holocaust was exaggerated, and he has denounced “organized Jewry in America.” He has claimed to be in battle with “satanic, globalist elites,” an antisemitic trope.
Here’s Fuentes praising Hitler at length. In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens has addressed the criticism she received for consistently saying “Christ is King”.
Owens, who is married to the Catholic and British entrepreneur George Farmer, described the criticism as strengthening her family. Reflecting on her husband’s calmness during the tumultuous period, Owens said that it was due to his faith, and that in their family he was a “spiritual leader first and foremost”.
Owens also described a “divine clarity” that entered their lives, enabling them to discern “who are our real friends”. She cited the bizarre nature of being criticised by other conservative commentators for asserting the Kingship of Christ, and how people who had previously been friendly began making layered criticisms of her character.
Owens particularly called out Seth Dillon, CEO of The Babylon Bee, who criticised her position despite the fact that she “stood up for him when it really mattered”.
Why context determines meaning
Jeremy Boreing, the chief executive of US conservative media company The Daily Wire gave a long explanation on X: “How is saying ‘Christ is King’ antisemitic? The same way anything becomes antisemitic - when it is used for the purpose of expressing antisemitism.
It’s like asking ‘how does a shovel become a murder weapon?’ When it is used to murder someone. This isn’t hard. A shovel is not innately a murder weapon. Saying ‘Christ is King’ is not innately antisemitic. It’s all about how a thing is used.
Saying “Christ is King” for an evil purpose - like using it as a weapon to express your hatred or disdain for the Jews - is a grave sin. God will not be mocked. Invoking Him in vain self-promotion, or to troll Jews, or to attack your political rivals is to carry forth His Name in vain.”
Two things can be true: 1. Genuine followers of our Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ, should proclaim “Christ is King”. Use it as a heartfelt expression of your faith in Him alone & preach it out of good will, not envy, spite or rivalry (Philippians 1:15-18).
2. “Christ is King” is being used in vain (Exodus 20:7) by a large number of Christless Conservatives, influencers, and other bad actors who are jumping on a trend. They are committing a grave sin. It’s being proclaimed out of selfish ambition (Philippians 2).
That distinction also appears in the comparison with other religious expressions. A phrase can retain a legitimate theological meaning while being deliberately used by a particular group as a hostile political signal.
Jesus, Jewish identity, and the meaning of Christian kingship
If you’re one of the very-online white nationalists who decided during Holy Week to claim the hashtag “Christ is king” as an antisemitic troll, I’ve got what might seem to you to be both good news and bad news. The good news: Christ is king. The bad news: He’s a Jew. The even worse news: He’s not the kind of king you think he is.
This week commentator Candace Owens, recently fired by The Daily Wire for anti-Jewish comments, made news as she used the slogan online, allegedly as a response to Daily Wire cofounder, Ben Shapiro, who is Jewish.
The phrase was then amplified by so-called “Groypers,” the social media mob assembled around the white nationalist Nick Fuentes, whose singular mission seems to be to put the Mein back in Mein Kampf.
When some-such as on-air talent and executives at Owens’s previous media platform-criticized the use of the slogan, many of those using it pointed out that the words Christ is king represent basic Christian teaching.
The words God and damn are, of course, perfectly good biblical words too, but most of us can see that context can change the meaning.
One could argue yes, and that the first time we find the words referenced as written down, they were just that. The cross, after all, came with a label affixed to it.
Above Jesus’ head were the words Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews, written not just in Aramaic but in Greek and Latin too (John 19:19-22).
Many have speculated as to why the prosecuting governor, Pontius Pilate, who personally wrote this inscription, did so-and why he wouldn’t change it, when asked, to “This man said, ‘I am the king of the Jews.’”
What we do know is that the Roman system, of which Pilate was an official, used humiliation and intimidation as governing tools. After all, that’s what crucifixion is-a ghastly and shameful act of torture meant to provoke fear in anyone who might challenge the Caesarean order and to dehumanize anyone killed that way.
The Gospel of Mark indicates that the sign’s inscription, “the king of the Jews,” was actually the charge against him (15:26). The “Jesus is king” language would have been self-evidently a kind of joke, making fun of both Jesus and his fellow Jews under Roman occupation.
As Frederick Buechner once said of that sign, “To get something closer to the true flavor, try translating the sign instead: ‘Head Jew.’”
The joke is that a king on the throne of David would not be drowning in his own blood, helplessly fixed to a Roman cross. To call him that would make a cruel point not just to any future insurrectionist but to the hopes of Jewish people generally-No one is coming to get rid of us. Caesar is king.
The motives of Pilate’s soldiers in applying the “Christ is king” imagery was even clearer. The purple cloak and the crown of thorns were meant to be a parody-as the Roman soldiers sarcastically saluted Jesus, yelling, “Hail, king of the Jews!” (Mark 15:18).
They mocked Jesus both for his alleged claim to kingship and for his Jewishness, both seen as being obviously beneath the majesty of Roman power.
