Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 974 | Candace Owens, ‘Christ Is King’ & the True Gospel

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort.

Starting point is 00:00:19 We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Candice 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 our friends at Good Ranchers. Go to Good Ranchers.com. Use code alley at checkout. That's good ranchers.com. Code Allie.

Starting point is 00:00:58 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Tuesday. Hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far. Okay, as promised on Instagram, I am going to break down this Christ is king drama and how it relates to conservative media and just the right wing in America in general. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, that's okay. I'm going to try to break this all down in a way that not only you understand, but hopefully in a way that is edifying.

Starting point is 00:01:35 to and I will explain to you why all of this matters. Now, before we get into it, I just want to, I just want to set us up. Sunday was Palm Sunday and Easter is coming. The resurrection Sunday is coming this Sunday. And I just wanted to read you the passage from John 12 that describes the triumphal entry of Jesus, starting in verse 12. The next day, the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel. This is the description of Palm Sunday that we read in John 12, and it would have been a beautiful thing if that is why Christ is king was trending over the weekend. That we were simply

Starting point is 00:02:29 repeating what this large crowd was shouting at into Jesus Christ on this Palm Sunday when he was entering Jerusalem before he died, before he was raised again declaring that Jesus is king. But that's not why it was trending. Now that may be the heart behind most people who were declaring that Christ is king on Twitter. But there's really more to this. There's are a lot of different fragments and factions on right-wing Twitter that have co-opted this phrase, Christ is king, in a way that is very troubling to me. And while we are going to talk about how Candice Owens ties into this, how the daily wire ties into this, how conservative media ties into this, and we will kind of start with that. I'll tell you what I know.

Starting point is 00:03:29 and what I understand about her departure from The Daily Wire. I just want to make clear up front that this is not, this episode is not about Candace Owens. This episode is not about The Daily Wire. It's not about Ben Shapiro. It's not about any one person or anyone faction or anyone subset that I mentioned. I know both parties. I know some people at the Daily Wire have known them for a long time.

Starting point is 00:03:53 I know Candace Owens. And so my desire, in this is not to pit people against each other. It's not to impugn anyone's motives. I am going to do the best that I possibly can to break this down in an honest way, in a helpful way, and again, hopefully in a biblically encouraging way. And in fact, I can guarantee that by the end of this, you will be biblically encouraged. So I'm trying to explain this, though. The best that I can is someone who kind of knows a lot of the people involved in a way that is objective, while also at the end, sharing my heartfelt perspective on all of this. So let me kind of give you a big picture summary.

Starting point is 00:04:36 And then I will back up and then I'll go into the details of what all of this even means as your dear Sherpa to the normal non-perpetually online moms who still want to know what's going on in culture and politics. So as I said, the phrase Christ is King was trending globally on X, formerly known as Twitter, formerly known as Twitter on Sunday. The trending phrase coincided with both Palm Sunday and the split between conservative commentator Candace Owens and The Daily Wire. Some of you out there had no idea that she departed from the Daily Wire. But yes, it is true. On Friday, Daily Wire CEO, Jeremy Boring, tweeted Daily Wire and Candace Owens have ended their relationship. Now, why did this happen? It's obviously not because Candace. wasn't successful or that her show wasn't big enough. She has a huge audience. I can say that personally, that a lot of my friends follow Candace Owens. They might not follow anyone else. They might not know anything else that's going on in politics. But they listen to Candice Owens. And of course, they listen to my show because they have to. But they can tell me something that Candace Owen says.

Starting point is 00:05:51 I hear a lot from a lot of suburban moms. Well, did you hear what Candice said? Did you hear what she revealed about this. Did you hear her take or her opinion? So she is very popular. I would say among a wide range of people, all different kinds of people listen to Candace Owens. And that just speaks to her talent and how magnetic she is. And so they separated not because she's not insanely successful because she is, but because of tension. At least that's what we can deduce, I think, from what has been publicly displayed from both hosted the Daily Wire, namely Ben Shapiro and Candice Owens. And it's specifically really about Israel. Yes, the Israel Hamas War, but it goes back even further than that to a relationship with Kanye West. You probably know they have a strong

Starting point is 00:06:44 relationship, have a friendship that started several years ago when Kanye West tweeted famously. I like the way or maybe I love the way Candice Owens thinks. He made comments. He made comments. comments not too long ago saying that he is going death con three on Jews. He has made some very troubling comments, particularly on Alex Jones's show about Hitler, about Nazis, about the Jewish people. And Candace Owens is his friend. And so I think that there was probably already some tension because of that. But then Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th. And the position that she has taken on that a lot of people deem controversial, including Ben Shapiro himself. And we will get to how all of this relates to Crisis King. Just buckle up. Just hang with me. So she tweeted on November

Starting point is 00:07:39 3rd. So this is about a month after the original Hamas attack on Israel. She tweeted, no government anywhere has a right to commit genocide ever. There is no justification for a genocide. I can't believe this even needs to be said or is even considered the least bit controversial to state. And so she is kind of defending some of the questions, some of the criticisms that she's had, not just about Israel's actions in the war with Hamas, but also I think America's involvement in that. And she would say this is just not a controversial statement. I'm talking about any country. Some people interpreted that to me while you're playing both sides in this when really it was Hamas who launched an provoked attack on Israeli civilians, and so we don't need to kind of play both sides on this. And that is

