By Davis Carlton

The April 27^th shooting at the Chabad synagogue in Poway, California is noteworthy given the identity and motivations of the shooter, John Earnest. Earnest is a 19 year old white man and a member of the Escondido Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Earnest managed to kill a 60 year old woman named Lori Gilbert-Kaye and wounded three others. What makes Earnest particularly interesting is that he seems to be a committed Christian who adheres to orthodox Christian and Reformed teachings. PCA pastor Duke Kwon acknowledged, “you actually hear a frighteningly clear articulation of Christian theology in certain sentences and paragraphs. He has, in some ways, been well taught in the church”

My initial reaction is to always remain skeptical about events like these. I have no reason to doubt the media’s narrative about what transpired or what motivated Earnest, but there is good reason to be cynical about anything presented as fact by the media. In particular, the way that New Zealand has tried to suppress any access to Brenton Tarrant’s manifesto demonstrates a tacit admission that others might find the arguments of Tarrant and those like him to be persuasive. There is also the curious omission in media reporting of Brenton Tarrant’s connection to and affinity for the state of Israel. Apparently this fact entirely escaped John Earnest as well.

John Earnest was unknown to me and my Kinist friends prior to this incident. If I had known him and he was asking advice I would have unequivocally counseled him not to do what he did. I would have objected that his planned course of action lacked ethical foundation and prudential discernment. John Earnest maintains in his manifesto that Jews collectively desire the destruction of the European race and that all Jews bear responsibility for this. Earnest writes, “Every Jew is responsible for the meticulously planned genocide of the European race. They act as a unit, and every Jew plays his part to enslave the other races around him—whether consciously or subconsciously.”

I’ll address Earnest’s claims about Jews collectively when I discuss the mainstream Christian response to Earnest. Let it suffice for now that I generally agree with Earnest’s complaints about the collective attitudes of Jews regarding whites, Christians, and white Christians in particular. Given this general agreement, are Earnest’s actions justified? I don’t believe so. While others might disagree, I think that we must make a distinction between collective or covenantal guilt, and the judicial implications that this guilt entails. Scripture in several places speaks of the collective guilt of entire nations before God, and the New Testament frequently speaks of the collective guilt of the Jews for their rejection and murder of Christ, and their opposition to the Church. The Apostle Paul writes that “the Jews…killed both the Lord Jesus and the Prophets…and displease God and oppose all mankind.” (1 Thess. 2:14-15). Earnest cites this passage along with several others (Matt. 27:24-25; Jn. 8:37-45; the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7; and Rev. 2:9, 3:9) to make his case that the Jews must be eliminated.

The theme of the collective guilt and judgment is pervasive in Scripture and it is clearly and unambiguously applied to the Jews in the sense of those maintaining rabbinical Judaism and especially their leaders. I believe that this must be balanced with the ethical and judicial principle that everyone is ultimately judged by God according to their individual words and deeds (Ps. 62:12; Jer. 17:10; Matt. 16:27; Rom. 2:6; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rev. 2:23, 20:12-13). The prophet Ezekiel also insists that the “son shall not bear the iniquity of the father; neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son.” (Ez. 18:18-23).

In this same passage Ezekiel states that God desires that sinners repent, turn from their wickedness and live. I believe that this means that judicial sentence can only condemn the specific sins and crimes of a particular individual, and that everyone must be judged on his own merits. God may choose to judge a particular people for the collective sins of the whole in covenantal judgment (Ex. 20:5, 34:7; Num. 14:18; Deut. 5:9). This is certainly God’s prerogative, and examples include the driving out of the Canaanites, the conquest of Israel by Assyria and Babylon, the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in the first century, but this does not give anyone the right to make this judgment apart from a specific divine revelation.

God ordains the civil magistrate for the purpose of carrying out capital punishment when appropriate (Rom. 13:1-7). Extra-judicial killing is justifiable in certain circumstances; the most common example being killing in self-defense. There are a number of other examples of justified extra-judicial killing in the Bible, such as Phinehas killing the Israelite man and Midianite woman in an act of fornication (Num. 25). The reason that I don’t believe that indiscriminate killing such as Earnest’s synagogue shooting are justified is that these examples always target specific guilty parties. Even if we conclude that someone, such as an avenger of blood, is justified in extra-judicially killing the murderer of his family member, the avenger wouldn’t be justified in killing other members of the murderer’s family.

The other issue I take with John Earnest’s decision is that it demonstrates a severe lack of wisdom and sound judgment. Earnest’s shooting comes in the wake of the 2020 Presidential primaries in which Democratic candidates are trying to outperform each other in their condemnations of “white supremacy.” Congress just completed hearings on limiting Constitutional rights of whites in the name of combating “white supremacy.” Non-whites have used similar incidents, not to mention false narratives like police brutality against non-whites, to justify violence against innocent whites. Earnest’s actions will only serve to further tighten the screws and unnecessarily fuel hostility. Earnest should have thought about the potential white victims of violence directed at them out of retaliation for what Earnest did.

Earnest sacrificed his future for a quixotic quest that won’t accomplish what he intended. Earnest anticipated potential objections from his family: “How could you throw your life away? You had everything! You had a loving family. You had great friends. You had a church. You were doing well in nursing school. You could have gone so far in your field of study. You could have made so much money and started a happy family of your own.”

Earnest responded to these objections, “I willingly sacrifice my future—the future of having a fulfilling job, a loving wife, and amazing kids. I sacrifice this for the sake of my people. OUR people. I would die a thousand times over to prevent the doomed fate that the Jews have planned for my race.” Later Earnest insisted, “I’m just a normal dude who wanted to have a family, help and heal people, and play piano.” That’s what he should have done. John Earnest seems like a bright young man who had a promising future ahead of him. He has wasted this potential by his rash actions.

I believe that we are currently in a situation analogous to the Babylonian Captivity. We are under the just judgment of God for our willful rebellion against his covenant and for breaking his commandments. We will be under this judgment until God’s righteous wrath is satisfied. God revealed through the prophet Jeremiah that the Israelites were to build houses, plant gardens, marry, and have children in spite of their captivity (Jer. 29:4-14). After 70 years they would return to their homeland. We have not been told how long our current judgment will last, but we can be sure that it will not end before God’s appointed time. John Earnest’s impetuous rush to action hasn’t saved the white race any more than Peter’s striking off Malchus’ ear spared Christ from the Crucifixion.

I wish that I or my friends had had the opportunity to speak with John Earnest before he followed through with plans to attack the synagogue. I would have told him everything that I have written here in an attempt to dissuade him from making the mistake that affect the rest of his life. There are many wise and experienced men that could have had a positive influence on John. These men could have offered timely counsel and made a difference in John’s life instead of the multitude of “sh*tposters” on 8chan. The loss of so much potential is truly lamentable. Next I will address the all too predictable evangelical response to this shooting. In many ways, evangelicals bear a good deal of blame for the desperate response of John Earnest to our current circumstances. Buckle up.