Christ’s kingship is not Caesar’s power
Jesus, though, is not a true and better Caesar. His kingship is something altogether different.
“The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (Luke 17:20, ESV throughout).
Jesus was teaching, If you want to see the kingdom of God, stop looking around for what you expect it to be; here I am.
That’s because the kingdom of God is not a capstone of the aspirations and power games of this present order; it’s a repudiation of them.
If the kingdom of God were about external conformity, tribal membership, or “winning” in the sense that we define it, Jesus could have embraced all of that from the crowds around him (John 6:15) or by teaching Peter to be a better swordsman (Matt. 26:52-54).
The kingdom of God cannot be understood or articulated without seeing that the Crucifixion is not a plot obstacle on a hero’s journey. The way of the Cross is, in fact, the Way-while the way of Caesar leads to death.
One cannot be born again by Caesarean section. The Resurrection itself was a “yes” and an “amen” to that way.
As New Testament scholar Richard B. Hays points out, Jesus, after his resurrection, did not appear to Pontius Pilate or to his other opponents, but to his own disciples.
What he entrusted to them was not a way to get and to use the same kind of power that had crucified him, but instead a way to wait for the only kind of kingship that ultimately matters, anointed by the Holy Spirit who breathes life into what was dead (Acts 1:6-9).
Be careful what you wish for. Christ as king, the way he defined it, is not good news for those who want to use Christ in order to become kings themselves.
Christian identity and antisemitism
If Jesus were an antisemite, he could not save us. He would be a sinner just like us. In addition, if Jesus were an antisemite, he could never read his own Bible or even look in the mirror.
You cannot follow Jesus while sneering, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” You cannot claim the Messiah as Lord while hating his kinsmen according to the flesh.
You cannot say “King Jesus” while mocking who he is and what he told us with purple robes and thorny crowns. You cannot have both Jesus as Lord and Jesus as Caesar without twisting the cross.
A twisted cross is just another swastika, and that’s no cross at all.
The Vatican has diplomatic relations with Israel and has also recognized a state of Palestine. Pope Leo XIV has called for a two-state solution while denouncing antisemitism.
During the Israel-Hamas war, popes Francis and Leo denounced the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas and Israel’s massive military response, with Leo demanding a halt to Israel’s “collective punishment” of Gaza’s population.
Other Catholics on the Religious Liberty Commission noted that Jesus and his followers were Jews and that a seminal 1965 Vatican document rejects antisemitism and the blaming of all Jews, including those alive today, for Jesus’ crucifixion.
How the controversy developed in religious and political circles
The phrase has also gained popularity in political settings with some on the Catholic and evangelical right who are strongly pro-Israel and have repeatedly denounced antisemitism, such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Kaylor said the phrase is often used as “a declaration of Christian nationalism” asserting that “the nation should be brought under the dictates of Christ.”
The controversy has highlighted both religious and political fissures. Patrick, the commission chairman, said the dispute with Prejean Boller reflects “a real problem with a very small group in our Republican Party.”
Antisemitism needs to be repudiated or “this is going to destroy our party,” he said on “The Mark Levin Show,” a podcast.
But Prejean Boller has galvanized supporters from a staunchly conservative group called Catholics for Catholics, a lay-led, self-described “militant organization dedicated to the evangelization of this great country.”
It plans to honor Prejean Boller at a March 19 event with a Catholic Champion Award in Washington featuring speakers such as Owens.
Prejean Boller has reposted announcements of the event on X, including one post that shared a Spanish-language statement that translates to “We will not rest until we convert the USA into a Catholic nation.” The post concluded in English with “Christ is King!”
A practical test for interpreting the slogan
When the phrase appears by itself as a sincere profession of Christian belief, it expresses the traditional doctrine that Jesus Christ is Lord and King. When it is used alongside calls for racial exclusion, conspiracy theories about Jews, Holocaust denial, or praise for Hitler, its function changes.
The relevant question is not whether the words “Christ is King” are present, but what the speaker is communicating through them. The same words can be a confession of faith, a rebuke to secularism, a political slogan, an attempt to provoke a rival, or a vehicle for antisemitic propaganda.
So not every use of the phrase is good. If the phrase Christ is king becomes popular among a group of people who celebrate certain evils, then an otherwise good phrase can become problematic and you can question the motives of that group of people who say it.
That’s why the phrase Christ is king has recently become so problematic, not because of the phrase, but because of a small group of people associated with it.
Something dark is haunting the world right now. The old gods of blood and soil are rustling. We have endured the same before. But we must not let them claim the cross.
The cry “Christ is king” is true. That’s why it must never be emptied with a satanic kind of kingship. Abominations are in the world around us until the end, but Jesus warned us of a specific kind-the abomination that is “standing in the holy place (let the reader understand).”
Jesus says, along with the prophet Daniel, that that kind of abomination-the kind that uses the holy things of God-leads to “desolation” (Matt. 24:15). What we must fear the most is not that which can push us down but that which can hollow us out.