Strength and Courage: Remembering Charlie Kirk

“All those who hate me, love death” (Prov. 8:36).

“For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so” (Rom. 8:5-8).

“Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them. And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword. When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also” (Acts 12:1-3a).

INTRODUCTION:

The temptation is to think that things are worse now than they’ve ever been. But, it’s an example of wrong thinking. The writer of Ecclesiastes tells us that there is nothing new under the sun. We tend to dismiss that teaching, assuming we know better. Yet, the writer of that book was considered the wisest of his generation, and he wrote that short book under the superintendence of the Holy Spirit. Fact is, we don’t know better. The quicker we admit this the better off we will be, and the better our thinking will be as a result of It.

Things aren’t worse off now than in the past. Unless of course you mean an era of time not long ago.¹ Seasons change. Some winters are light and others are harsh. Some summers are filled with intense heat and drought, others are warm and pleasant. I tend to get a kick out of listening to people go on and on about how bad it is this year, and how its’ never been like this before. Or things are getting bad… its worse ever year. Truth is such talk is, to put it mildly, ignorant. Its speaking of things as if you have knowledge, but you really don’t.

Talking like that makes people mad. Telling someone they don’t know what they are talking about, irritates them. It grates and rubs them the wrong way. As a child, when we witness another getting the better of their peers it isn’t long if words can’t silence their opponent that fists are sought to do the job. I don’t buy the popular adage today that words are violence. Violence sometimes comes about because of words that is true, but the violence that sometimes follows comes because the person being corrected or proved wrong or embarrassed has no self-control. They hate being bested so badly that they resort to physical harm in order to silence opposition.

Reference to Acts 12…

This is the reason why Herod killed James, brother of John, son of Zebedee, apostle of Jesus Christ. The Jews could not stand the testimony of those who were followers of Christ’s way. They were not able to best their opponents in an argument (e.g., Acts 7). They were being shown up in the public square (e.g., Acts 9:22). And so, murder in order to silence opposition is what they desired to do. They did it to Stephen, they tried to do it to Paul, and we just read about how they did it to John the Beloved’s brother, James. In fact, Herod sought to do the same thing to Peter because he saw how much it pleased the Jews. Men will do many, many wicked deeds for the applause of men and this was no exception.

Hating the Wisdom of God, they love death…

Do you know why this is the behavior practiced by the unbeliever? It is directly tied to what Proverbs 8 speaks about (specifically vv. 32-38). They hate God. Proverbs 8:32-38 is talking about wisdom. In fact, that is what the entirety of that particular chapter focuses on. Wisdom is one of God’s divine, communicable attributes. God offers knowledge and wisdom to the fearful: humble, contrite, submissive, and obedient (cf. Prov. 1:7; 9:10). The fool rejects God’s instruction. He doesn’t want to hear the way God says to apply this or that in our daily lives. God is all-knowing and perfectly holy, thus His wisdom has no bounds. What God offers through His Word is Torah (Law/instruction), by which men are able to live.

“I have set before you today, life and death…” (Deut. 30:19a).

But as we know men prefer death. If they are determined to live by the flesh, then death awaits them (Rom. 8:5-6) Since hostility is the natural tendency of fallen mankind, and since this natural tendency binds them in such a fashion that adherence to God’s Law-Word is an impossibility (Rom. 8:7-8), then death is the choice that sinners make time and time again.

A truth our Lord pointed out…

Jesus says in John 8 to the Jews seeking to kill Him that they are just like their father who was a liar and a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44). Satan deceived Eve and gave false promises to Adam through his wife—things that Adam wanted to hear—and killed them.

That always throws people off a bit because they are stuck on the idea that death is always and ever cessation from physical life. Problem is that the Bible does not speak of death in that way.² Truth is Adam and Eve died that day, and their children after them did to (cf. Eph. 2:1-3). The only saving grace is that God’s grace is sufficient to redeem the lost, and restore to them life (cf. Eph. 2:4-10). Because of Jesus we are resurrected to new life, a life that we enjoy even now before this corruptible physical form that we currently inhabit fades away.

