by Alan Langstaff

September 10th was an early fall day as children returned to school after their summer vacation. Then it happened. A Christian conservative hero, Charlie Kirk, was shot dead. He was 31 years old.

Charlie Kirk was the founder of Turning Point USA. He was shot at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, a city of 96,000 people. It was President Trump who gave the news to the nation when he reported, “the great and even legendary Charlie Kirk is dead,” the result of being struck by one bullet while he was speaking in the courtyard of the University. “No one understands or has the heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie,” said Trump. He was a friend of countless people, including President Donald Trump, who ordered that the American Flag fly at half-staff in honor of Charlie Kirk through Sunday. He intends to posthumously award him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. A suspect was arrested and will go on trial who was “full of hate” and wrote “Hey Fascist, catch” on the bullet.

I must confess I really didn’t know much about Charlie Kirk. I became aware of his annual Turning Point USA conferences. I then began to observe his increasing ability to really debate people about conservative issues, and supported President Trump and MAGA.

He rose very quickly to national prominence and was a speaker at the Republican Convention last year.

He was a committed Christian believer in Jesus Christ and was not hesitant in speaking of spiritual values.

He had a wife and two young children.

His assassination has touched a Nation, and many are praying that it will be a turning point for America.

GETTING A PERSPECTIVE

It is important that we have a perspective on all that has been happening. Let’s note a few things:

1) Our nation is divided along the lines of politics. There does not seem to be a willingness to work together, whether it is about crime, immigration, or any other issue.

2) We need to remember that this has happened before in America. You don’t have to go back to the Civil War. It happened in the late sixties. The issue then was the issue of the Vietnam War, which divided the country. Eventually, this was resolved. America eventually moved ahead again.

3) There have been many assassins in our history, going back to Abraham Lincoln, President Kennedy, Martin Luther King, etc. It is a tragedy that people often fire a gun instead of debating the issues.

THE BREVITY OF LIFE

It reminds us all that life is fragile. Death awaits us all, even if it is not violent, like Kirk experienced.

THE IMPACT OF ONE PERSON

Although he had a team of people, nevertheless, Turning Point USA was created by a single person, Charlie Kirk. It is a reminder to us all that one person can make a difference in the world. Even though most of us do not expect to achieve what he did, it nonetheless reminds us that one person, by God’s grace, can make a difference. People have spoken of him as an Apostle in the world of government and culture.

WHY GOD SEEMS TO HAVE SAVED TRUMP BUT NOT KIRK?

There is no easy answer to that question. Only God knows all the circumstances involved, but Romans 8:28 can certainly apply where God works all things for good to those who love God.

WHY ONLY ONE SHOT FIRED?

The gun that was used was a bolt-action rifle, a common hunting weapon that was considered very reliable but fires only a single-shot. It was not considered particularly difficult to fire.

THE LAST DAYS

We must remember that the Bible says that these kinds of things would happen in the last days, and we are certainly seeing the enemy at work at this time. People are faced with the reality of evil in the world.

AMERICA’S RUDE AWAKENING

People have seen this as being a Turning Point for America. 

Think about these and other events, like the killing of a Ukrainian girl in Charlotte and the attack on school children at the Annunciation School in Minneapolis, Minnesota? Sean Ring wrote in his article “America’s Rubicon: Two Murders That Changed Everything.” 

“Has America crossed its Rubicon?

Iryna Zarutska was a Ukrainian refugee living with her family in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Charlie Kirk kept the company of Presidents, Vice Presidents, Prime Ministers, and other luminaries from around the world.

Murderers took them from us within a month of each other: one, a senseless, needless stabbing by an animal who never should have been on the streets.

The second was a professional hit job against a master orator and organizer that some had pegged for a future Republican National Committee Chairman, or even President of the United States.

Let’s explore why these two seemingly unconnected murders have galvanized conservatives in America at last to face the challenge of radical leftism. …

Although Charlie Kirk didn’t attend university, he had an encyclopedic knowledge of American history. He mastered debating so thoroughly that he went to the Oxford Union and owned those little turds.

He traveled around America and debated with kids at universities. He was firm, but fair. Above all, he was organized. And that’s why “they” had to get him.

Kirk was as responsible as anyone for Donald Trump’s initial foray into the White House in 2016 and his return in 2024. Kirk didn’t abandon Trump in 2020 when Biden entered the Oval Office. Kirk helped Trump plan, organize, and execute his comeback. …

What should scare the left is what comes next. If they’re shooting the talkers, what are they going to do when the “next Charlie Kirk” is a firebrand who advocates violence as a valid political means to justify political ends?”

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Matt Insley of the publication “The Rundown” wrote about Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

“Over the past two days, I’ve found myself reflecting on a moment in history…

A monk named Telemachus stepped into Rome’s Colosseum in the early 5th century, an arena where, for more than 600 years, crowds jeered as gladiators brutalized one another.

What Telemachus saw drove him into the arena, where he cried out for the bloodshed to end — and was stoned to death for it. Moved by his example, the emperor abolished the games soon after

Our Colosseum today? It’s digital.”

(by Matt Insley, “The Death of Charlie Kirk”)

So, at this moment in history, this call is for Christians to pray. 

  • Pray for his wife, Erika, and his two children, who have lost a husband and a father. 
  • Pray for Turning Point USA and its future
  • Pray for America. We sure need it.

P.S. Two wonderful addresses to watch or read if you can:

1) The speech by Charlie Kirk’s wife Erika, was amazing. Charlie is with Jesus now.

2) The address to the Press Meeting by the Governor of Utah after he announced that they had captured the suspect.