Starting point is 00:08:28 the stance that Ben Shapiro of the Daily Wire took in a video that was circulating at a private event that followed these statements about Israel. Ben Shapiro called Candace's, Candice Owens' response to the conflict and her behavior, quote, absolutely disgraceful. So he's like addressing a crowd. Someone is filming him on their phone. That ends up going around on Twitter where he says, I think her behavior during this has been disgraceful without a doubt. I think her faux sophistication on these particular issues has been ridiculous. And he called her commentary on Israel Disreputable. So as that video was circulating again, this was in November. She tweeted on November 14th, Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed

Starting point is 00:09:20 are they which are persecuted for righteousness's sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. She says no one can serve two masters either you will hate one and love the other or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. She follows up to that says Christ is king. Ben Shapiro fired back with a response. Again, this is November. This was November 15th that he tweeted this. Responded to her tweet, Blessed out of the peacemakers, et cetera, saying Candice, if you feel that taking money from the Daily Wire somehow comes between you and God by all means, quit.

Starting point is 00:10:08 Okay. Shots fired. Candice responds to that by saying, 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. Wow. But you cross a certain line when you come for scripture and read yourself into it. I will not tolerate it. So she, it seems saying there when she said, Blessed are the peacemakers, persecutors, you can't serve God and money, that she was not talking about Ben Shapiro, but that is how her tweet was interpreted because what he said about her was circulating in a video. But she says it's not about that. And this also reminds me, we don't have it in this document, but back when the Kanye West thing was happening when he was making those comments, Ben Shapiro also said something publicly about that and about Candice, I believe. And she responded basically saying, like, you can just text me. You can talk to me personally about this. We don't need to air this out publicly. So again, this is not the first time that they have had tension. And I would say that I don't know this. I don't know this for a fact. But I remember when.

Starting point is 00:11:20 I remember when there were, you know, the vaccine was like the most contentious. The COVID vaccine was the most contentious issue. I remember wondering if there was tension there during that time at the height of COVID because you'll remember that Ben Shapiro at that time was very pro-COVID vaccine. And Candice was really one of the first people to be anti-COVID vaccine. And of course, she's openly anti-vaccine in general. I just remember wondering, how is that going? Like how are they able to kind of maintain that relationship? And to both of their credit, they do seem to have been able to be respectful of one another and to maintain a professional relationship. But that does seem to have unraveled over the past year or so when the disagreements have become more fundamental, particularly when it comes to Israel and when it comes to perhaps someone say the Jewish people. And so in the midst of that, her tweeting, Christ is king.

Starting point is 00:12:20 it's kind of become a rallying cry. However, it did not start here. And that is part of the relevance of this story and everything that devolved on Sunday when Christ's King was trending. Because it didn't actually start with Candace Owens. I'm not sure exactly where it started, but it started, I don't know, at least a few years ago. And not as a triumphant declaration of Jesus's lordship, but as something I believe pretty sinister. So we'll get into that in just a second. Hey, this is Steve Day.

Starting point is 00:12:58 If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity. over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this T-Day Show right here on Blaze TV or listen

Starting point is 00:13:34 wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Okay, so how can Christ is king, that victorious statement, that biblically true statement, how can it have any sinister meaning whatsoever? And again, this is not about Candace. I'm not saying that this is what she meant when she said that Christ is King back in November or any time that she has said it since. She may not have even known that it was associated with anyone else besides her just declaring something that is true. Now, we can talk about what was meant when she used Crisis King in relation to the conversation about or with Ben Shapiro, but I'm not sure exactly what she would say about that. Maybe one day she'll come on the show and we can break this all down with her, but some people did see that Christ is king that she says as a retort

Starting point is 00:14:34 to Ben and his Jewishness. I don't think that she would accept that interpretation of what she said, but that is how it was interpreted by many people, partly because of the association that the phrase has with someone named Nick Fuentes. Now, this is not someone I have probably ever talked about on the show before, but there's really no way around talking about him when it comes to the subject. And so this is how the Christian Post describes him. And I'm sure that he would probably take issue with this description, but this gives you just kind of an idea. Nick Fuentes is an American radical far right political commentator who has become well-known. for his anti-Semitic, racist, and Holocaust-denying statements.

Starting point is 00:15:24 He has been kicked off of all major social media sites, including Elon Musk's newer pro-free speech version of X. For his extreme rhetoric, he does have a rumble page. He is the founder of the America First Movement. He describes it as the synthesis of traditional values, Trumpian populism and American nationalism. So here are just some examples. Now, he would probably say that these were jokes, but this is part of why he has been kicked off and why he has seen as extreme.

