This past week, you might have seen a phrase trending online: “Christ is King.”
Well, that’s a nice change of pace. And close to Easter, too! Isn’t this a good thing? Usually it would be. The phrase itself is true. Christ is king. Easter week is a wonderful time to praise our Lord and Savior, and remember when Jesus rode on a donkey’s colt through the streets of Jerusalem as people shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest! (Mark 11:9-10).” This fulfilled Zechariah 9:9 and Genesis 49:11. Christ is the king of that kingdom so longed for.
But that’s not why “Christ is King” is trending online right now.
Politics & Controversy
Candace Owens, a popular conservative figure, was recently let go from The Daily Wire, a conservative media organization. She has long held the position that America has no business assisting in foreign wars, including the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel after the events of October 7th, 2023. Further, she brought up the term “genocide” in relation to the conflict.1
This put her in stark disagreement with Ben Shapiro, the Jewish co-founder of The Daily Wire. Things came to a head in November of 2023 after Ben publicly stated that Candace’s behavior regarding the discourse was “disgraceful.”2
Candace responded, quoting Bible verses that implied she was being persecuted because she’s a Christian.3 She ended by saying “Christ is King.”4
But did Ben attack Candace because of her faith? No, he didn’t. They simply disagreed about Israel. So why would Candace imply she’s being persecuted for her faith? Why say “Christ is King?”
It seems like Candace used this situation to passive-aggressively attack Ben while playing the victim for her audience (plenty of whom are Christians).
She could have defended her position logically. She could have settled things with Ben privately. She could have condemned Ben’s words as disrespectful. But she didn’t. Instead, she quoted Jesus’ words and said “Christ is King” to a known Jew in a conversation that had nothing to do with Christianity. You’d have to be blind to not see why she did this. It’s a tactical move intended to shift the discourse in her favor.
Ben replied to Candace’s post, saying that if she believes her job at The Daily Wire comes between her and God, she can quit.5 She then accused Ben of suggesting that she can’t quote Scripture,6 again adding the phrase “Christ is King.”7
First, Candace used the Bible as a shield against Ben. After all, it’s wrong to attack someone for quoting the Bible, right? Sure, but that’s obviously not what Ben was doing. Samuel Sey, one of my favorite bloggers, criticized Candace for how she framed things.8
Second, Candace doubled down with the phrase “Christ is King.” This was not posted to her general audience. It was directed at Ben specifically. Why? Ben is a Jew and Candace likely used this phrase to get under his skin. She knew most of her Christian followers would miss the subtext and blindly go along with her side of things because she’s “proclaiming Christ.” It’s a win-win for her. And it worked, as we’ll see in a moment.
Since this squabble, Candace has talked about Jewish issues a number of times, attracting controversy after controversy. I don’t know for sure if she’s actually antisemitic, but she’s gotten quite the reputation for her hot takes—so much so that The Daily Wire cut ties with her.9 Several of their members accused her of antisemitism, specifically in her use of the phrase, “Christ is King,”10 which she never said on X before her fight with Ben.
To be clear, nobody at The Daily Wire said the phrase itself was antisemitic. Jeremy Boreing, the CEO, explained in detail that he has a problem with the intentions behind certain people using the phrase, not the phrase itself.
Yet Candace continues to pretend that The Daily Wire has a problem with Jesus (despite the fact that they still employ several Christians). It’s all very silly at this point.
The Internet’s Reaction
That brings us to today’s firestorm on X. There are a couple different groups posting “Christ is King.” Some are normal Christians who just want to celebrate their faith, but far too many are jumping on this trend to direct their anger at Jews (or The Daily Wire).
Even social media personalities claiming to align with Islam are coming out to show their support. Andrew Tate, a womanizer known for exploiting girls in his pornographic business endeavors, added his voice to the fray.11 For context, Candace conducted a controversial interview with him in July of 2023 and has been known to defend him. She “liked” this post:
Tate’s not the only one. Sneako, another Muslim influencer who shares a similar audience, also posted the phrase.12 If either of them properly understood Islam, they would never say Christ is king. Islam teaches that Jesus was merely a prophet. They don’t believe he was the Son of God. They don’t believe he’s a “king” in any sense, much less the way Christians believe it.
Here are some more damning posts from the recent trend:
These examples, and others, prove that this isn’t just genuine Christians getting together to celebrate their Lord. This is a manipulative campaign using gullible Christians to forward the careers of so-called “conservatives” who only care about the name of Christ insofar as it helps them achieve their own selfish goals.
Jesus’ words quoting Isaiah are especially poignant here.
