Holy Hell Week: We're All 'Antisemitic' Now, Apparently
If Christians don't stand up for our right to proclaim the whole counsel of God, we risk dishonoring the Great Commission and our Savior Himself
I don’t know if you noticed, but this year, Holy Week was unlike any in recent memory.
Usually, this is the week when most nominal CINOs (Christians In Name Only) show up to their preferred church setting - Evangelical, Mainline Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox - and profess in word and in deed the Lord Jesus Christ.
They light candles, recite hymns and prayers, give offerings, and participate in corporate worship in a manner to which they are wholly unaccustomed throughout the remainder of the calendar, save maybe for Christmas.
Many of these Christians frequently partake in pagan practices under the guise of “sacrifice” - which some call Lent - and “re-dedicate” themselves to the Lord, something which, of course, does not require a church setting.
Still, Holy Week is Evangelicalism’s Big Show, where pastors and worship teams get their one shot at wowing folks who may or may not have the Spirit of Christ in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, they’ll enjoy the sermon-ette and complimentary post-service coffee so much, they’ll come back again and potentially join the ranks of the regular givers.
But this week, in the year of our Lord 2024, Holy Week just “hit different,” as the kids like to say.
For those blissfully ignorant, here’s a quick recap.
And yes, it’s as bizarre and tedious as it all sounds.
I mean, who would ever have thought that in the run-up to the days marking the Passover Lamb Who was slain and His glorious resurrection, the former head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (!) and the current editor-in-chief of Christianity Today would equate “Christ is King” with using God’s name as a cuss word?
But that’s exactly what he did.
Or that Daily Wire host Andrew Klavan would call the phrase “antisemitic”?
But that’s exactly what he did.
Or that Klavan’s boss and Daily Wire CEO Jeremy Boreing shockingly claimed that he believes saying “Christ is King” could actually be seen as a violation of one of the Ten Commandments?
But that’s exactly what he did.
Amid all the chatter, Daily Wire founder and editor emeritus Ben Shapiro remained conspicuously silent during these missives against the Christian faith. Still, considering his statements on Jesus as the Messiah during an appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience a few years back, we can safely assume this was all done under his blessing, tacit or otherwise.
It was Shapiro, after all, who said Jesus was nothing more than “a Jew who tried to lead a revolt against the Romans and got killed for his trouble” and that the miracles of the Israelite exodus from Egypt - including the parting of the Red Sea - can be attributed to a “naturalistic explanation for a physical phenomenon.”
As most of you who regularly read this space surely are aware, the Bible clearly states that whoever denies the Father and the Son - which Shapiro certainly does - is anti-Christ.1
Harsh, maybe. But theologically accurate. Why don’t we hear Christian commentators state this fact all the time?
All of these characters at DW sought to frame this “controversy” about Christ being the King of the Universe (much less of Israel or “the Jews”) as a lesson in morality, about how “true Christians” wouldn’t proclaim Christ is King because, y’know, “antisemitism.”
It was Big Evangelical - which sadly, and at least for the moment, includes DW - flexing its talking points to silence those Christians who rightly took offense to anyone, Jew or Greek, shouting down their proclamation that, yes, Jesus Christ is indeed Lord and King.
Consider the words of Moore, who at one point in his career trajectory, was considered a serious voice among Southern Baptists and other Bible-believing Evangelicals.
In a piece that posited the working thesis that “Christ is King” can be “antisemitic trolling,” the former voice of religious liberty for the SBC somehow managed to connect the title for Jesus with “insurrectionist” propaganda, undoubtedly a shot at those MAGA Christians involved in the now-debunked Jan. 6 debacle.
Moore’s comments included the following:
“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.”
Please pause here and consider what Moore asserted in his statement - namely, that using the phrase “Christ is King” is the equivalent of a common cuss phrase which (sort of) uses God’s name in vain.2
Astoundingly, Moore went full-tilt with his clumsy attempt at contextualizing the mockery and blasphemy against the coming King of Kings by writing this:
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.
And there it is.
The Cross of Christ, according to Moore, can be understandably viewed as the equivalent to a swastika, which, he says, is “no cross at all.”