Starting point is 00:15:58 Fuentes on video has jokingly compared Jews to cookies baking in an oven while trying to say that the math doesn't add up to the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust in an August 5th podcast episode since removed from YouTube, but reported by right wing watch. He referred to Daily Wire columnist Matt Walsh as a Shabas, Goy race trader. because he works for Jews, Ben Shapiro at Daily Wire. Fuentes added, yeah, okay, keep typing on Twitter.com, F-A-G-G-O-T, and then says that again, says that again, race trader, you work for Jews, you know. So Nick Fuentes has a history with Ben Shapiro. He was kicked out of a Turning Point USA event in 2019. He proceeded to harass Ben Shapiro, who was walking into the event with his family,

Starting point is 00:16:50 Elijah Schaefer and Andy know are with Fuentes documenting what's happening. So here's top one. Ben, it's great to see you. Why did you give a 45-minute speech about me at Stanford? And you won't even look at- Hey, hey, hey, hey, he's with his kids. Hey, hey, hey, let him come on. I know you with his family, but I can't get to anywhere else. A 45-minute speech. Wow. Well, that's that's our free speech warrior. everybody. Champion of the battle of ideas. Okay. So that's him. He is walking with his family. I, that's just, that's awful. That's awful. That's awful. That is like one of the worst things that you can possibly do. Ben is with his little children and with his wife. And so that's Nick Fuentes,

Starting point is 00:17:42 kind of harassing him. But it goes back farther than that. I'm pretty sure their first running was in 2018 and Ben Shapiro, I think, called him an anti-Semite for something that he said at the time. So that's who Nick Fuentes. That's who Nick Fuentes is. And we also have a video of him kind of telling his views of what is wrong with, quote unquote, Jewish power in the United States. And then again, using this, Christ is King chant. taught to. The word is getting out that we've got to get rid of Jewish power in America. We are here to say that America is not a Jewish nation. America is a Christian nation. It only makes sense. If Christ is the king of the world, that Christ must be king in America, must be the king of America.

Starting point is 00:18:54 All right. So that is Nick Fuentes. And I have something to say just about like that. last point that's made about Jesus is being king of the world and king of America and all of that. I'll get to that point at the end, at the end of this, but I'm still just trying to explain where this kind of Christ is king is coming from. Again, I'm not sure if this is original to him or original to his followers or original to his movements, as it were. but this phrase as a chant goes back, goes back at least several years. Now, just the other day before Daily Wire and Candace split, this Nick Fuentes made a video

Starting point is 00:19:46 praising Candice Owens, and here's a three. Candice Owens has just been on a tear lately. She has been in a full-fledged war against the Jews. and specifically some of these Zionist rabbis. And I've been watching her evolution. It's been remarkable to witness. Yeah, so then the ADL, the Anti-Defamation League, which is a left-wing organization, they tweeted out, white supremacist and Holocaust denier,

Starting point is 00:20:19 Nick Fuentes, is praising Candace Owens as vitriolic antisemitism. It's hardly surprising, but it does set off alarm bells when bigoted people come together to push anti-Semitic agenda, it adds fuel to the fire of hate. And Candice Owens responded to that by saying, I do not know Nick Fuentes, but you already know that. What I do know is that everyone can see what you guys are doing to me. Your pattern is well established and the world is waking up to it. My crime is having stood up for myself against your network of smears. And by the way, I think that she's telling the truth. I don't think that she knows I don't think that she knows

Starting point is 00:20:57 Nick Fuentes at all. I don't think that she is repeating Christ is king as a specific targeted anti-Semitic trope. I don't think that she knew that this was the phrase or the motto or the chant that his followers had been using to kind of, I think, as a cover for their outright Jewish hatred. I don't think that she knew that. But that is all a relevant part of the story to explain to you why Christ is king was trending on X on Saturday. So it is not completely clear after all of this, after this kind of conversation about Nick Fuentaz and Candice Owens and from the ADL. it's not exactly clear how this relates to her departure from the Daily Wire.

Starting point is 00:22:02 That was on Thursday that this was happening last Thursday, the 21st, and then on the 22nd is when Jeremy Boring declared that their relationship had ended. So I don't know if Nick Fuentes and his words and his history and his history and his history of harassment of Ben Shapiro and then him praising. Candice, I don't know that that has anything to do with the departure, with the severing of the relationship. I'm guessing that the talks were probably already happening before this, before the announcement.

Starting point is 00:22:38 Maybe that was kind of just the straw that broke the camel's back. I don't think that we really know. And like I said, Candice is saying that she doesn't even know who Nick Fuentes is. And Nick Fuentes, like is saying some of it's saying some, really awful stuff without Candace. Now, things that he thinks are great, but that are actually awful that I don't think anyone would want someone to say about them. Like he's saying, for example, that he said that Candace is going full. He said that I love how the intro is so generic,

Starting point is 00:23:11 but it's like she's going full 1488. She's going, well, no, she's really going full 88. 1488 is a combination of two popular white supremacist numeric. Numerous. symbols. The first symbol is 14, which is shorthand for 14 words, a slogan, we must secure the existence of our people in a future for white children. The second is 88, which stands for Hale Hitler. So I don't think that Candice wants this kind of association. She doesn't want this kind of description. So I don't, I'm not saying that that is what is what caused her departure from the Daily Wire. Again, we don't know. But this all kind of came together in an unfortunate and perfect storm and somehow kind of led to this Christ is

Starting point is 00:23:55 king chant going viral and spreading on Sunday. Now, it's interesting because Candice didn't recently say Christ is king. So it's not like she started it off and said, okay, everyone needs to start tweeting this now. It's not really clear who first started tweeting it, but it is in response to this whole conversation, this whole back and forth and all of this. And it absolutely does have to do with the topic of Israel and the Jewish people and all of that. And there are some people saying, well, no, Christ is King. It is just a Christian declaration. It is the central Christian tenet.