Those who image remains tarred are like him…

Not only did Satan lie and murder in the beginning, but he was able to convince Cain that this was the proper course to take with righteous Abel. Abel did what was right in the sight of the Lord. Abel pleased God (evidenced by the pleasure God took in his sacrifice) because he had faith. Faith is obedient. Faith expresses itself in love. The first expression of loving faith or genuine faith is devotion to the Lord our God. The second expression of loving faith or genuine faith is devotion to our neighbor. We speak the truth in love, even when the world does not want to hear the truth. To them such talk is not loving, it is hateful. In their mind, it is a call to violence because it calls into question their very existence. That is to say, what they stand for, what they believe in, what they are convinced of as good and evil.

Abel was killed by his brother Cain, a child of Satan, because he spoke the truth in love. Abel testified that the Lord was good and right and holy, and therefore, deserved our entire devotion. Cain could not stand the testimony of Abel any more than he could stand the testimony of the Lord God, and so he slew him in the field. Cain hated his brother because of what his brother believed, what he stood for. Cain detested his brother’s way of life (cf. 1 John 3:12-13) .

Worldview collision is inevitable…

This is the normal reaction of fallen mankind (men and women) towards those who take God at His Word. Neutrality is a lie of the devil. There is no middle ground. There is no bipartisan territory where people can just “get along.” This is taught repeatedly in our Bible’s. Name a prophet that sinners did not want to kill. And this is true from the top to the bottom of society. And the murdering of God’s people did not stop with prophets, it pertained to anyone who dared to witness to the world at large with truth from God’s Word.

Again it is the reason that Herod killed James, and sought to take the life of Peter. It is the reason that the Jews conspired together to murder the apostle Paul. And, it is the reason that Charlie Kirk was assassinated.

True Disciples Reflect their Teacher…

He was a bright young man that loved the Lord. Of all the things he was able to do in such a short time on earth, that was the one thing he wanted to be remembered for: his faith in Jesus Christ and His Word.

I heard someone this week make a reference to Jesus in comparison of Charlie Kirk’s death. They tip toed around it a bit, but they did make the reference at least. Friends, there is nothing wrong with making that comparison. We ought to want to be compared to our Lord (cf., John 13:15-16). Jesus said,

“If the worlds hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you” (John 15:18-19).

Jesus was killed because He testified that the world (i.e., fallen men, not creation) was evil. He wasn’t lying, but that is precisely why they killed Him. He died for the cause of truth. Jesus died because He loved too much.³ I don’t say that negatively here. I only highlight that had He loved less, He would not have been killed. He could not love less because He loved the Father more than anything this world (creation as a whole) could offer Him. He died because adherence to the Law-Word of God was true wisdom put on display. Jesus loved life, and so He obeyed. When any other person on this planet gets killed for the same reason, they are like Jesus. They are not equal to Jesus, but they are “like” Him. When we use like in that way it is metaphorical. We are analogous to Jesus, thinking (reflecting) His thoughts after Him. That was why the world (fallen men and women) killed and rejoiced in his death.

Lesson from Joshua 1… Being strong and Courageous comes Now

Joshua, son of Nun was the predecessor to Moses the prophet and deliverer of Israel. He had some big shoes to fill. He was leading a great host of people into a land that had been promised to their forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel). The land that they were entering was a pagan land, a land filled with people that worshiped a multitude of other gods/goddesses. A land that was filled with giants; Nephilim. Joshua had a large task before him. He had some big shoes to fill. You can understand why he might be concerned.

The Lord spoke repeatedly the same phrase to Joshua, “be strong and courageous” (Josh. 1:6, 7, 9). Joshua would repeat this command to those in leadership under him. It was a call to arms; it was a reminder of who they were, and who it was they served. What was the foundation by which they were to base this strength and courage? We see it here,

“…be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Josh. 1:7-9).

