Love What God Loves

Because we belong to Christ, we have been given the ability and opportunity to see life, including our personal decisions and circumstances, as well as current events through a Biblical lens.  We must love what God loves and reject what He rejects, and that may call for tough choices, even to call out those who are part of or adjacent to a political or ideological "camp" that we share.  Because our allegiance is not to a party or movement, but ultimately to the cause of Christ.  In the 143rd Psalm (ESV), we can read:
8 Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.
9 Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord! I have fled to you for refuge.
10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!
11 For your name’s sake, O Lord, preserve my life! In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!

When one of the nation's leading influencers, who is someone whom Christians pay attention to, brings on a guest who is such an anathema to Christian thought, no doubt it can cause believers to evaluate their associations.  Such is the case with an interview conducted recently by Tucker Carlson of a man named Nick Fuentes.  CBN News reported the day after the interview occured:

Popular podcast host Tucker Carlson sat down with fellow podcaster Nick Fuentes on Tuesday, and the two, who are known for their hostility to Jews and Israel, discussed both topics, along with foreign policy issues and theology. During the course of their discussion, Carlson blasted pro-Israel Christian Zionists, revealing that he dislikes them "more than anybody."

One of those named was none other the U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who, in an X post, wrote: "Wasn't aware that Tucker despises me. I do get that a lot from people not familiar with the Bible or history. Somehow, I will survive the animosity."

John Stonestreet, in a Breakpoint commentary, did not mince words, stating:

A commitment to the doctrine of imago Dei requires that Christians oppose any idea that reduces humans to some other identity. Just as Christians must reject LGBTQ ideology and critical race theory for saying what is not true about the human person, Christians must reject anti-Semitism, especially in the wake of Tucker Carlson’s soft-pedal platforming of Nick Fuentes. Hateful views about the Jewish people have been prevalent on the political Left and have now emerged on the political Right. These views must be repudiated no matter which side of the political spectrum they are found.

What will happen now in the wake of Tucker Carlson’s interview may well determine whether Fuentes and his “groyper” movement is mainstreamed or is pushed back beyond the shadowy margins of the conservative movement. Either way, Christians must be first and foremost committed to the biblical description of the universe and the human person over and above any political loyalties. Thus, this growing anti-Semitism coming from the political Right must be soundly condemned. Whether from the Left or the Right, anti-Semitism is morally evil.  

Owen Strachan, who has been associated with Family Research Council and James Dobson Family Institute, declared on X: "You need to understand this about Nick Fuentes: trolling is his game. He's not trying to unite the right or strengthen this country. Nor is he conservative. His program is causing mayhem and getting attention. He's the Joker: he wants to watch the world burn."   He also said, "Fuentes is not a serious man. He is an anarcho-troll. If you can't denounce his ghastly third-grade bad-boy 'Hitler is cool' act, you have no business calling yourself a conservative leader."

Unfortunately, you have those who have been resistant to calling out Fuentes, and Carlson, because of a dangerous concept called, "No Enemies to the Right."  This is a philosophy that runs the risk of placing allegiance to a political movement over allegiance to Christ.

John Stonestreet states, "In 'groyper' ideology, the evil and irrational hatred of certain groups, especially the Jews, is offered in place of a Christian understanding of Creation and the Fall. If the biblical understanding of imago Dei has been the most consequentially good idea in human history, racialized ideas about people have been the worst. They must not be tolerated. They should not be platformed. They should not even be left unchallenged. At least in terms of numbers, these are the bad ideas that have claimed the most victims."  

He concludes that there will be enemies across the ideological spectrum. He references "hollow and deceptive philosophies," a phrase from Colossians 2:8, which says, "See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits[a] of the world, and not according to Christ." He reminds us that, "Our job, Paul said, is to 'destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God.'”

So, when Nick Fuentes uses the phrase, "Christ is King," it is not a representation of the Biblical position afforded our Savior.  Around Easter this year, FoxNews.com ran a story about a study from the Network Contagion Research Institute at Rutgers measuring how "extremists" had hijacked that phrase.   The article noted, "Actors like Nick Fuentes, a far-right Holocaust denier and podcaster, were co-opting 'Christ the King' to unify behind what they considered their righteous political mission, authors of the report said."

We must make sure that the teachings of Scripture, not the outrageous claims of influencers, are informing our beliefs.  The Bible tells us in the book of 1st John to "test the spirits."  We have to develop a sense of discernment about various philosophies, even if they seem to be aligned with our political tribe.  We don't have to buy in to what the purveyors of hate are selling, but develop a sense of loving what God loves and recognizing the authority of His Word.