Never mind that a swastika is literally called a “hooked cross.”3
Remember, this is a “Christian leader,” someone from whom, ostensibly anyway, the Church should take its theological cues. Someone who should be defending Christian doctrine - and that’s exactly what this - even at risk of running afoul of “antisemitism” accusations.
Instead, Moore slandered the Cross as a hate symbol. This is a “Christian influencer” in 2024, ladies and germs.
What a joke.
The ‘Myth’ of Deicide
Perhaps the most disturbing talking point in all of this was the claim that the phrase “Christ is King” could be interpreted - subjectively and without contextual consideration - either as Biblical praise or an “antisemitic” slur.
In the span of one week, which just happened to be the holiest for Christians the world over, several public figures appeared to respond to Owens’ firing with the very same talking points - almost as though they were provided with such.
In fact, Owens had already used the phrase in a tweet during a public spat with Shapiro last year, which, for whatever reason, released the media hounds on Owens and her job security.
Around that same time, the Anti-Defamation League - formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, which means “sons of the covenant” - published on its site a special section under the header “Deicide” and titled, “Myth: Jews Killed Jesus.”4
The page has a sidebar with an animated face of Jesus which moves up and down as He is dying on the cross, an animation which also appears to show Jesus weeping.
The image is later accompanied by a caption that describes “Passion” as a “controversial film, which was called a religious classic by some, while others claimed it promoted antisemitism.”
You might recall this is the same ADL which claims merely using the phrase “100%” is an act of white supremacy.
It’s this same ADL which was founded in the wake of the conviction and lynching of Atlanta B’nai B’rith president Leo Frank for the murder and sexual molestation of 13-year-old Mary Phagan in October 1913.
That same ADL has this to say about the Bible’s teaching on the crucifixion of Christ:
“The myth that Jews collectively murdered Jesus, also referred to as “deicide,” has been used to justify violence against Jews for centuries. Historians as well as Christian leaders have agreed that the claim is baseless.”
For those who may not be familiar with the word, “deicide” is defined by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) as
…the charge that Jews bear eternal responsibility for the death of Jesus Christ. This claim is based on a misguided interpretation of Matthew 27:24-25, “His blood be on us, and on our children,” also known as the blood curse. This verse (25) has led to more Jewish suffering than any other passage in the Christian Bible.
Did you catch that, Christian? A “misguided interpretation” of your holy book, which you believe is inspired by the God of Israel, has led to “Jewish suffering.”
Now, certainly, anyone has the God-given right to reject Christ and all that the Scriptures tell of Him. Obviously, no one is under divine compulsion to acknowledge Jesus as Messiah - at least not yet.
But to characterize the Scriptures as a source of “Jewish suffering?” Isn’t that, like, a step or two away from Holocaust language territory?
The ADL site concludes its theology lesson with this jaw-dropper: “The notion of Jewish deicide might seem like a harmless historical speculation, but in fact, those who spread the myth are usually less concerned with historical facts than they are with essentializing and demonizing Jews. In any case, historians and theologians agree: Jews are not responsible for the death of Jesus — not then and not now.”
Whoa.
And the ADL isn’t the only non-Christian organization telling Christians how and what to believe.
On its “Translate Hate” website, the AJC takes aim specifically at Christian doctrine:5
…Nevertheless, some churches today continue to teach that Jews killed Jesus. While this preaching may not be intended to cause harm, antisemites use the deicide charge to justify their anti-Jewish hatred…
Now why in the world would “churches today continue to teach that Jews killed Jesus?”
Because that’s what the Bible says. Verbatim.
Let’s go to the tape, shall we?
1 Thessalonians 2:14-16
For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Judea that are in Christ Jesus. You suffered from your own countrymen the very things they suffered from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out as well.
They are displeasing to God and hostile to all men, hindering us from telling the Gentiles how they may be saved. As a result, they continue to heap up their sins to full capacity; the utmost wrath has come upon them.
There it is. You don’t need a Greek concordance. No cross-references necessary.
Pick a translation. Any translation.
English Standard Version
For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind..