“This people honors me with their lips,
Matthew 15:8 (ESV)
but their heart is far from me”
In context, Jesus is criticizing Jewish leaders for their hypocrisy, but ironically, this verse applies to those attacking Jews today. It’s a terrible thing to claim allegiance to Christ with your mouth when your heart’s true intentions are malicious. Some might even call it Pharisaical.
So is “Christ is King” Actually Antisemitic?
No, the phrase “Christ is King” is not inherently hateful of Jews or antisemitic in any way. The Bible proclaims it to be true. As Samuel Sey stated in his article, “for Christians, ‘Christ is King’ is a theological and political statement about Jesus’ divine identity and supreme authority over all creation.”13
But it’s important to recognize that any phrase can be twisted and used to attack others. Remember “Black lives matter?” The BLM movement was a unique campaign designed to exploit stories in the media and hold rallies to encourage young people to express anger against the “racist” system allegedly oppressing them.
The chosen vehicle for this movement was the phrase, “Black lives matter.” It’s actually pretty brilliant. The phrase itself is true. Black lives do matter. Very few people disagree, and those who do will be seen as racist. This allows you to do whatever you want with the phrase, making you essentially immune to criticism. If anyone questions you, just accuse them of racism!
Ironically, the same conservatives who decried the Black Lives Matter movement for this deception are now using “Christ is King” in a similar manner. It’s disgusting to take a truth about Jesus and club your political adversaries over the head with it. It’s equally disgusting to pretend you don’t understand the subtext at play.
This isn’t the first time people have misused Jesus’ name. The Roman soldiers put a crown of thorns on Jesus’ head specifically to mock his title of “King of the Jews.”
“They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head.”
Matthew 27:28-30 (ESV)
It’s true, Jesus is the king of the Jews, in a sense (John 18:33-38). But would you join the Roman soldiers in their antics? Would you blindly repeat after them as they beat Jesus senseless and led him away to die? No, because you understand that, in this context, the title “King of the Jews” is being used in jest—it’s a mockery of Christ, not genuine worship.
What About Israel?
In this case, people are using Christ’s title to attack Jews specifically. This is wrong, but why? Paul talks a lot about Jews in Romans 9-11, answering questions the early church had. Why don’t Jews accept Christ? Did God abandon his people? How do we treat them?
I won’t go into all the answers here, but I encourage you to read those chapters for yourself. They explain God’s relationship to Israel and his plans for their future. I highly recommend this sermon from John Piper as well.
The takeaway is that Christians have no grounds to attack or mock Jews. Paul describes a tree which has some branches broken off (the unbelieving Jews). He says Christian Gentiles are foreign branches grafted onto the tree. But he warns us not to be arrogant toward the broken branches (Rom 11:18). God is able to restore them (the Jews) again.
“Even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.”
Romans 11:23-24 (ESV)
God is fully capable of saving the Jews. But make no mistake, belief in Jesus is required. Jesus is a Jew—the Jewish Messiah. No Jew can have a right relationship with God while rejecting Christ (John 14:6). That said, Paul is convinced that all Israel will be saved someday (Rom 11:26). Even as he says their rejection of Christ led to the reconciliation of Gentiles, he looks forward to their full inclusion in the body of Christ (Rom 11:11-15). Paul has faith in the Jews—in God’s ability to save them. Do you?
Conclusion
Christianity is offensive to unbelievers of all kinds, including practicing Jews. That’s normal. Jesus warned us about it (John 15:18-25). But our goal in proclaiming Christ should never be to mock people or jump on political bandwagons. Our goal should be to save souls. Our goal should be to pursue holiness in imitating Christ.
“Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”
1 John 2:4-6 (ESV)
God forgive us when we worship Christ in word only, when we speak his name in vain in the public square to garner attention (Matt 6:5-7). Let us rather worship him in truth (John 4:21-24), being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts (James 1:25).
Christ is king. Now act like it.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Enter your email to keep in touch with me. Thanks for reading. Godspeed.
Sources:
- https://x.com/RealCandaceO/status/1721533270918062198?s=20
- https://x.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/1724466032071331961?s=20
- https://x.com/RealCandaceO/status/1724456541623886079?s=20
- https://x.com/RealCandaceO/status/1724457552967004299?s=20
- https://x.com/benshapiro/status/1724914588146155542?s=20
- https://x.com/RealCandaceO/status/1724916478221173177?s=20
- https://x.com/RealCandaceO/status/1724916946301317459?s=20
- https://x.com/SlowToWrite/status/1724963520859541897?s=20
- https://x.com/JeremyDBoreing/status/1771165501160411423?s=20
- https://x.com/JeremyDBoreing/status/1772253907319669011?s=20
- https://x.com/Cobratate/status/1772221317019799930?s=20
- https://x.com/sneako/status/1772048489372880911?s=20
- https://slowtowrite.com/christ-is-king-of-the-jews/
Veracity Quest 