September 11, 2025: Charlie Kirk

““You have heard that it was said, ‘you Shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may prove yourselves to be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors, do they not do the same?” (Matthew 5:43–46, NASB 2020)

Yesterday, Charlie Kirk was assassinated while addressing students at Utah Valley University. Today, we commemorate the 24^th anniversary of the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. We’ve seen it too many times before—not just in our lifetimes, but throughout human history. In the face of such utter evil, how do we as Christians answer? Our visceral response would honestly be vengeance—an “eye for an eye” and then some. Our Lord, however, calls us extraordinarily to leave Satan’s weapons with Satan and take up heavenly arms. It is not our battle to win “… for the battle is not yours but God’s.” (2 Chronicles 20:15, NASB 2020)

Paul tells the Church at Ephesus 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.” (Ephesians 6:12, NASB 2020) We are very much engaged in this spiritual warfare, but always the battle belongs to the Lord.

How then are we to be engaged?

First, our response is to be one of love. Yes, it's hard to remember that on mornings like this. The pain is real and raw. And even as our thoughts lure us to take a different course, we remember Jesus’ words: “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” To return love for hate and prayer for abuse is to battle against the forces of darkness with weapons that the world can neither understand nor defend against. Never capitulate to evil, either by ignoring it or employing it to your ends.

Second, our response is to be bold. You are blessed “when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you” for the Lord’s sake. (Matthew 5:11). The forces of darkness desire the silence of Christians. For us to grant it is to pursue a policy of appeasement. Our weapons are surely different than the world, but we are soldiers with a duty to carry out. So, we speak His Truth fluently, the Spirit even supplying us the words to say.

Third, we are in the world but not of the world. Therefore, we should always be engaged politically, not as those motivated by party or ideology, but acting on our faith in Jesus Christ. Remember this: Our world also operates by its own faith—faith in what man can do by his own actions and for his own purposes. If we fail to understand this, we will never understand the lengths to which its adherents will go, even martyrdom.

We do these hard things, knowing that no matter the immediate cost, our lives are secure in Christ Jesus our Lord.

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38–39, NASB 2020)

Charlie Kirk posted these words on  X last Saturday: “Jesus defeated death so you can live.”