In the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s death, and the incredible memorial service last Sunday, there have been a variety of emotions and sensations running the gamut from controversial to hopeful, from surprise to shock. Erika Kirk (Charlie’s widow) gave one of the most powerful eulogies I have ever heard. Her pain and anguish were still raw, as well as the palpable anger at the murder of her husband by a 22-year-old college student radicalized by trans activists. And yet, she forgave Tyler Robinson openly at the memorial service. According to one attendee, even the most hardened politicians had tears in their eyes.
Over 200,000 people attended the memorial service which was held at State Farm Stadium (the home of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals). The stadium, an arena across the street, and the streets around the area were completely packed. President Trump and his sons, Vice President Vance and his wife, and almost everyone in the Executive Cabinet, along with most of Congress was there. This was probably the biggest worship service that I have ever seen. The music was all Christian hymns and worship songs sung by Christian singers and worship teams. The one exception was when Lee Greenwood sang his famous God Bless the USA before President Trump’s speech. I must admit that it hit differently and more deeply this time than any other time I have heard it in the last 30 years.
Every single speaker talked about Charlie Kirk’s faith in Jesus Christ. The Gospel was preached, and Jesus Christ was declared as the Savior of the world and the Resurrected Lord by the most powerful people in this nation. It was a revival meeting with many commentators predicting a third Great Awakening.
Erika Kirk’s act of forgiveness was more potent than anyone could expect. In the days leading up to the service, many black “preachers” and liberal “clergy” confined Charlie Kirk to hellfire, decrying his Christian faith which they said was not genuine because of his political beliefs. And yet not one could provide an example from his life in which he said or did anything that was contrary to the Bible or the Christian life talked about in the New Testament. Their bile filled anger belied any expressions of condolences or angst against political violence. They in essence were happy that an innocent young man (who was a husband and father) who was on the other side of the political divide was dead.
While this was coming from the left, on the political right, Candace Owens dropped a bomb that Charlie was increasingly rethinking his support for Israel at the time of his death, to the point that he harbored a personal hatred for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Worse still, he was thinking about converting to Roman Catholicism! The anti-Israeli assertions were backed up by Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, yet none of this was substantiated by any evidence. Candace Owens dripping with scorn, insinuated that Israel had some hand in the assassination of Charlie. (This accusation has been proven false beyond doubt at this point, but more about that later.)
All of this was being thrown around just a few days after Charlie’s death with no regard to the family and the grief that they and all who loved him were going through. When Pastor Rob McCoy (Charlie’s pastor and TPUSA Faith chairman) politely asked that Candace would refrain from airing any private conversation or differences during this time, her response was vile. She in essence told him to shut up (“I need nothing from you but your silence!”) and went so far as to question his relationship with Charlie as well as his credentials. For me, that was the point that I turned her off. I do not believe anything she says in this matter or in her ideas about Charlie turning against Israel. And given the time, it served no purpose but to be a distraction for the devil’s purpose.
When Erika Kirk forgave her husband’s killer, she vivified her husband’s faith in Jesus Christ. As Jesus put in the Gospels, “The Kingdom of Heaven was revealed.” And with that, the screamers on both sides of the aisle were revealed for what they are: shallow, empty, angry, opportunistic people who have no connection with Jesus Christ in their hearts despite what they claimed with their mouths.
In the aftermath of that memorial service, the antichristian element did not back off. Rather it has become more entrenched in its violent rhetoric while asserting the opposite. Late night television host Jimmy Kimmel was suspended for an outrageously ugly monologue about Charlie Kirk, asserting that the “MAGA crowd” was trying to “milk” every bit of PR points from his assassination and that the killer was “one of their own.” The executives at Disney knew that a line had been crossed so they suspended Kimmel indefinitely…meaning by the Tuesday after the memorial service, he was back on and parading himself as the “real victim” – victim of governmental persecution!
Erika Kirk’s speech has revealed what a horrific character Jimmy Kimmel is, and that is a factual characterization he will never be able to run from. This vile human celebrated when Roseanne Barr, Tucker Carlson, President Trump and Gina Carano were fired from the acting jobs, ousted from their networks, or deplatformed from social media in the name of “hate speech” and/or political differences with previous Obama and Biden administrations. Unlike them, he could not just walk away for the simple reason he has no audience who cares two cents about him! No one would pay to see him like the crowds did for Conan Obrien in the aftermath of his exit from NBC’s Tonight Show, or for Roseann Barr when she was forced out of her namesake comedy for derogatory comments about the Obamas. Without ABC, he cannot survive. So, he acts like he is a “saint” suffering political persecution after his vile comments about Charlie.
