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Doug Wilson’s interview with Tucker Carlson on 15 April hit hard against the pastor’s critics.

The one-hour-long interview focused on the oft-misunderstood term “Christian Nationalism”.

Wilson defined the term, shared the Gospel, and then took time to answer accusations and correct assumptions.

Among his critics are those in ministry who think Wilson’s blunt talk lacks ‘”‘winsome’ tact.

Opponent

Wilson’s favourite heckler, editor-in-chief of Christianity Today Russell Moore, demonstrates those who’d rather see the Moscow, Idaho pastor gagged than given a primetime platform.

Moore’s problems with Wilson go back to the latter opposing overreach during the government’s response to COVID.

Wilson opposed locking down churches “sacrificially”, and questioned the manipulative “loving neighbour” tokenism telling people to take the experimental jab.

More recently, Russell Moore has likened Wilson’s straight talk to Donald Trump’s abrasiveness, arguing that Wilson is “vulgar”, “cartoonish”, and “creepy”.

Moore made those comments in March.

Writing for CT, he argued that Christian witness is being watered down.

There, Moore lamented the death of happy-clappy Ned Flanders-style Christianity, suggesting we should aspire to emulate “his awkward purity of speech.”

This, he implied, is because the Church is returning to a (more biblical) – robust, masculine Christianity, with the likes of Doug Wilson at the helm.

In the same article, Moore raised alarm about “’boobs and beer’ white evangelical subculture”.

He even took issue with the “let’s go Brandon” euphemism, stating that there was a “coarsening and character-debasing…vulgarization of the Right.”

Moore then attached himself to the chorus of concerned voices chanting, “I don’t like your tone.”

For Moore, where Michael W. Smith should be the emblem of Christian etiquette and identity, there’s Doug Wilson, Joe Rogan, and Kid Rock.

Moore’s affiliations are well-known.

He’s soft on the left, and, by all appearances, tends to mix The Gospel with an affection for the Marxist-Woke worldview.

The Christianity Today editor has illustrated this by repeatedly signalling out “white evangelicals” and dismissing the idea of a “Christian America.”

Moore has also equated Jesus’ teaching with progressive “liberalism”, and because of his anti-Trump activism, finds favour with America’s rabidly dishonest leftwing media.

Ultimately, like Trump, Moore sees Wilson as a threat to Christian witness.

Appellation

Speaking with Tucker Carlson, Wilson addressed this, saying that he’s used to the name-calling.

To try and rebut them all would be like putting lipstick on a pig.

“Christian Nationalist”, he said, was another one of those misapplied terms used to berate people who disagree with the Left.

Asked about Moore falsely accusing him of being an “aspiring theocrat”, the pastor replied,

“When people say, I want to be a “theocrat,” they’re thinking of ecclesiocracy – a nation ruled by priests – something like Iran, with a bunch of reformed weird beards jamming religion down people’s throats.

“Christian nationalism isn’t about this; we don’t want Christian Ayatolas. What most people call a theocracy, is actually an ecclesiocracy.”

Note, he added,

“Christians invented the separation of church and state. That’s our doctrine.

“But, what people today mean about church and state, is a separation of God and state; morality and state.”

They mean a “separation of ultimate truth claims and state.

“Who wants to live under that?

“Ultimately you cannot separate ultimate truth claims and the state. It cannot be done.”

People need to be anchored to objective morality.

“There has never been an atheist country that was not a hellhole,” Wilson added.

“Societies have to function on the basis of a shared moral consensus…”

The brilliance of this interview isn’t just Wilson’s responses; it’s how Wilson graciously answers his critics and shares the Gospel from a main stage.

He’s annulled the rants of Doug Wilson derangement syndrome and defied the “that’s not Christian” tone police offensives from leaders like Russell Moore.

Martyrdom in a Roman coliseum aside, Christian witness today, doesn’t get much bigger, louder, or bolder.

As Caldron Pool boss Ben Davis quipped,

“While ‘respectable,’ vxxinated, evangellyfish Christianity is busy blogging about finding Christ in Taylor Swift lyrics, Tucker Carlson and Doug Wilson brought the unadulterated Gospel to more than 4 million people in less than 24 hours.

“Brethren, the choice is clear.”

To quote Charles Spurgeon,

“A spark is fire. A sentence of truth has heaven in it. Do what you do right thoroughly, pray over it, and leave the result to God.”

Listen to the full interview on Spotify here:

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Republished with thanks to Caldron Pool.