Starting point is 00:24:34 There is nothing anti-Semitic about this. This is nothing to do with Israel. It has nothing to do with Judaism. Has nothing to do with Candice Owens or the Groypers. That's kind of the name of the people that follow Nick Fuentes. There's nothing to do with them. Anyone's saying that is just trying to signal to the left. And that's just crazy.

Starting point is 00:24:53 There's nothing. And then you've got people over here saying, no, this is clearly being used as an anti-Semitic declaration, even if it is true. And so I'll break all that down for you, kind of the discourse and the debate about that. And then what I think in just a second. Okay. So let me read you in exchange between Jeremy Boring, the CEO of Daily Wire and Jason Whitlock,

Starting point is 00:25:27 because it kind of explains both perspectives on why Christ is king was trending. So the blazes Jason Whitlock asked a question and it's sincere. Jason is a sincere guy. He's being honest. He's not trying to, you know, be funny or to like play a rhetorical trick. He asked, how is saying Christ is king anti-Semitic? When did that become true? And so Daily Wire co-founder Jeremy Boring responded.

Starting point is 00:26:01 He said this. He said, how is saying that Christ is King anti-Semitic? He says the same way anything becomes antisemitic when it is used for the purpose of expressing antisemitism in the same way that someone would answer the question, how does a shovel become a murder weapon? He says more. I won't read all of it. He says, when did this become so?

Starting point is 00:26:22 He says, it has always been so. And he says, so he's kind of doing a question. should an answer format and his tweet, is it so? Yes, innately. Additionally, 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. It plainly violates the third commitment. Thou shalt not carry forth the name of the Lord thy God in vain. And then he goes on to explain his view that yes, Christ is king, sure enough, King of Heaven and a birth, King of Jew and Gentile alike. Yet a bruised read, he will not break, a faintly burning wick, he will not smother. So to use

Starting point is 00:26:57 don't use his name as a cudgel to bash those in whom the light of God yet flickers. If you do, you are a blasphemer and an anti-Semite and a piece of crap generally. So that is his perspective on that. Of course, not that Christ's king is innately antisemitic or that it has anything to do with trying to purposely or pointedly slam Jews, but anything can become that way. Now, the response to that by some people would say, well, that's not how people are using it. That's just a fringe group of people. That's just a tiny group of people.

Starting point is 00:27:31 And who even cares? Who even cares if a tiny group of people is co-opting a phrase when the vast majority of people who are saying it are just declaring something strongly, declaring something that is true, declaring the gospel even. So that would be probably the response to what Jeremy Boring has said. And also what Andrew Claven has said. Now I'll give you my response to that response in a minute. But let me explain also what Andrew Claven said because this is probably also what tipped it off.

Starting point is 00:28:03 It's probably also what created more of a conversation around this. Christ is King. It was Andrew Claven's response to her departure, to Candice Owens' departure. And specifically, this use of the phrase, Christ is King, which you'll remember, she said back in November in this whole conversation with Ben Shapiro, or at least about the conversation with Ben Shapiro. So he says, when you use that phrase, Christ's King, to say that God has abandoned his chosen people, the Jews, through whom he came into this world incarnate, that he's broken his promises, his covenant with the Jews, you are quoting scripture like Satan does. You are quoting scripture to your purposes, and that to me is

Starting point is 00:28:48 specifically wicked. Now, in my opinion, this particular point of, you are quoting scripture, you are Andrew Clayton, who I think is a brilliant guy and I really appreciate. I don't, that is a very complicated and nuanced conversation about eschatology and about Israel and about the physical state of Israel, the physical nation of Israel, God's chosen people of Israel or who God's chosen people is. And that is not people who have disagreements about Israel and about the fate of Israel and about the fate of the Jewish people, there are serious and sincere theologians who disagree about that when it comes to the end times when it comes to their eschatology. And so not everyone who debates dispensational theology or what people sometimes call the replacement theology or

Starting point is 00:29:43 whatever, they're not evil. This is not like necessarily a good versus evil debate. And I don't even think that's what Candace is doing. I don't even think that's what Nick Fuentes and all of these people are doing or knowingly doing. I don't think that they have that sophisticated understanding of their eschatology and theology. I think for not Candice, but the rest of those people, it really is just plain and simple. Let me declare this as victory over the powerful Jews. But he does make the point that when you use a truth to mask wickedness, that that becomes problematic. And I think that he's obviously right.