Candace Owens and her ilk are a different story, but they too are under the same influence as people such as Jimmy Kimmel. She may deny it, but her animosity against the modern nation of Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu, and anyone who supports that nation has reached a level of paranoia that is unbelievable. I know that Roman Catholics do not hold the same of view regarding Biblical Eschatology and the return of Jesus Christ as Evangelicals do, and therefore things like Biblical Prophecy regarding the birth of the modern nation of Israel will be rejected by her and some of her compatriots. Since the October 7 attacks on Israel, some leftists Jews in Israel and other countries, as well as the regular antagonists in the western world began spreading the idea that Israel was committing a genocide of the Palestinian people. I remember seeing footage of an Israeli Jewish man decrying the death of a Palestinian infant which he claimed was Netanyahu government’s unofficial policy of ruthless destruction of the Palestinians. And this was only weeks after the conflict began. After that, every single conspiracy about the Jews in the last 100-200 years was being peddled by Owens. It got to the point where she questions the creation and continued existence of the modern nation of Israel. In recent months, she has turned her ire toward the Evangelical crowd (which is Israel’s strongest ally) to the point of openly supporting Islam and Muslims over Jews and Evangelical Christians.
That she was peddling the conspiracy theories about Israel, along with the now proven falsehoods about Charlie Kirk’s angst with Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu, and his supposed consideration of converting to Roman Catholicism, was asinine enough. But for me, that tone of her voice, the anger and mockery behind it, reminded me of Jezebel threatening Elijah. (Candace Owens converted to Roman Catholicism after her marriage to George Farmer. However, she denies that it was for matrimonial reasons that she converted, but rather “intellectually Roman Catholicism is the true faith.” We respond by saying, this is completely wrong and will explain further in the next article.)
It was not the first time Elijah’s life had been threatened, but this particular threat, and the person through whom it was coming, was peculiar. He was not prepared for it. And who could blame him? The day before (1 Kings 18), he had his single greatest day in his ministry, something that was 3 ½ years in the making. He faced down King Ahab and 450 prophets of Baal and all the people of northern Israel. His prayer brought down fire from heaven and rain in a land that had not seen a drop from the sky in three years. On top of everything, the 450 prophets of Baal who had tormented Israel were killed off. It was a national revival, Old Testament style! What he did not factor in was the absence of a particular person from Mount Carmel that day: Queen Jezebel.
The rain was pouring when Ahab came into his palace and began to tell his wife the events of the day. She did not care one bit about the fire and the rain. The people of Israel shouting ,“the Lord, He is God!” meant nothing to her. When she heard her 450 prophets of Baal had been killed… a voice from hell came out of her with a dreadful message: “So may the gods to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.”
Elijah ran for his life…not for a day, or week. Possibly for 2-3 months. He ran until he was completely out of the region.
In my opinion, that experience is one of the most traumatic in the entire Bible. And also, one of the best demonstrations of Divine Providence and Grace. Elijah was traumatized to such an extent that the Lord sent an angel to feed him bread and water…to keep him from running away. The man’s depression was so severe, he could not appreciate that his very survival in such an impossible journey was a miracle of God.
There is more to that story in how God rejuvenated Elijah. But the point I want to make clear in this article is that we are dealing with a world of people like Jezebel. There are many who like to use the term “Jezebel Spirit.” I won’t use that here because it has become so used in church circles as to become a cliché. Rather, I believe that she is an example from the Old Testament of a person who is possessed with the spirit of the antichrist. Such people are a hybrid of spiritual monsters or as the Bible calls them, Beasts. (We will get back to this idea in our next article: Revelation 12-13.)
Such people do not care about revival, nor do they feel the slightest bit of sorrow when someone like Charlie Kirk is shot to death, or the slightest feeling of conscience when Erika Kirk forgives the killer publicly. The Gospel message is something that they consider repulsive. The sight of hundreds taking water baptism or thousands going to church affects them not at all.
