Advent season and the rise of Reformed Nazis
Not on my 2024 BINGO card
Samuel Holden, someone I do not know personally, posted a video on X to “encourage the brothers and remind them that we will have our home again.” The video goes on to showcase several instances of vile and godless Wokies promoting the idea of eliminating whiteness, and possibly even white people. Obviously, this is Satanic. As the video continues, it shows countless images of white people doing regular things, almost as if to say, “If they want to eliminate whiteness, we’ll be even more white; we’ll elevate whiteness, and make whiteness supreme.” This video has been coined the White Boy Summer video.
Any suggestion that whiteness is to be preferred, or that it is superior, is also Satanic. For the video to suggest the superiority of whiteness would be terrible enough, if not for the scenes of Nazi propaganda spliced into the video. Yes, “professing” Christians cozying up to Nazi propaganda in order to encourage others that the ascendancy of their white nation will be reestablished and their white supremacy will win the day. Holden even has a post of a picture of Trump covered in an American flag giving the Nazi salute. Totally bonkers.
There has been a growing antisemitic streak among Reformed Christians over the past six months or so. I have written about it a little bit (see here). Basically, these Christians maintain that there is a shady cabal of globalist Jews that are controlling all of the world’s industries in order to serve their Zionist self-interests. They also assert that Hitler was a Christian Prince protecting the West from Communism. They deny that the Jews were rounded up in concentration camps in order to be executed. Yes, these are the real beliefs of real people who claim to love Christ.
Unsavory bed fellows
What’s curious to me is the number and the identity of the men who liked and shared the above-mentioned video with glowing approval. Eric Conn, who I’ve sparred with on social media, shared the video and posted, “Legend status confirmed. Well done king.” Joel Webbon, who has recently caused a stir for allegedly not properly dealing with antisemites in his church shared the video and said, “Despite all the recent destruction of the West, its salvation remains quite simple: 1. Repent and return to the Lord Jesus Christ, 2. Fear God more than you fear lying men calling you a racist.”
Both Eric Conn and Joel Webbon, by the way, shared and approved of a post from Andrew Torba, another guy in the mix, claiming that Aristotle was right to say that “democracy is possible only within homogenous ethnic groups,” and that “a multi-ethnic society is thus necessarily anti-democratic and therefore chaotic.” Ethan Holden (probably related to Samuel) tried to justify certain types of racial partiality, as well as the Darwinian lie that there are different races within the human race. He has denied the idea that antisemitism is bad and the idea that Hitler and the Nazis were the bad guys. Samuel even said that justifying the holocaust does not make one a Nazi sympathizer.
This is just a small sample from a select few men who have fairly-sized online platforms. If I were to dig deep into the myriads of anonymous accounts with red-tinted and blue-eyed profile pics, this article would never end. On top of that, the utter depravity and godlessness on display in their many posts is disappointing to say the least, and shamefully disgusting to put it more mildly.
A conflagration of godless ideas
Where on earth did all of this come from? I mean, no one, myself included, saw this coming 10 years ago. Many of us saw the rise of Woke ideology in the church and the divisive nature of Cultural Marxism among Christians, but this “Dank Right” as Doug Wilson calls it, came out of nowhere, at least as far as our perceptions were concerned. It’s clear now the fountainhead of this ugliness is, ironically enough, the same places that were the cause of such concern just 10 years ago.
One of the causes of the antisemitic streak in the Young, Restless, and Red-Pilled movement (which I have written about recently) is an unhinged skepticism that leaves a person without any firm epistemological grounding (you can read about that here). When you believe that you've been lied to about everything, then everything is up for grabs; it’s all one big psyop. That includes the history of World War 2 and the reality of Hitler and the Jews being something completely different than we were taught.
Another cause of the Reformed Nazism movement is the rise of Communism. The brothers over at the Dominion recently did an episode on this very topic, and it was, as per usual, very incisive and thoughtful (you can watch it here). I have also written extensively on this topic, and I have called it our Cultural Chimera, a three-headed socio-cultural behemoth that is ravaging Western culture (you can find that here). When the forces of Socialism grow in the West, a rabid kind of Nationalism will also rise to combat it.
Another significant reason for this ideology’s growth is an epidemic of fatherlessness among young men, both biological and spiritual, and especially among younger Christian boys. I plan to remedy my inattention to this important issue in the new year. Godly older fathers (or spiritual fathers) act as bumpers on a bowling lane – they prevent the whirling boy from veering into doctrinal and ideological gutters. Many, if not all of these Red-Pilled Reformed Nazis lack meaningful biological and/or spiritual fathers, and they, ironically enough, spurn the wise counsel of older godly men as mere “pietistic boomer brain.”
