I’m still horrified by both what happened to Charlie Kirk and the reactions afterward.

I know I should not be shocked. The Lord warned us of this hatred. 

“Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.” — 1 John 3:13 (NIV)

Jesus also said:

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” — John 15:18 (NIV)

Charlie courageously and prophetically went to unfriendly places to speak the truth and engage in dialogue. Unfriendly territories that used to be diverse places with a broad range of ideas and thought, that had become echo chambers of modern ideology and propaganda with no sign of pluralism or an open exchange of ideas.

He welcomed debate and allowed anybody to have the mic… and he did it with a LOT more grace and patience and wisdom than anybody else I have seen.   Certainly more than me or anybody else I know. I still struggle with getting too “passionate” in tone and emotions with those I love with my whole heart! How much harder to communicate calmly with love to those who think you are an enemy!?

I am encouraged by the numerous testimonies I have heard of people I know personally (and also just public testimonies) who were awakened to how they had been deceived into extreme ideologies… and how the truth he boldly spoke had pierced their hearts and returned them to Christ and His Word and the Biblical Worldview.

But I am discouraged at how so many still disparage him without ever really listening to what he said and how he said it, in context. And I am discouraged by how divided the Body of Christ is. And I am discouraged by how many don’t realize when they mock or hate him, they are hating a brother.

“Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.” — 1 John 3:15 (NIV)

“Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar.” — 1 John 4:20 (NIV)

I plead with the Lord to have mercy on our country. To me, Charlie was a modern prophet figure. This doesn’t mean we idolize him or think he is perfect. It means I believe he saw what most could not see and was willing to give up his comfort for the sake of the Truth. I rejoice knowing he ran his race so well and he is with The Savior, Hallelujah! And I mourn for the evil I see and for his widow and children. It is good to realize we are in enemy territory and that this world is not our home. But it is heartbreaking to see what evil does. Lord have mercy on us though we do not deserve it.

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In 1951, Hannah Arendt developed ideas in The Origins of Totalitarianism that could be summarized in modern language like this:

Totalitarianism doesn’t begin with violence.  It begins with loneliness.  A world in which individuals are cut off from tradition, alienated from political life, and left without a sense of belonging.  These individuals are the perfect raw material for totalitarian movements.  When people are uprooted socially, culturally, spiritually, they become vulnerable to grand ideologies that promise order, identity, and purpose.  In such a world, facts become negotiable.  “The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, and the distinction between true and false, no longer exists” When people stop caring whether something is true, they become defenseless against propaganda.  The essence of totalitarian government has consisted in the effort to make human beings forget they possess a mind.  Totalitarianism is always a risk.. emerging “from the quiet decay of civic life.. it emerges when public discourse collapses, when facts give way to ideology,  when people retreat into isolation and echo chambers”.   Pluralism is the foundation of freedom.  Political thinking (slow deliberate act of judgment) is a moral responsibility.  

To me, Charlie Kirk exemplified one who resisted totalitarianism. And we should resist the exact same way:

Root yourself deeply into the Word & the traditions of our faith (Col 2:6-7) . 
Resist spiritual and intellectual passivity.  Renew your mind (Rom 12:2) . 
Test what you hear and see (I John 4:1)
Stand firm in Christ (Eph 6:13-14).
Do not fear man, fear God (Mt 10:28)
Do not give up meeting (Heb 10:24-25)
Be grateful for your country and freedom, understand its role through a biblical worldview, and trust God’s sovereignty over nations and history.

Why does this all matter? Because freedom is from God, and rightly ordered liberty (under God)… gives the greatest opportunity for the greatest number of people to flourish. America is not the Kingdom of God but until the King returns, freedom is worth protecting, stewarding and passing on.

I took this picture this week and to me, it felt like a truly spiritual, symbolic moment. Oh Lord, have mercy on our special nation.