By Gregg Boll, Director of Missions

I will add my voice and words to the vast array of commentary you’ve probably already seen and heard concerning Charlie Kirk’s assassination and martyrdom on a college campus in Utah. Charlie was only 31 years old and leaves behind his beautiful wife of four years and two young children. I haven’t heard from a believer yet who isn’t deeply grieved, even traumatized by his death. His death stirs a host of strong emotions in us who know the Lord and who resonated with his message. I know I am shocked, grieved, threatened, and angered. Charlie was simply doing what he loved to do: having civil conversations with young people on college campuses to challenge their thinking and values about the big issues of life and faith. He was one of the most articulate apologists of our time for the gospel and conservative values. He had developed a nationally known platform through his ministry, which he called Turning Point USA. He was a born-again, professing believer, a voice of sanity in a world of chaos, vitriol, and immorality. He was a Christ-follower first, and his worldview was formed solely by Scripture.

There is so much about his death that remains to be known. Who did this? What were their motives? Were they acting alone? Was his assassination a part of a well-orchestrated, concerted agenda to eliminate conservative and/or Christian voices from public discourse and influence? If so, who will be targeted next? I would simply caution you to be discerning, as a host of opinions on this will be shared from the reasonable to the absurd via social media in the days to come.

Let’s just state the obvious; several tragic events happening in this country in recent days are awakening people out of their stupor and indifference. A pattern of transsexual students shooting up schools, an innocent young girl being brutally murdered on a bus by a career criminal with 14 arrests, and now, Charlie Kirk being savagely, publicly executed has awakened the national psyche. These events and more are catalyzing a turning point, a movement in this nation that transcends mere political affiliation and from which there is no turning back. In the days to come, more people will come to the realization that these heinous events are far bigger than competing political ideologies but are actually spiritual warfare, that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Charlie Kirk was assassinated for exercising his constitutional right to freely speak what he believed. The enemies of truth labeled his free speech as violence and, in their depraved hearts, felt justified in countering his ideas, not with their own ideas, but with lethal action. Sadly, this kind of assault on freedom of thought and speech is being taught in most of our institutions of higher learning. This presents a real and present danger to the fabric of our free society. If we lose these basic freedoms, either through threat or coercion, we have lost a precious thing, indeed.

It remains to be seen what the fallout will be from this, but most certainly, it will strengthen the resolve of all true believers to live and speak boldly and unashamedly for our Lord and His gospel. The quote of Tertullian came back to mind in the wake of Charlie’s death: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church”. Let’s pray together that a movement of the Spirit of God will sweep across this nation, bringing salvation, transformation of lives, and a healing of our land. Certainly, at a more practical, everyday level, this could transform the hearts of some who have been uninterested and unengaged with the affairs of our communities and nation. It will further divide this country into two distinct camps. The days of being moderate right or moderate left are over. When the far-left call people with conservative, biblical values “threats to democracy”, “Christian Nationalists”, or “Nazis” and label our views on abortion, gender confusion, and national security “hate speech”, they have removed the middle ground where conversation might take place. That’s not civil discourse; that is an ultimatum to be silent and to adopt their views, or else. Charlie Kirk died for daring to express his conservative, Christian beliefs and to engage college students in civil, respectful conversations that challenged their presuppositions. George Orwell was right when he stated that “The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.”

It is not an overstatement to call Charlie Kirk a martyr for the faith. What happened to Charlie has happened to so many other believers throughout time, beginning with Stephen. Charlie, like Stephen, dared to tell the world the truth, and it infuriated those who heard. “54 Now when they heard this, they were infuriated, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; 56 and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they shouted with loud voices, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one mind. 58 When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him….” Acts 7:54-58a

If they hated Charlie’s beliefs enough to kill him for them, or at the very least if they celebrated the news of his death, that means that they would gladly silence you and me for our beliefs if given the power and opportunity. That’s why you and I, who name the name of Christ, must be willing to lose our lives for His sake and the sake of the gospel; it is why we must always live as those who understand that to live is Christ and to die is gain. It is yet to be seen whether Charlie Kirk’s death will be a turning point for the good of the nation. I do believe his death will be a turning point for the advancement of the gospel and the Kingdom of God. Charlie’s death will not have been in vain, and though he is dead, he still speaks (Heb. 11:4). Well done, thou good and faithful servant;….enter into the joy of your Master.