Responses to Charlie Kirk and his death

September 18, 2025

This has been an emotional week for many. I am about to head onto a university campus and a church campus next week to speak with young people and anticipate being asked about the life and death of Charlie Kirk and what the implications might be. My tendency as a luminary is to wait and see, ponder for a year or more, and give it time to see the outworkings. This long-fuse approach will miss the immediacy of a historic moment. I have therefore contemplated, spoken with friends and dialogued with people from various walks of life and ages and stages and perspectives. I have asked for understanding and, even though I am scratching the surface, have observed seven responses and/or outcomes.

1. Apathy:

Some view this as just another event. Last month it was Sydney Sweeney‘s blue jeans, and this month it’s Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Those responding with apathy do not see this as the 9/11 moment of this generation, a MLK-type moment, or a JFK moment. It gets tucked away with train murders and school shootings as another bad moment in a broken world.

How is it possible that some can feel nothing about a murder that has this degree of visibility? Apathy can be fueled by believing the rhetoric claiming that Charlie Kirk was a hateful person who despised certain groups of people and advocated for the Second Amendment, so it is no wonder he died by violence.

Some feel justified in parking this in the “not important“ file because someone on social media said or they personally perceive that Charlie Kirk seemed to be speaking a harsh truth, or a truth harshly. They disagree with his views, so they don’t feel sympathy for his death. The didn’t like his manner, so ‘what goes around comes around.’

Another strand of thinking that fosters apathy is “what-about-ism” where the logic goes, “Yes, this is a bad thing, but what-about-XYZ…” We have seen TV personalities reverting to this line of questioning. “Yes, but what about immigration/tariffs/you name it.”

2. Anger:
   Most people who feel anger believe theirs is a “righteous anger.” ‘I am mad, but I am justified in feeling this way.’ The Anger-response I have observed falls into four categories:
   1. Anger at the grief and affection poured out for someone with whom the angered one had no affinity or alignment. ‘Why does Charlie Kirk deserve flags flown at half mast? Aren’t people making too much of a fuss? Why should I have to express grief?’
   2. Anger at the “cause” he championed. He challenged the thinking of university professors and politicians, and he challenged the young to think. More specifically, Charlie Kirk mobilized voters who elected Trump, and this in itself probably caused some to feel they have justified anger.
   3. Anger at the Christ he served. Kirk said that, at the end of the day, the thing that is most important is to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. This, he said, is more important than settling on a political or philosophical position.
   4. Then there are those who are angry at the “leftist” (as opposed to liberal) movement (or cadre of left-like-thinkers) that killed him. Charlie himself was clear that he could dialogue with liberals, respect their positions, agree to disagree and still have good relationships. He posited that leftists were not the same as liberals. Some have anger at “them,” the perhaps undefined leftists, who fostered a climate where killing someone in cold blood for holding a different belief is acceptable.

     Anger seldom allows us to think fairly, logically or clearly.

3. Alarm:
   Others I have spoke with are alarmed in their contemplation that today, in the USA, someone can be martyred for their beliefs. They are asking, ‘What are the implications for the future of such a nation? How has the polarization of society allowed someone to feel justified in putting a bullet to the head of another human because they disagree with them?’
   
   Is a society still civilized when political leaders and the media can advocate violence as something that is justified, and then excuse themselves for their own hateful rhetoric? Even worse, they richly accuse those across the aisle, telling them to tone down their rhetoric. You will find examples of violent rhetoric in both political directions.
   
   At the same time, there is alarm that the First Amendment right to free speech is being trampled on in government’s response to those who celebrate the death of Charlie Kirk. Is it overreach?
   
   
4. America:
   There is a resurgence in thinking about America, the USA as a nation, in a positive light. Charlie Kirk believed America is good, it is redeemable, it is not bad (systemically racist, greedily capitalist, etc.). One doesn’t have to apologize for being an American. This was Charlie’s message, and young people are believing it. He challenged the notion that socialism or cultural Marxism is the solution, and he appeared to be against the universities that caused millions of students to believe that America needed to be torn down or shaped into an image different from what the Founding Fathers had in mind.
   