Charlie Kirk was an impressive young man. He tried to get into West Point after high school and was rejected. He decided to take a year off from pursuing college. At 18 years old he started Turning Point, USA. He admitted that his first few years were a bit embarrassing in terms of what he had when he showed up on college campuses. Just a cruddy cardboard sign and a few cheap recording devices. What he knew though was that it was at college campuses across this nation where the youth of America were being corrupted.

Metaphoric Canaan…⁴

Charlie understood that the lies they tell you in high school regarding College degrees was a poisoned fruit.⁵ It looks good. It sounds good. It promises you knowledge and wisdom, and the blessings of life that will follow from such things. But the truth of the matter is that for most colleges and universities in this nation are just a place where the liberal elites get the opportunity to corrupt the next upcoming generation in America.

This higher institutions are for the most part temples for the secular humanist cult that has permeated every aspect of American society. And what Charlie did was enter their sacred sanctum and challenged the indoctrination going on there by inviting conversation. He would make a statement about a particular issue that was constantly pushed on campus(es) by the professors and then challenge the young people who showed up to prove him wrong. And when he argued he did not do so from a neutral playing field, he had a standard that he constantly appealed to. A standard that undergirded his practice of argumentation, because it was the ultimate standard of his life: his faith; derived from and founded upon God’s Word.

Charlie was saved in the fifth grade. He called Jesus Christ his Lord and Savior, and he testified a few months back on a podcast that the one thing he wanted to be remembered for was his faith. It was his faith in Christ Jesus, in the Word of God that gave him strength and courage to enter a place where he knew that he would be attacked. Colleges and universities are hostile to anything that does not line with their worldview, but of all the things that they hate it is the Christian faith that they hate the most. What do they promote in the majority of the institutions of higher learning today?

• Transgenderism: the denial that God is our Maker, and that our genetic makeup cannot be changed.
• Feminism: the denial that there are certain roles which men are better fitted for than women. That women have abilities that men do not, and primary among them is having a family and managing that.
• Abortion: the denial that life starts in the womb, is separate from the woman and is sacred. The murdering of babies in the womb is a major industry in the medial field, in laboratories of science, and the halls of academia.
• LGBTQ+(RSXY and Z): The denial that women are for men and men are for women. That marriage is only genuine and definable when entered into of members of the opposite sex. That sex is reserved for the marriage bed, and it not to be perverted.
• Right to Bear Arms: the denial that individuals have the right to use deadly force when life is threatened. The idea that people should have guns, and that those guns ought to be used as protective/life-preserving devices.
• Christianity: the denial that the Word of God is true, and that Jesus Christ alone saves. The belief is that tolerance must be given to all other views, except this one. The Christian faith is belittled, mocked, and ridiculed on college campuses and universities throughout this country.
• Faith and Politics: the denial that you can legislate morality, and that politics are the expression of one’s (or a societies/cultures) faith.

All these and many more were challenged by Charlie Kirk. He presented a viewpoint and gave those in opposition equal time to try to refute his argument. They were given an opportunity to test the ground on which they stood; those things that they were constantly being taught.

This has always been a dangerous practice. This is a warning constantly given in Scripture. Not against argumentation, we are called to argue our viewpoint. Jesus did that. The apostles did that. The prophets did that. Men and women of faith have always done that. The reason is rather simple: God made mankind communicative. We are made to communicate with one another, to share ideas, knowledge, and wisdom. The warning is that some people will not suffer you. They will not allow you to speak. They will not allow you to share. This comes back, as it always does, to worldview.

Jesus promised His people would suffer persecution. There will be times when those closest to you will not tolerate you, they will turn on you. This happens within the closest group of people that we share; our families. There will be others. What we are shown in the Bible is that if the people that we are talking to are in love with the lie, no amount of truth will change their mind. And yet, that is the battlefield upon which we have been tasked with going.

The person who shot Kirk hated his message. He couldn’t refute it, so he ended Charlie’s life. He did this in public. He did it right in front of Charlie’s wife and children. Why? To send a message. What’s the message? We don’t want to hear what you have to say. We are finished with listening.