I want to warn the Church world. As much as I rejoice in the tens of thousands who have been moved by the life and testimony of Charlie Kirk and his wife Erika, experience has told me never to trust moments such as these where emotions are running high. True Revival happens when the power of the Holy Spirit moves in the lives of these people to bring them closer to Jesus Christ so that they will greatly reflect Him to a world still in darkness. It means that these people will be connected to their local Bible-believing, Holy Spirit filled churches and enter the work of the Kingdom of God. That work will affect them personally first, then the people around them. It will bring them into the spiritual warfare that Paul talked about in Ephesians 6. The ideal of total commitment has yet to be tested in this moment…especially in football season!
Secondly, discernment is a gift of the Holy Spirit that is only cultivated in a Bible believing church which is moving in the power of God. It is a gift that is needed from leadership to laity, and which is only fostered in prayer, which is the reason why this gift is so rare in Church circles today. It is dangerous to be unaware of the spirit behind the words of people, particularly so-called ‘Christians.’ The threat from inside the Church is much more dangerous than the vile attacks from infidels outside of the Church, especially when they operate under evil spirits. I would say that Candace Owens is under such influence. Now there are many who would disagree with that idea. I know that there are some who would accuse us of giving Israel a pass on all the evils and/or injustices allegedly perpetrated by them on their enemies. This is not true. Israel’s democracy is one that investigates itself with an intensity and cunning that no other nation can emulate. That she would run cover and support for the Palestinians and Hamas while blaming Israel for everything with an intensely vile anger is demonic. (At the time of this writing, Hamas has been exposed to the world for the murderous terrorist group that it is. In the aftermath of the peace treaty signed by Israel and several other nations, Hamas has massacred several Palestinians in Gaza and refuses to disarm. Where are the protests and cries?)
While I support Turning Point USA, it is a political, not a religious organization. And while Catholics, conservative minded Protestants and Evangelicals may agree on several moral issues and political agendas, theological and doctrinally, we will never be united. (Have we forgotten Martin Luther’s Reformation Day is just around the corner?) And with that point our Spiritual experiences, impulses, and inspiration will be different. Which brings us to the third point.
Spiritual Warfare. Charlie Kirk made mention of it many times in church settings. We are living in a fallen world, one in which the powers of darkness are running rampant. The Apostle Paul made mention of this in 2 Thessalonians and in Ephesians when he talked about the ‘mystery of evil’ and ‘principalities and powers of darkness and spiritual wickedness in high places.’ The Church, the true believers in Jesus Christ must be ever ready to face that spirit of evil and to face it the way that the God of the Bible would have us face it: in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. Do I believe in the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms? Yes. Do I believe that we must be politically active and vote for conservative principles and candidates? Absolutely. But you do not defeat the spiritual powers that influence indirectly, or in some cases control people directly, with either. Many people misinterpret Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians by taking it apart-piecemeal rather than seeing the unified whole of the message. Paul makes clear that the whole ministry of the Church, both within our worship experience inside the building, as well as outside in the world in which we live, is one of a constant spiritual battle. The five-fold ministry will edify, exhort, and sanctify the Believers with the ultimate goal of bringing them closer to the “headship of Jesus Christ”(Ephesians 4). That ministry in the plural leads to the investiture of the Armor of God in the personal, which is needed by every follower of Jesus Christ to “face the evil day.”
The short summary of all this is that there must be a genuine and powerful move of the Holy Spirit in the local church. Pentecostal/Charismatic, Bible-believing denominations must see a true renaissance in the preaching and teaching of the Word of God as well as intercessory/Spirit empowered prayer efforts. This is especially true in churches and ministries in college towns. College campus ministries must be connected to that ministry effort, and I hope politically oriented groups like TPUSA and others will join in as well, or would at least be supportive.
It is the working of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth working in the ministry of the Word and Prayer, active in the Church which will expose the lies of the enemy, the evil in the world, and cast them down in the name of Jesus Christ.
We in MFGC Dallas, have been in a 21-day fasting and prayer time during October. I found out that many other churches across the land have been similarly moved to enter into intercessory prayer as well. I am sure that many of you have been disturbed by sights and sounds we see in the media since the death of Charlie Kirk.
Let me close this article with a scripture verse from Isaiah 59:18-20:
“According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to His adversaries, recompence to His enemies; to the islands He will repay recompence. So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.”
God bless you.