Starting point is 00:30:26 I think that Jeremy Boring is obviously right, that true phrases can be used in an evil way. Of course they can. Of course they can. That doesn't mean that everyone who is using the phrase is evil. That doesn't mean that Candice is using it in an evil way. But I would venture to say that using the Lord's name in vain by saying Christ is king to mean something other,

Starting point is 00:30:51 than Christ is king, for reasons other than sharing the gospel, for reasons other than giving hope and peace to the Christian, is not very French. That it's actually happening a lot more pervasively and is happening via very prominent people. It's not quite as, oh, this is just this thing happening over here that we don't need to pay attention to. Actually, what we're seeing online is not just people who hate Jews saying this as a slam to Jews, but we're also seeing outwrecked Muslims and non-believers saying this as a slam to Jews. You've got Sneco, who is, I don't even know who Sneco is, a huge influencer. He's Muslim.

Starting point is 00:31:34 He tweeted out, Christ is king. And then you also have Andrew Tate, who is a Muslim. He said, 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. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:32:03 You're just not going to convince me. You're not going to convince me that the guy who recently converted to Islam, whose faith says to kill the infidel, that he really believes in. and the strength of Christianity. I know for a fact that he doesn't. I know for a fact that he doesn't. So we should maybe ask ourselves, like, what would be the motivation for someone who is a Muslim, who disdains everything about the Christian moral order?

Starting point is 00:32:37 Obviously, by how he orders his own life. What motivation would he have to declare that Christ is king? Like, let's just put our thinking caps on for a second. use some deductive reasoning, use the logic that God gave us the ability to use in our God-given brains and ask ourselves, like, why would a prominent Muslim be interested in declaring something like Christ is king? I think it's fair to ask. And then Seth Dillon pointed out, he posted this, he posted this screenshot. Not everyone is hiding what they mean by it very well. And the screenshot is, Christ is king, you nasty Jew.

Starting point is 00:33:19 Joel Berry also of the Babylon B tweeted out. Someone's tweet, Christ is King, you Zionist slime? Jake Shields says, is saying Christ's king anti-Semitic? And then Isabella Moody. Now maybe she would say that she was joking about this. She says, hopefully, that's why I say it. And then you've got classically Abby. That's Ben Shapiro's sister.

Starting point is 00:33:43 She's a very sweet woman that just talks about motherhood and modesty. And she posted a picture of her with her baby. And someone responded, nice nose. Careful you don't poke the baby's eyes out, which of course is an anti-Jewish trope. Also, Christ is king. And so that is part of what is happening on X right now. And those are just a few examples. Again, I am certainly not impugning the motives of every one.

Starting point is 00:34:13 or even most people saying Christ is king. I'm not saying that it is bad or wrong to say Christ is king as a Christian. That is a source of comfort and hope and strength and victory for the Christian. But I just want us to really understand what that means. I just want us to really get it and to make sure that we are saying Christ is king as people who understand who he is. understand what his kingship actually implies. Understand the gospel. Understand the good news. If the good news of the gospel is not something that you believe, is not something that you cling to,

Starting point is 00:34:56 then you really have no business saying Christ is king because one day you will wish he weren't. Unless you repent, unless by grace through faith you are made alive in Christ, all of you who are taking the Lord's name in vain when you say Christ is king, so using it for other purposes besides declaring that which is true, aka sharing the good news of the gospel, you will one day wish that he weren't king. That is not a comfort to the non-believer. So I just want to take the opportunity since people are talking about Christ is king. and I think that, you know, there's a lot of benefits to that, obviously, no matter the motivations behind it, I want to take the opportunity, since this is trending, to talk about what this really means, not as a politically charged rallying cry, but as the central Christian doctrine.

Starting point is 00:35:57 in the ancient world the Greeks sought reason the Romans sought physical strength and the Jewish people yearned for the coming of their long-awaited Messiah who would come in the form of a king of a ruler. So when Jesus burst onto the scene, he came not as a scholar, not as a warrior or as a king, but as a baby. He hailed from the obscure town of Nazareth, north of Jerusalem, and the region of Galilee. He was the son of a carpenter, so he was far from royalty. He was no soldier. And even though he was educated in the scriptures, his teachings contradicted both the Jewish and the pagan scholarship of the time. So he fit no one's idea of a hero. He fit no one's idea of a savior.

Starting point is 00:36:47 And yet there he was, claiming to be one with God, the fulfillment of ancient, prophecy, the longed for Messiah King, healing the sick, forgiving the sinner, and taking to task the religious leaders of his day for their hardened hearts. In a world that prized the logos, Jesus, whose very existence defied all logic, claimed to be the logos, the very embodiment of truth, the Tao of the East, and the Word of the West met their match in God made flesh, Jesus Christ. To the Jewish leaders, Jesus was a blasphemer. To the Roman. To the Roman. Romans, he was a nuisance. To some, Jesus was a crazy person, a madman, not unlike others in the same era who claimed to be sent from God. But unlike the others, Jesus's existence, his death,

Starting point is 00:37:38 his burial, and the eyewitness accounts of his resurrection completely rerouted the course of history. We still count time by Jesus's birth. The anthology that contains the account of his life is the most widely circulated book in history. So whether one accepts or rejects the Bible as true or divinely inspired, that the faith Jesus ignited radically changed the world is undeniable. The human rights advances that have their source in Christianity can hardly be enumerated. Every single foundational idea in Western civilization is inextricably intertwined with Christian doctrine. Not even the most arid atheists can escape that. So that Christianity changed the world so drastically is even more stunning when you think about the fact

Starting point is 00:38:29 that its tenets are paradoxical rather than practical. So to live, one must die. To gain, one must lose. To be rich, one must become poor. To be wise, one must become a fool. To grow up, one must become like a child. To be strong, one must become weak. Love your enemies.