NASB 1995
For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men…
Young's Literal Translation
…For ye became imitators, brethren, of the assemblies of God that are in Judea in Christ Jesus, because such things ye suffered, even ye, from your own countrymen, as also they from the Jews, who did both put to death the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and did persecute us, and God they are not pleasing, and to all men [are] contrary…
It goes on and on. The simple fact is this: under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul clearly states that the Jews - who we’re told could be anyone from the Jewish leaders to the people of Judea and everyone in between - killed our Messiah and King, Jesus of Nazareth.
Simple.
We cannot feign confusion over this point (though many do) because to do so brings shame and utter confusion upon the Word of God and besmirches the name of Christ Jesus Himself.
And while verses 14b-15 will grab the most headlines, we mustn’t overlook verse 16, which heaps a general - some might even say racist - smear upon these Jews, which Paul calls “displeasing to God and hostile to all men,” upon whom “the utmost wrath has come.”
Yikes.
And this is no isolated teaching. The New Testament is replete with clear language indicating “the Jews” sought to and eventually succeed in killing Christ.
Mark 11:18
When the chief priests and scribes heard this, they looked for a way to kill Him. For they were afraid of Him, because the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching.
John 5:18
Because of this, the Jews tried all the harder to kill Him. Not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
John 7:1
After this, Jesus traveled throughout Galilee. He did not want to travel in Judea, because the Jews there were trying to kill Him.
John 7:19
Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps it. Why are you trying to kill Me?"
And it wasn’t just Jesus they were after, but the Apostle Paul as well.
Acts 9:23
After many days had passed, the Jews conspired to kill him…
Acts 23:12
When daylight came, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul.
Acts 14:2
But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.
Maybe this is why so many of them hate the term “Christ is King” - because it hearkens back to the sign posted above that bloody Cross, which mockingly read “King of the Jews.”
Listen, if your fear of being associated with the weaponized characterization of “antisemitism” keeps you from proclaiming Jesus Christ as the King of Kings, you have much bigger things to worry about than being canceled.
You will answer for that trepidation when you stand before the King.
If those of us who are named by the name above all names are told to be hesitant and to think twice about proclaiming Christ is King, we should be asking the most serious questions about the people and organizations making such statements, the ADLs and the Russell Moores of the world, who would have us go back into our Christian assemblies, shut the doors, and proclaim the Gospel as loud as we like far away from the public square.
When Doctrine Becomes A ‘Hate Crime’
This trend of labeling orthodox Christian doctrine as “antisemitic” is certainly not new. Just this month, for example, we learned even middle schoolers can be charged as antisemitic criminals.
Now, to be fair, there is so much in today’s media landscape that could be considered antisemitic that it’s almost impossible to distinguish between age-old symbols, like, say, a plus sign, and a hate symbol.
That’s right: even the mathematical symbol for addition - which dates back at least 500 years - has been assailed by some Jews as antisemitic to the point that they invented an alternative plus sign.
They hate the cross so much in fact - because, y’know, how antisemitic it is - that they refused to acknowledge any such symbol while immigrating to America.
Now contrast esoteric nuggets like that with the more explicit anti-Christian sentiment among Orthodox Jews in Israel, who routinely curse, spit on and harass Christian pilgrims.
Something about all this feels so familiar.
Remember in the book of Acts when the Sanhedrin forbade the followers of the Way to “preach in this Name?”
And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
Acts 4:18
Is it just me or does Holy Week 2024 have similar vibes?
Sure, this time the decree isn’t coming from a religious authority, but to even suggest that Christians “may be” sinning by proclaiming Jesus Christ as King has undeniably authoritarian overtones that bear an uncanny resemblance to the Sanhedrin’s demands of Peter and John.
With all the talk of red lines politically, the Daily Wire and others should make no mistake: calling on Christians to think twice about proclaiming Christ Jesus as King is a theological red line, one which anyone familiar with the Scriptures is unlikely to cross.
At this point, it’s legitimate to ask why in the world any Bible-believing born-again Christian would care what a publication run by Ben Shapiro thinks.
Why would we take heed even for a second to an outlet that espouses free speech and yet silences its employees who fail to toe the theological or political line?
Why, Christian, would you support a publication run by a person who thinks Jesus was a “rebel?”
How precious is the blood of Christ to you?
How much are you willing to trample it underfoot for your political news fix?
His name is Yahweh/YHWH, so the phrase doesn’t technically equate to using His name in vain. But I digress.