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Don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you (1 John 3:13, NLT).
Charlie Kirk was assassinated last Thursday, September 10, 2025. He hosted the podcast The Charlie Kirk Show and led on-campus events with his Turning Point USA student organization.
His death has attracted comments and tributes from President Trump, world leaders, many social media influencers, and sports personalities …
Vice President JD Vance wrote on X …
Charlie was fascinated by ideas and always willing to change his mind … Charlie genuinely believed in and loved Jesus Christ … I was in a meeting when those group chats started lighting up … that’s how I learned the news that my friend had been shot … I prayed a lot over the next hour … God didn’t answer those prayers, and that’s OK. He had other plans … You ran a good race, my friend.
The intensity of the response about Charlie’s death — overwhelming, yes, but why? How did he have such an impact in his 31 years of life? He didn’t go to college (yet led campus rallies across the nation), he was conservative politically, defended the Bible as God’s Word, argued often that life began at conception, and spoke against WOKE ideology — all of which I and many others agree.
His rallies on college campuses found Charlie sitting in a chair, drinking Starbucks® Mint Majesty tea with two honeys, encouraging the audience to ask him questions. I saw on reels from his podcasts: when He debated a young man on pronouns, told a young girl who asked how to deal with her parents who had diverse political viewpoints to always honor her parents no matter their beliefs, and even answered a question from a young man who asked if a person had to be baptized to be saved.
Although called divisive, my opinion of Charlie’s question-and-answer sessions with college students is that he was respectful, thoughtful in his answers, loved dialogue, and would listen carefully, even to those with whom he disagreed. Yes, he could be funny, pointed, and even sarcastic with those who challenged him. But John the Baptist and Jesus did the same.
Here is a question/answer dialogue between Charlie Kirk and a college student …
Student: “I just want to ask, do you feel proud of yourself for debating college kids who are unprepared to speak in front of an audience like you are yourself? You are thirty years old right? Do you think that’s a little bit silly?”
Charlie Kirk: “How is that any different than a professor talking to you?”
Another question/answer …
Student, “Are you here to change people’s minds, or is there a benefit to keeping people divided?”
Kirk, “How am I dividing people if I ask people who disagree with me to come to the mic? Do you know how we heal our divides? By talking to people we disagree with.”
Now back to “why” Charlie Kirk’s death has had such an impact.
I think he magnified a message of Biblical values, packaged in his life, that fearlessly discussed those ideas, unafraid of consequences, and enjoying the debates. Whether you agree or disagree with Charlie Kirk, there’s a part in all of us that identifies with a man wearing a camel hair robe who shouts righteousness in the wilderness (John the Baptist) or a carpenter cleansing the temple while also talking to the woman at the well (Jesus).
And Charlie Kirk fits that fearless telling-it-like-he-believes-it image. He had the courage to challenge culture, not to destroy, but to build it again on Biblical values.
Here’s a dialogue with another podcaster who asks Charlie Kirk what he wanted to be remembered for …
Podcaster, “If everything completely goes away how do you want to be remembered?”
Charlie Kirk, “You mean if I die?”
Podcaster, “If you could be associated with one thing, how would you want to be remembered?”
Charlie Kirk, “I want to be remembered for courage for my faith. That is the most important thing!”
Amen, and Amen!
Amen!