Starting point is 00:38:48 Pray for those who persecute you. These ideas are only fitting for a faith in which the Savior arrived as a helpless baby, the lion as a lamb, the king as a servant. It's a faith that claims eternal victory but has a cross as its crux, an execution device so gruesome that it was reserved only for unruly slaves, criminals, and the sinless godman who bore the sins of the world. for since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe 1st Corinthians 121 so god sent this jesus his only son

Starting point is 00:39:32 to die on behalf of sinners paying our debt and wiping our slate clean by grace through the free gift of faith we can be reconciled to a holy god we can become his children we can live forever with him in christ and in christ alone do we find salvation joy satisfaction action and the peace for which we are all longing. So Christians hang our hope on that fact. We hang our hope on the fact that this Jesus, who is currently at the right hand of God, is returning. Not as a baby in a manger or a lamb led to the slaughter, but as the victorious warrior king. We believe that he will defeat the evil one once and for all, making all things right. He will do away with injustice, with oppression, with deceit, with sadness, with sickness, forever.

Starting point is 00:40:19 Yes, Christ is king. This is not just a chant or a motto. It is not a slogan or a slam. It is reality. So he who has ears to hear that, let him hear. I said that on Twitter. And somehow, some people took that as me justifying the use of the term no matter what. But that's not.

Starting point is 00:40:46 That's not my point. So I clarified saying this. using Jesus's king for any other reason that to share the gospel is evil is not a catchy saying or a motivational mantra. I'm not impugning anyone's motive since I don't know them. I just don't want there to be any confusion over that. And I still hold to that clarification. Now, some people got angry at that. So let me clarify, let me clarify further what I mean. Declaring that Jesus is king as a genuine statement of faith, whether as comfort or hope or victory or just an observation, of fact as I've done. That's all good. We should all be declaring that. But using it flippantly

Starting point is 00:41:27 or as an insult or a method of intimidation is wrong. And I'm way less worried about the people it offends and much more fearful of the God that it offends. Galatian 6.7 says, do not be deceived. God is not mocked for whatever one sows that he will also reap. Wow. So saying Jesus, is king as a code for anything other than the gospel is wrong, plain and simple. In Matthew 7, Jesus makes really clear that there will be many who call him Lord, Lord, who did great things in his name and yet didn't really follow him. To them, he says that he will say, I never knew you, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Now, can God use the truth that's being shared right now, even though it's being shared in a

Starting point is 00:42:24 superficial and sometimes subversive way? Yes, Philippians 118 answers the question of how we should feel about someone proclaiming Christ out of selfish ambition, only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed and in that I rejoice. but that doesn't mean it isn't sinful on the part of the person doing it. Now, I want to point out one more thing. I want to get back to this point that Jesus is king means if he's king of the world, then he's king here too. Jesus's king is a political statement inherently.

Starting point is 00:43:01 I want to address that point in just a second. So I just want to say that yes, Jesus is king does have political connotations. Because if Jesus is king, as I've said many times, then he is the ruler, the authority over all things. The government has been placed upon his shoulders. His will is to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Yes and amen. There are no maverick molecules in all creation, no neutral space. C.S. Lewis said there is no neutral ground in all the universe.

Starting point is 00:43:44 Every square inch, every split second is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan. In every speech that I've given over the past probably four years, I have made the argument that Genesis 1-1 changes and encompasses everything. Because if God created the heavens and the earth, then he is in charge of all of it. He says, what is, what is it, what's right, what's wrong, what's good, what's bad, what's true, what's false. When life begins, what a woman is, what a marriage is, and what it's not. He gets to be the arbiter and authority over all of that.

Starting point is 00:44:20 This necessarily must impact as Christians what we think about these issues and how we vote. That doesn't mean that we're ushering in a theocracy because I don't think that the Bible commands us to do that. It means we are voting in accordance with our beliefs just like everyone else. We are bringing our worldview into the public sphere just like everyone else. We have the right and the responsibility to do so. So Jesus' kingship has both immediate, temporal implications and future eternal ones. One day, every knee will bow.

