Another Present-Day Martyr
Young Christians are taught about the Church’s martyrs. These were men and women from times past, usually courageous souls during Roman occupations. Little could anyone imagine that in the span of a month, those who died for their faith would happen during our lives.
A scant month ago, two precious children were killed while praying in a Catholic Church in Minnesota by an evil transgender man who, in his hate for life, turned the gun on himself. Certainly, those little ones are martyrs and are with God. Notwithstanding, we can never forget those children who never had the chance to live out their potential, and grieve the repeated violence against the innocent in our culture.
Without even a chance to completely make some sense of the church killings, news that Charlie Kirk was assassinated on a Utah college campus. He was on the campus of Utah Valley University as a part of The America Comeback Tour hosted by the organization he started, Turning Point U.S.A.
In the aftermath of the murder, many of those who are in government and the media described the violence as political. Although Kirk was an active political figure, the violence against him was first a religious persecution and only secondarily a political one. Too few people realize today’s political environment is the fight between good and evil. The left embraces policies that, according to our Christian beliefs, are evil. The wanton death of another human being is evil, and the left has promoted these horrific acts to save democracy, end racism, and secure women’s health.
Charlie Kirk understood that a society’s morality influences the political world. When the communists took over Russia and China, the first victims were religion and religious freedom. The same struggle is happening in America now, and his death exemplifies it, as do other killings. The leftist Marxists of this country do not want a moral society because they believe a society should be free of God and the moral order. Only when all that is revered and stripped away can the Marxist ideology transform society from within. For the left, the end objective will always justify the means, no matter how horrendous, no matter how bloody.
Kirk, a devout Evangelical, spoke out against policies denying the moral order and spent his life educating college students about how misguided these young adults are. After only one year in college, Kirk realized how toxic the higher education environment had become. This motivated him to start Turning Point U.S.A. to debate young minds already brainwashed. The colleges and universities in our county have been leftist Marxist bastions for years, and those who teach there must follow the ideology to attain a Ph.D. or retain a teaching or administrative position. Hence, the institutions of higher learning have become incestuous breeders of Marxist thought. The reasonless structure of these colleges and universities prompted Kirk to vigorously push back to save some young minds from the falsehoods being taught.
While attempting to change minds, Kirk would openly opine about Christian values and how following the will of God makes it possible for young adults to live fulfilling lives instead of ones laced with depression and anxiety. He spoke to the college students about the importance of marriage and starting a family between a man and a woman instead of seeking the golden ring of corporate America.
Courageously, he spoke out about the absurdity and sinfulness of the violent transgender movement. Knowing God and his mandate for humanity to procreate, Kirk spoke eloquently about the lowering fertility rates and how young adults contemplating marriage should welcome and work for children in their new families. He often mentioned the destructiveness of wokeism and the influence of Islam working against Western values, which were once influenced by Judeo-Christian values.
There is no doubt that Kirk was gunned down because he deigned to give our young college kids a different view of the world. He was quite an influencer, and his popularity grew among the young. As a great communicator, he inevitably changed the minds of some of these students, but he also helped some of them, through debate and logic, return to God.
Very few in our world had such an audience, and he used it to proclaim the truths about God and the evil of the leftist movement. He was killed for that, and it is not hyperbole to say Charlie Kirk died proclaiming the truth and faith in the face of vicious opposition.
That is the definition of a martyr.
“Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”