I don't know much at all about Candace Owens other than the fact that she used to work at the Daily Wire and was recently fired for some disagreement having to do with Israel and the current war. I don't think I've ever listened to any of her commentaries. So this blog post is not intended to be a defense of her.
What I want to address, instead, is some buzz I've been hearing around the internet that she recently tweeted that "Christ is king," and a bunch of people interpreted that as being anti-semitic. Now, I understand politicians and "journalists" say stupid things when politics or political talking heads are involved, but this seems to go beyond that. Browsing through the comment section of this video I saw that there were a lot of people who actually agree that saying, "Christ is king," is anti-semitic. It isn't just politicians or "journalists" saying it. It's every day people.
Besides being wrong, this strikes me as being downright stupid. It just makes me shake my head because it seems like our whole society gets dumber every year. There's always some new stupid idea that goes viral, then becomes normal. I always wonder what's next, so I want to speculate a little on where this might be going.
First, let me say something about the claim that Christ is king. This is somewhat of a tautology. All the kings of Israel were anointed king. One example is in 2 Samuel 2:4 where, "the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah." In Europe, people used to be crowned king, but in ancient Israel, people were anointed king.
The Hebrew word for one who was anointed was mashiach, from which we get the word, Messiah. The Greek word, christos, means the same thing--one who is anointed. It is from the word for anointed that we get Jesus' title, Christ.
Jesus was called the Christ, aka Messiah, because he was thought to be the fulfillment of God's promise to always have a man on the throne of Israel. Jesus was also called a son of David. He was thought to be an heir to the throne. That is what messianic expectations was all about. To call Jesus the Christ just is to say that he was king. Calling him Christ is essentially the same thing as calling him king.
In fact, that's what got him crucified. He was crucified for claiming to be "the king of the Jews," as all four gospels tell us.
Christianity gets its name from Christ. The fact that Jesus is the Christ is absolutely central to Christianity. It's the one thing all Christians agree on, whether Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, or whatever. Even the fringe groups, like Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses, agree that Jesus was the Christ. In Revelation, he is called "king of kings, and lord of lords" (Revelation 19:16).
Since Jesus being the Christ means the same thing as Jesus being king, the claim that Christ is king is definitional to Christianity. If you do not believe Christ is king, then you are not a Christian. A Christian who does not believe that Christ is king is like a husband who isn't married.
If saying that Christ is king is anti-semitic, then merely being a Christian is anti-semitic. I wonder if that's the insanity we are going to have to deal with in our culture next--that people will be called anti-semitic merely for admitting to being Christian. After reading a lot of the comments on that youtube video, it would not surprise me if that's where we're headed.
We live in silly times, and it's only getting worse.
I should add that there may be context to the Candace Owens drama that sheds light on the situation, adds a twist, or something. I haven't familiarized myself with it, and it isn't my intention to address it. I'm only addressing the belief a lot of people on the internet seem to have that saying, "Christ is King," is anti-semitic. All I know is that this subject came up because of a tweet Candace Owens made.
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