   
5.  Amplification:
   A clear outcome of the assassination of Charlie Kirk is that his messages are being amplified. He has gone from 6 million followers on Instagram to about 13 million at the time of this writing. His personal YouTube channel has over 1.2 million new followers and Facebook has added about 3.4 million followers. These numbers will be out of date tomorrow, of course, but they remind me of the Kiergegaard quote:
   
   “The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins.”

   Soren Kierkegaard, The Journals of Kierkegaard

Jesus Christ himself said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”  The truths Charlie Kirk spoke are being amplified among millions.

6. Activation:
   “I am Charlie.” This event is causing people around the world to make their choice not between political parties but between evil and good. Many are deciding to commit to a life of love, dialogue, truth with grace… truth with courage. According to some reports, Turning Point USA had more than 54,000 students contact them in six days to inquire about how to get involved with an existing chapter, or how to start a TPUSA chapter on their campus.
   “This is America’s Charlie Hebdo moment. Violence wielded against ideas, a man punished for his ‘blasphemies’, gunfire cutting down discussion. And so, we should say of Charlie Kirk what we said of Charlie Hebdo: Je suis Charlie.” Brendan O’Neill
   
   
7. Awe:
   “I immediately knew that this was not a surprise to the Lord… revival is spreading across the world. Atheists are going out and buying Bibles and people who have never gone to church before are going to church,” Rachel-Ruth Lotz Wright, Billy Graham’s granddaughter.
   Could this be the beginning of what scripture calls the latter rain, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that prepares people for Christ’s return? Those who have spiritual eyes may well be seeing the seed of a matter that sparks a movement that becomes a worldwide revival. Revivalists and watchers of the times are observing to see whether, since the death of Charlie Kirk, revival has broken out in a quiet yet clear way. Is there an historic shift taking place? Charlie Kirk was indeed an apologist, but was he also an apostle? Will the blood of the martyrs spur an awakening that spills beyond the boundaries of organized religion and predictable politics to allow the ecclesia to rise up and engage appropriately yet deliberately in society? Is the name of the organization he founded, Turning Point, prophetic? Is now the time? Is his own name prophetic: Charlie means warrior, and Kirk means church or ecclesia.

“I don’t think they realize it yet, but murdering Charlie is going to be remembered as the day where we finally woke up to what this fight really is.” Nick De Freitas

Where might things go from here?

It is beyond my paygrade to predict the longer-term results of the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Will the impact of his debates die down, or will his martyrdom launch a movement? When I first heard of the shooting and then of his death I thought of David Livingstone who had just one convert in Africa during his lifetime. At his funeral a wave of new missionaries was launched. It has taken me a week to ponder preliminary thoughts on this matter, so the advice I give to myself (and you are free to appropriate it for yourself) is still partially formulated.

