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| Charlie Kirk was a devout Christian and dear friend of Israel. He called on his fellow Christians to honor the Bible's command to love Israel and the Jewish people. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu grieved the loss of Kirk, calling him a "lion-hearted friend of Israel who stood tall for Judeo-Christian civilization." Kirk's final book set to be released in two months, Stop in the Name of God, is how Christians can find blessing in honoring the Sabbath. |
The assassination of Christian conservative Charlie Kirk has impacted me deeply.
I don't know why it's impacted me so. I don't care much for celebrities, and I try to keep my head out of politics wherever possible. But Kirk's death has had me crying twice now in private, praying to God for answers and grieving over the people celebrating and laughing about his death. I've been angry at the cowards who have justified his assassination in the name of politics.
The morning before Charlie Kirk died, I was talking to God about the stabbing of the young girl on the train in what appeared to be a racially-motivated attack. The train security footage was gruesome and showed her bleeding out and no one helping. I was asking God about it and how this nation can heal in the face of such terrible brokenness. How do you fix a nation like that?
I felt God show me that it will take radical forgiveness. I felt God showing me that it would take a victim forgiving the perpetrator of an attempted murder. Going public about the forgiveness and telling others to do the same. That would change many hearts and minds and begin to heal the nation. That's what I felt God showing me.
Hours later, I heard that Charlie Kirk was shot. My first thought was, "Oh no, he's dead - God was warning me about it this morning." My next thought was, "Wait, was God trying to show me that Kirk will survive and forgive his attempted murderer?" Kirk would certainly be a great candidate to do that. He has a huge platform, and he always made his Christian faith the center of all he did.
Hours later, news broke that Kirk had succumbed to his injuries and died. I was so grieved when I first heard it. I cried.
Today, Charlie Kirk's murderer is in custody. A young man from Utah confessed his crime to his father, a former police officer, who eventually got him to turn himself in.
Whenever a tragedy occurs in the US, it's immediately politicized. Guns are the problem. No, access to weapons isn't the problem, evil people are the problem. But guns make it easier to murder people. But if guns are the only problem, what about the man who just stabbed a young woman on a train? Do we ban knives too?
Oh, and then it gets really political. Was the shooter trans? Black or white? His ammunition was inscribed with leftist antifa slogans and a reference to a possible LGBT community. But wait, his parents were Republican? And there's a photo of this young man sitting on a Trump blowup for Halloween? Maybe the shooter was MAGA? And the alt-right will tell you that Israel (of course!) had Kirk killed. New information comes out that the shooter was a member of antifa Discord channels, and his X profile shows pro-Palestinian slogans and anti-Israel propaganda. Maybe that's why he murdered Kirk?
So many theories and everyone's arguing.
It gets worse. Certain fools began saying Kirk deserved to die for his anti-LGBTQ stance. Others said he got what he deserved since he was in favor of gun ownership. Numerous teachers, nurses, political commentators, high school admins, professionals and more were fired in the last 24 hours for saying evil things about Charlie Kirk. Businesses didn't want to be associated with the backlash against one of their employees.
It goes on forever, friends, and it makes it all worse.
It happens every time there's a tragedy.
I keep circling back to what I felt God showed me about healing this nation. How can this nation be healed of its deep brokenness? Radical forgiveness.
I suspect Charlie Kirk, if he had survived, would be the first to forgive the perpetrator. He would ask us to do the same and to pray for the man who tried to kill him. It's what we signed up for when we became Christians: to love your enemy; to desire to see his highest good.
But Charlie Kirk is dead.
Maybe the task, then, falls to us, the Christian public, to forgive this man. We lost a godly man, a bold ambassador of the Gospel, and a gentle soul who sought to turn the US back to God. We lost him because of hatred. It won't be healed by more politics and fighting about guns. But we can start the healing process now, by forgiving this man who killed Charlie Kirk, seeking this man's highest good, asking God to turn his heart back to himself that he might be saved.
Friends, will you join me in praying for this man who murdered Charlie Kirk? I think it matters. Pray that God would change his heart. Pray that he'd turn to the Lord. Pray for his highest good: that he'd repent to Kirk's widow and children. Justice will be served, but we can forgive as a step towards healing this nation. I think Charlie Kirk would be overjoyed if we did.