A 1 Peter 3:15 moment…

Rather than fear and be discouraged, we are to do the exact opposite. The temptation is to say, “Well, I don’t want to get shot like Charlie Kirk so I’ll just keep silent. I won’t stand for truth.” That’s precisely the opposite of what we are commanded to do by our Lord. We are called to set Him apart first in our hearts; that is, to love Him above all else, which includes everything He has taught in His Word. And then, we are to answer any one regarding the faith that we hold dear. We are to do this with gentleness and respect; which means, to treat the individual in front of us like they too are a creature of God. Even though they may be twisted by sin in the heart, we are still commanded to speak to them.

Now not everyone will be worthy of our time. This will be revealed in the conversation we are having with them. We are to watch out for vicious dogs or dirty pigs that desire to tear us up or to dirty the truth (cf. Matt. 7:6). But our pursuit is to be like Charlie who imitated Jesus in,

“destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of [Him]” (2 Cor. 10:5).

My concern today is that you do not allow fear to rule your heart. That you stand firm on the faith that you have confessed with your mouth before many witnesses. If you have been baptized in Jesus Christ, then it is to Him that you owe your allegiance. What the shooting is meant to do is get people to question their allegiances. To silence opposition. However, we must continue to stand firm, being strong and courageous knowing that this is our Father’s world. And this life, as important as it is, there is something far greater awaiting us when we depart from this plane of existence.

ENDNOTES:

1 This is true in terms of individual or group perspective, but not necessarily true for everyone and every group. The general idea is that yesteryear is better than our present time—whatever association we want to give yesteryear—however, the reality is that every generation probably remembers a time in the past when things were “better.” For example, a person might claim that the 1950’s were better than now. Depends on what angle you are looking from that historic period in time. There were certainly things better during that time, than now. But, then again there are things better now than then. I would say that sin was more privatized back then, rather than the public in-your-face variety we are subjected to in media, entertainment, politics, music, etc. today. That being said, the Word of God has a larger platform than in the past. More people hear the gospel. More people respond to the gospel. And, overall more people hope in the Gospel of Christ. Things are not as doom and gloom around the world as certain sectors of our cultural leaders would like us to assume.

2 Death is separation. There is spiritual death: Death which separates us from God, His Light, His love, His law, etc. This is death in the negative aspect. There is spiritual death’s opposite, what we call the resurrection of the dead (the positive aspect), where the sinner has because of grace been redeemed and sin has been—is being—put to death in their bodies. Then there is the death which is the physical cessation of the body, where the two (body and spirit) are separated. The spirit (breath of life, our being) returns to the Lord who gave it to us, and our bodies return to the dust from which they came.

3 Please pay attention to what I say after this statement. This is crucial so that you don’t misrepresent what I am saying. Jesus loved too much (which is a good thing, a righteous thing), and that was why He was killed. If only we would learn to love God with the same fervor, and those that likewise share flesh and blood as we do, then perhaps we would be found in His likeness more so than what the rest of the world apes.

4 I have found that many Christians have a hard time understanding how the battles fought in the Old Testament, like the ones fought by Joshua, are applicable to today? They will argue that we fight not with weapons of a fleshly nature, but a spiritual one (cf. 2 Cor. 10:3-5). True enough, but the comparison is metaphorical or analogous to what we wrestle with today. Joshua still fought against ideologies in his day, even though he swung a sword. And we swing the sword of the Spirit with the same vigor, even though we do not often raise a gun.

5 I realize I may sound like it, but I am not against higher education. I have four degrees beyond high school, plus a trade degree in HVAC. I’m not a fan of intellectual snobbery. Nor, am I convinced that a person has to attend college or grad school to make an honest living, build a good amount of wealth, raise a family, and retire happy. Trades or being a craftsman has a lot more advantage for many of the youth in our nation than the amount of debt they will accrue in four short years or more. A mountain of debt they will struggle paying back when they realize that the job they were supposed to be preparing for will not be available to the vast majority of them.