1. Do not be apathetic. Ask God how he sees the times we are in right now. Recognize that Jesus wept over a Jerusalem that did not recognize what was happening. They were so busy with their own religious and political goings-on that they missed Jesus.
   “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” Jesus in Matthew 23:37
2. Don’t let anger drown out reason. What I oppose in others is often a symptom of an error I have not dealt with in my own heart.
   “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord. Isaiah 1:18
   If I am angry, I must make sure such anger is not fueled by cherry-picked soundbites that other angry people have extracted, often out of context. (And, if you are reading this and are angry at Charlie Kirk, I challenge you to subscribe to his channels and watch at least 50 hours of his unfiltered interactions with others. I often find that when people are opinionated about someone, they have not actually taken the time to gain a firsthand account.)
   If God is willing to reason with me, I cannot abandon reason and reach for a rifle.
3. Sometimes it is good to be alarmed; implicational thinking is important. We are seeing the outworking in society today of ideologies that have eaten away at the foundations of the USA. “For years, Kirk warned that it had become dangerous to speak openly if one held conservative views. Many dismissed that claim as theatrical. Now, it looks like prophecy.” Jonathan Sacerdoti The future of nations still hangs in the balance, so I must be alert and informed.
4. Regarding America, or any other people or nations, a worldview that does not allow for redemption is not from God. As a Christian, I must acknowledge historical and foundational ills, and I must not subscribe to a fatalistic mindset that does not see people as God intended them to be. The essence of things is that people are created in the image of God, and no person or people is guilty by virtue of their identity or history. And God is the God of new beginnings, and he still has purposes for the USA, and I cannot decry it as a fundamentally flawed society. God receives a surround-sound of praise when people from every tongue, tribe and nation come to him. Jesus is the Hope of the Nations; if I don’t have hope for my nation, do I have my eyes on politicians, or on Jesus?
5. I must amplify the message of Jesus Christ and this is often best done with my mouth shut and my ears open. As a person who knows God, I am part of the ecclesia, the governmental structure of heaven that sits apart from but is relevant to earthly government, and I don’t need to defend or promote a particular political party. (I can be engaged and not fear being called a Christian Nationalist, for those already reaching for a label.) I must have an ear to heaven particularly as it pertains to NewGen and their freshly-fueled enthusiasm for God so that I don’t miss something God is doing in this generation. I must not be a blinded Jerusalemite who misses God incarnate in His hour. I must turn up the volume on courageous truth and avoid the popularized soundbites of palatable error.
6.  It is fine to say “I am Charlie” if I see Jesus in Charlie and I am in Jesus. (Note: If I am judging Charlie and questioning his faith and his motives and his methods I may well be a stumbling block to a generation who are gasping to know the Jesus Charlie Kirk knew.) Movements can be manufactured; moves of God can be missed. My task is to be part of a promise my Father made to my Lord when he said, “Your people will volunteer when you call up your army. Your young people will come to you in holy splendor like dew in the early morning.” Psalm 110:3
7. I must stand on tip-toes to see what God is doing. I must go to scripture and admit to Jesus that I see in part. I must ask God to polish skepticism and intellectualism off the scratched lenses of my spectacles so that I see when the Ancient of Days is doing something new. “Listen carefully, I am about to do a new thing, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it?” Isaiah 43:19

What about those who grieve?

The mad, the mourning, the motivated—there are many emotions. Romans 12:15 comes to mind.

Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody. The Message

Pray for the Kirk family: parents, the extended family, and his precious wife and children. Theirs is a long journey ahead.

Today in my bible reading I happen to be at the passage where Jesus is giving his followers the heads-up that he is going to die. (John 14:15-31) He knew death, resurrection and eternity were just around the corner and Jesus said these things:

• “I leave you peace”
• “So don’t be troubled”
• “Don’t be afraid”
• “when it happens, you will believe”

To be sure, Jesus Christ was unique in his death, resurrection and ascension but the principles he shared are still relevant. In the upside-down kingdom a grain of wheat must die to produce a harvest and those who lose their lives find life.

None of us knows precisely whether our life on earth will be short or long, but we can know our purpose and calling. If even our purpose is unclear, our love need not be unresolved or misdirected. Since we do not know when our time on this planet will expire we must predetermine to be found doing what He told us to do when our end comes: that, I believe, is part of Charlie Kirk’s legacy. He was doing what his Father told him to do, even though he knew it was dangerous. And he obeyed with joy. His Lord and Savior set the example; Charlie Kirk emulated Him.

“But the world must know that I love the Father. So I do exactly what the Father told me to do.”

I love, so I do.

Whatever one believes about the message and manner of Charlie Kirk, in one short week we have seen thousands consider their own lives in light of his life and death, and many have resolved to love God, their families and their neighbors better. The apathetic have been activated, the casual have become courageous, the listless have become lovers. 

Some who opposed Charlie Kirk have no doubt dug their ideological trenches deeper; this is to be expected. Some who venerate him will conscript Charlie Kirk to their cause and draw their own lines in the sand. I don’t think Charlie Kirk died so people could win philosophical battles; his life goal, as I understand it, was to point people to a relationship with Jesus. If you are tempted, like Peter the apostle, to draw the sword and cut off an ear, put your sword away. The kingdom that receives blueprints and instruction from heaven mysteriously combines truth with grace, the works of God with the miracles of God. Its adherents wield love and redemption and hope while not compromising on the principles of God and the person of Jesus Christ.

Millions around the world have been stirred with emotion since Charlie Kirk was murdered, and they don’t know why. A life lived the way Charlie Kirk lived cuts through the clutter and causes us to face an eternal truth: there is good, there is evil (forget about left and right for a moment) and our lives are lived for consequence, not for comfort. How, then, will I live? How, then, will you live?

Image Used: Cheney Orr/Reuters