Starting point is 00:44:57 Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And here's what all Christians must agree on. This is the core tenet of our faith that Jesus is necessary for salvation. For anyone and everyone, for the Muslim, for the atheist, for the Jew, the Christian faith holds to John 146, which says that Jesus is the way, the truth, the life that no one comes to the Father except through Jesus. No one. That is what Christianity teaches. That's not some fringe far right belief. That is what Christianity teaches. Acts 412. And there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given among men

Starting point is 00:45:41 by which we must be saved. I know, as I kind of alluded to a little bit earlier when we were talking about Andrew Claven statements. I know that there is debate about Israel, both about the physical nation and about what the greater Israel's places, the Jewish people's places in God's plan. Are they still God's chosen people? Did the Gentiles replace Israel or not? We don't have time on this episode to delve into all of the details of that debate. So I will simply tell you to go read Romans 11 as a starting point. What we see there, and in so many places is, yes, boldness in evangelizing to Jewish people, Christianity is inherently an evangelistic faith, but also a humility and a gratitude for God's willingness to adopt

Starting point is 00:46:34 us Gentiles through Christ as well as a yearning for the Jewish people to know Jesus. Read Acts 7. Read Stephen's sermon to his Jewish audience. I mean, I love that chapter. It's so powerful. I feel like I feel the Holy Spirit every time I read it. He was full of knowledge, truth, grace, courage. You can read Romans 9. I mean, it's not for the faint of heart. There's so much to unpack there, but notice Paul's posture toward the Jews. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews, who oversaw the murder of Christians before his conversion. Then he came to Christ. And in Romans 9, he says, quote, I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were a curse and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers.

Starting point is 00:47:21 He means the Jews. And I wish I could keep reading. I really do because Romans 9 also answers so many of the questions that we're talking about here about the plagues of the Jewish people and God's plan of redemption. And so I just encourage you to go read it, get you an ESV study Bible. It'll at least help you break it down. So when I hear people online say, in light of all of that. Oh, don't you know that Jews hate Christians? Why defend them? Blah, blah, blah. Look, yeah, non-Christians have always hated the gospel. That's nothing new. But I don't hate them in return. I have Jewish friends who love me. They don't hate me, but I am pretty confident that they don't like what I believe about Jesus, which is understandable. Like, I don't expect them to like it.

Starting point is 00:48:09 I don't demand that they like it. I want them and all people to want them to, one day believe it, but I understand why it is offensive. The gospel is offensive. The gospel is offensive. The gospel will always be divisive. It's always been divisive. It always will be divisive. Ephesians 2 also in speaking specifically of Jews and Christians, Ephesians 2 describes a dividing wall of hostility between Gentiles and Jews. It describes a distance, a separation between the circumcision and the uncircumcision, a distinction between the two groups, one who was far off, the Gentiles, one who was near the Jews. Two groups that had nothing to do with each other, two groups that really had a lot of historical animosity towards each other in a variety of ways. What is the only thing that can tear down that dividing wall of hostility?

Starting point is 00:49:02 Ephesians 2 says the blood of Jesus Christ. Quote, but now in Christ, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace. who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two so making peace and might reconcile us both to God and one body through the cross thereby killing the hostility. That's Ephesians 2 13 through 16. That's good news.

Starting point is 00:49:38 That's such good news. I do believe that God has a plan of salvation. for both the Gentile and the Jew. And that plan is Christ. That's what Christianity holds. That's what all of true Christianity teaches. And we hold that in humility, in earnestness, in love, and in grace. Not in these vapid, superficial, vain declarations in the culture war over people who either you perceive,

Starting point is 00:50:12 to be your enemy or maybe in some way is your political enemy, Christ is king has so much better and greater and bigger and deeper implications than all of that. And so that's why I just wanted to take the opportunity to share the gospel essentially because maybe there's someone listening or someone watching who you've seen this discourse unfold or unravel and you're like, understandably, I don't want to be a part of that. That's crazy town. There's just no way to even explain to someone outside of this discussion what this all means. All of it, I mean, because I didn't even go into a lot of the weeds and the details and the subgroups and everything that's going on. But really the most important truth in all of this is what Jesus's king actually means.

Starting point is 00:51:05 that he died, a sinner's death on our behalf so we could be reconciled to God and that no one is too far gone, no one is too sinful, no one is too messed up. You know, a lot of religions tell you how you can get to God. Islam tells you how you can get to God. Buddhism tells you how you can understand and be one with a sort of the divine Hinduism is the same way. Many faiths can tell you how to get to God, what rules to follow, how to climb up the mountain so you can finally attain some sort of righteousness and please God enough to earn some form of salvation. Lots and lots of religions tell you that. But Christianity is fundamentally different. In Christianity, we don't learn how to clean ourselves up. We don't learn how to wipe our own slate clean. We don't learn how to

Starting point is 00:52:04 become righteous on our own so we can finally be pleasing to God. We don't learn how to make our way up the mountain. What we learn is that God came down the mountain to us. What we learn is that we are completely unable to help ourselves. We are unable to make ourselves clean. We are unable to make ourselves righteous. We are unable to save ourselves. That we are actually completely dead in our sin. That we are so lost, that we are like a sheep, wandering. We have no idea where we are going. We have no wisdom, no goodness to offer to the Lord, and that he, like a good shepherd, comes and finds us at our most helpless, at our most vulnerable, at our most distraught, that we have contributed nothing at all to our salvation, that we have

Starting point is 00:52:54 contributed nothing at all to the righteousness that Jesus gave us. Christianity is different than every other religion, than every other belief system, than every other faith, because God came down the mountain, taking the form of a baby, obliterating all expectations of what a Savior should look like,

Starting point is 00:53:15 only to turn the world on its head and to give us the good news of salvation through Christ. And this Jesus, he's defeated death, once and for all. He defeated death when he wrote, from the dead three days after the crucifixion, the crucifixion, a brutal, brutal form of death. He defeated it when he was raised to life three days later.