Tearing down walls of hostility
Rather than dive deep into the causes or even effects of this new movement of Nazis and Nazi sympathizers, I want to jump right into the solutions and appropriate responses that Christians should adopt, and I also want to show how they are inextricably tied to our advent celebrations and the Incarnation.
One of the most glorious and consequential realities of the Gospel is its power to bring peace between opposing groups, and to create friends out of enemies. The Apostle Paul unpacks this nowhere better than in his letter to the church in Ephesus. He writes:
“Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now 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 in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.” – Ephesians 2:12-22
The Lord Jesus Christ – through His obedient life, sacrificial death, and glorious resurrection – has made peace between God the Father and human beings who, before Christ, were His enemies (Romans 5:10), objects of His wrath (Ephesians 2:3), and we were hostile to God (Romans 8:7). But Christ made us His friends, took God’s wrath on our behalf, and he tore down that wall of hostility. This is why we can say with overflowing thankfulness, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned” (Isaiah 40:1-2).
But the Good News doesn’t end there. No, Christ not only makes peace between humans and God, He also makes peace between humans hostile to one another. People who, in their selfishness, partiality, bigotry, and hatred of others, would be enemies of those different from themselves can now, in Christ, call them brothers and sisters. We are a part of God’s new family, or as Paul put it, God’s one man. People who might otherwise be my enemies, or at the very least people with whom I would have no relationship, because of the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3), are now my dearest and closest friends, with even deeper ties than my own flesh and blood family of origin.
If I were to erect those walls of hostility that were dismantled by Christ in His blood, then not only would I be committing a grave sin, I would also be trampling on the work of Christ and making little of His peacemaking mission, both with God and other people. Let me put an even finer point on it. If a professing Christian engages in any form of ethnocentric bigotry, any kind of ethnonational partiality, lest he repent of it and right quick, I fear his heart and mind have been so greatly seared that he has never actually known the peacemaking power of the Gospel, and he might not be saved. How can you have such hatred for another person made in the image of God, and for such arbitrary reasons, and claim to understand that Christ came to make brothers out of enemies? It’s a strong claim, but I think the Scriptures support it.
Nothing soothes like that baby in the manger
One of the monumental ironies of this Reformed Nazi movement is that the same Christ they claim to love and serve is Himself an ethnic Jew. Jesus was raised with a spiritual and imperishable body, no doubt, but it was the same essential body as the one that went to the cross and then in the tomb (see 1 Corinthians 15:35-49 for Paul’s unpacking of this idea). This means that while they blame the Jews for all of the global problems of today, and while they agree with Hitler that the Jews are not deserving of sympathy or kindness, they do it all in the name of a Saviour that is an ethnic Jew. I know, darkened minds and futile thinking and all.
Advent reminds us that Jesus is the great unifier, not divider, of different people of different ethnicities. First of all, just look at the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke. Abraham wasn’t a Jew. He predates Israel and came from what is modern-day Iraq. The great-great-grandmother of King David was a Gentile, and a prostitute at that. The grandmother of King David was also a Gentile. I guess these facts just didn’t make it into the White Boy Summer video.
Advent reminds us that any person of any ethnicity can come to Christ, bow before the great King, and worship Him with the honour due His name. Gentile star-gazers came to glorify Christ. Jewish shepherds came to glorify Christ. Angels without any ethnicity sung His praises on the night He was born. Whoever loves Christ, he is my brother and my sister. Isn’t that what Jesus was trying to hammer home during His earthly ministry? “And he answered them, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother’” (Mark 3:33-35). “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).
I really do hope these chaotic young men can ground themselves soon. I hope the Lord provides them with godly wise counsel, as well as the ears to listen and softened hearts to receive. They are hurting the Church, and they are doing more harm for the cause of the Gospel than they realize. There is a dark and spiritually dead world that needs us to shine the light of the Gospel, so that the Light of the world may be formed in them (Galatians 4:19).
“Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life.” – Philippians 2:14-16
I’m not reformed but am reformed adjacent and watching my reformed brethren tear themselves apart in heartbreaking. That said until you start actually addressing the arguments of your opponents and until you clearly define your terms you aren’t going to get anywhere “solving” this problem. You very much have to deep dive into the causes and effects if you want those men to listen to you. For one thing you have to acknowledge that yes, many generations of Americans have in fact been lied to about almost everything by people in authority (both religious and secular) for their entire lives and that as such it’s understandable that they have started questioning everything. The truth can stand questioning, there’s no reason to shut down questions and doing so makes it look like you have something to hide.
On one hand there are people who are absolutely blaspheming the name of Christ by saying vile terrible things about Jews. However people concerned with antisemitism have also over reacted and lumped a bunch of young men who have legitimate concerns and questions (especially about WWII as we are taught it) in with these extremists. This benefits no one. Again you have to trust the truth. The truth is that pretty much everyone was awful in that war. The Nazis were awful. The Italians were awful. The French were awful. The Brits killed about 3 million of their Indian subjects through neglect. America supported China against Japan before officially entering the war, and ignored intelligence that warned them an attack on Pearl Harbor was likely if not imminent. We then used that attack as impetus to join the war which ultimately completely disrupted the social fabric of America and cost an immeasurable amount of blood and gold. The Soviets were the worst of all of them and the Japanese were probably second worse. It’s still a good thing that the allies stopped the Japanese and the Nazis (although the allies should then have done something about Stalin). The truth can stand scrutiny.
Defining terms is important because many of them do not think that the people who claim Jewish descent today are the biblical Jews. Until you address this issue all the Bible verses you can provide about Jews are not going to accomplish anything.
You also have to have some solutions to the very real world concerns that are driving many of these issues. Many of these young men are draftable. Our country is one bad day away from officially being at war and maybe a bad week away from a decision to draft young men to fight in said war on behalf of Israel. If you are going to rightly teach young men that the gospel knows no ethnicity or nationality then you need some plan to protect your young men from being sent to war to protect another nation. Sending our young men to kill and die in the name of Israel isn’t Christ like either. Israel has the right to self defense it does not have the right to the lives of our young people to do it.
The reformed church also places an incredibly difficult burden on young men. There’s an expectation that he lead his family. There’s an expectation that he will have a pile of kids and his wife will stay home with them. This is not only a tremendously difficult path in today’s culture it’s not a clear path. The idea that Jews control the world and economic system isn’t particularly attractive when you have achieved the sort of success you have been told is the baseline for adulthood. Finding practical ways to help young men not just find purpose but to achieve that goal is something the church needs to articulate.
You’re spot on that many of these young men lacked spiritual if not biological fathers and as such they do not submit to authority as they ought. But if you want to teach them you have to act within that reality. Thumping them with Bible verses is not going to work, especially not when they can find some other interpretation of those verses that supports their viewpoint.
Thank you for standing up against antisemitism and for reminding us that all humans are made in the image of God. As a Jewish person who grew up in Israel and who loves Israel, I find antisemitism terrifying—but antisemitism also provides opportunities and reminders for people to reject what is evil and to emphasize the common light of humanity. Those who use Christianity to fuel antisemitism remind me of Herod, “so that I may go and worship him” (Matthew 2:8). In other words, they seem to be pursuing personal power for themselves under the mask of wanting to worship Christ. Hitler himself channeled the idea that he was Jesus-like. Today, people who are attracted to antisemitism would benefit from contemplating what Hitler said in his Address to the Reichstag on 30 January 1939. Note how Hitler is describing himself as a prophet and how, in an act of stunning projection, Hitler blamed the Jews for the war that he was passionately pursuing and that would soon bring destruction upon Europe. I hope that this can serve as a reminder of the deceitfulness of “blaming the Jews:”
“I have been a prophet very often in my lifetime, and this earned me mostly ridicule. In the time of my struggle for power, it was primarily the Jewish people who mocked my prophecy that, one day, I would assume leadership of this Germany, of this State, and of the entire Volk, and that I would press for a resolution of the Jewish question, among many other problems. The resounding laughter of the Jews in Germany then may well be stuck in their throats today, I suspect. Once again I will be a prophet: should the international Jewry of finance succeed, both within and beyond Europe, in plunging mankind into yet another world war, then the result will not be a Bolshevization of the earth and the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe. Thus, the days of propagandist impotence of the non-Jewish peoples are over.”
I hope that those who are attracted to Hitler will take inspiration instead from a person such as Pastor André Trocmé who closely studied the gospel and found in it only reasons to oppose Hitler—and who went on to risk his life to save Jews.