Starting point is 00:53:42 That's what we're celebrating this weekend. And that's what Jesus is king really means. If you do not believe that, don't say it. Because as I said, if you don't believe that, if you never come to believe that Jesus is king, you will one day wish he weren't. And that is a very serious, serious thing to consider. Now, like I said, this is a conversation that is so much bigger than like conservative media. I had to kind of set it up for you and tell you kind of at least what I knew about what's going on with Candace and all of that.

Starting point is 00:54:18 But I just, again, I want to make it clear. I'm not impugning anyone's motives. I certainly don't think that Candace had any evil intention. behind what she was saying there, but it's important for us to know when something is being co-opted. It's important for us to be able to call out blasphemy where it is and to just take the opportunity to share the truth of the gospel. Just remember, don't let this discourage you or be disheartening for you because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His eternal plan of redemption is always going off without a hitch no matter what's happening on X. And his work doesn't always make headlines.

Starting point is 00:54:55 and yet it is always busy. It's always moving and it's always accomplishing exactly, exactly what God wants it to accomplish. All right. I know I told you guys that we were going to be talking about Nickelodeon today. And we ended up just not, we just didn't have time because then all of this happened. And so I felt like this would better serve you. Oh, I did want to say one thing. I almost forgot about this. So we haven't even talked about the fact that Princess Catherine was diagnosed with cancer. Princess Kate, Kate Middleton, was diagnosed with cancer,

Starting point is 00:55:44 and she released a video late last week saying that she did have abdominal surgery back in January, as the palace said, and that they thought that it wasn't cancerous, and then after they did the surgery, they did find cancer, and she said that she is, she has, she's doing preventative chemotherapy.

Starting point is 00:56:04 Now, I don't know all the medical details, of all of that. And obviously, as I've said from the beginning of this whole debacle that we are praying for her and that we should be thinking of her. Now, I do just want to address that some people were upset that I talked about it at all and that we entertained any of the theories and you saw it as very disrespectful and you saw it as rude and just callous towards her as a mom and as a human. And I do understand that. I do understand that. And I've heard your feedback and some of the feedback has been given very respectfully and has really made me think about things. And on the one hand, I can see that. Like on the one hand, I agree with you. On the other

Starting point is 00:56:48 hand, I will just say, and I know that some might say while you're just trying to justify yourself or defend yourself. And yes, I am. I am because I do think that we handled it for the most part in the most respectful way that we possibly could. It was not a story that I, I was interested in until the whole photo thing happened. When the photo thing happened and everyone started talking about it and everyone started questioning where she was, I wanted to let you in on the conversation that people were having online. And as I've said, when something generates enough interest, particularly among my audience,

Starting point is 00:57:26 then I am probably going to talk about it. And I did not push any conspiracies. I did not try to get you to believe any conspiracy. actually from the beginning, I was extremely skeptical. But I did think, and my focus really was, on how the palace handled it, how the PR, how the messaging was going, how the whole editing fiasco was going down. And I wouldn't say everything that I said in those episodes. Like there were some things looking back that I'm like, okay, we probably could not have gone there or probably not have touched, touch to that. But to there, there was a minority of people. And I know that

Starting point is 00:58:09 if you're in that minority, you might be offended by me saying that, but it was a very small minority of people who were bothered that I talked about it at all. And thankfully, most people were grateful that I just talked about what was happening and what was being said. But for those of you who were offended by me mentioning it, or you see it as disrespectful, I really do hear you and I appreciate your feedback. I appreciate your critique. I hope that you can give me the benefit of the doubt and that my desire was never to hurt or to harm or to disrespect in any way, but that we saw it as really just telling you a conversation, a very popular, viral conversation that was happening online and also like the whereabouts and the health of the royal

Starting point is 00:58:56 family is pertinent and impactful on a lot of people. These are very, very public and influential people and where they are and the messaging surrounding them and the truth or falsehood surrounding them really does matter. Now all that to say, though, I do apologize for like any hurt that that has caused, not that she would have ever, you know, seen our episode, but of course that was never, ever my intent. So I can apologize for any potential impact without regretting the intent, if that makes sense. And so we should be praying for her absolutely and just praying that she makes a full recovery very quickly and praying for her sweet children and praying that the Lord would comfort them and that they would know Christ and that they would feel his presence in the midst of this pain. So I did just want to address that because some of you had sent me some concerned messages. and I just wanted to say that I hear you and respond to that.

Starting point is 00:59:59 All right. That's all we got for today. We will be back here tomorrow. Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual,

Starting point is 01:00:23 and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave. even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed,

Starting point is 01:00:49 you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 974 | Candace Owens, ‘Christ Is King’ & the True Gospel

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