Charlie Kirk: The Man For Our Age

David Shepard

charlie kirk

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.”
— John 15:18–21, ESV

Seldom in one’s life does a national crisis strike fear, anger, vengeance, and grief into our hearts. I have not had a lived experience like this since 9/11. The horrendous video that circulated across the globe in a matter of minutes, of a young dad being struck down by a .30-06 to the neck, changed the world. It was the “shot heard ’round the world” of the twenty-first century. After all, this was not just any young, charismatic father being killed at random; this was the political and religious assassination of Charlie Kirk.

I am not going to explain the work of Charlie Kirk. If you don’t know who he is, I can only assume you are either too young or you live in an alternate reality untethered to things that matter. What I want to address is why his death matters, why this is a turning point.

First and foremost, Charlie believed in the saving work that only Jesus Christ offers. He preached this at every rally and speaking engagement when given the opportunity. Thus, the coward who sought to silence Charlie Kirk permanently made him a martyr in the Kingdom of God.

Second, Charlie fought on behalf of all Americans. I can already see the eyes of “blue-haired, alphabet-letter” liberals seething at this thought, but let me explain. Charlie believed in the dynamic power of free speech and debate. By engaging with students across the political spectrum, he showed that the truth will reign preeminent when the microphones are turned off. His martyrdom manifests that murder can end a life, but words will live forever. Through his Socratic style of debating in highly charged political issues, Charlie consistently demonstrated that he was grounded by his Christian faith in truth, the same faith that built this nation and preserved it until today. Charlie knew better than most what makes America great and believed in the foundational moral principles that are generally purposefully overlooked in today’s academic circles and in the public square.

So why does his death matter? Is my response merely emotional?

Charlie Kirk’s death may be the most consequential death for the remainder of our country’s existence. He threaded the needle between religious and political leadership. Politically, his life echoed the defiance of Patrick Henry, who famously declared, “Give me liberty, or give me death!” Spiritually, his martyrdom places him among the limited circle of Christians whose deaths reverberated far beyond their lifetimes, like Stephen, who following his death caused Judea to explode into religious persecution.

History gives us examples of leaders whose faith informed their politics and whose lives ended in assassination. Many of them, however, lived compromised lives later exposed. Charlie did not. I believe the two most fitting comparisons are Jesus Christ and Abraham Lincoln. As Scripture reminds us, “A servant is not greater than his master.” The more accurate comparison, then, is Lincoln. While Charlie was not president at the time of his death, do you think he would have been assassinated if people did not believe he could one day become president? Every media outlet, across the spectrum, credits him with helping deliver both the 2016 and 2024 elections to Donald Trump through the juggernaut that is Turning Point USA.

One might say, “But Charlie didn’t lead us through a civil war to preserve the Union.” I would counter that he understood we are already in a civil war: a war of ideas, a war for the soul of America. Either America returns to the Christian faith that so indelibly birthed her very existence into being, or she continues down the path of secularism that erodes everything preserved over the last 250 years. Charlie’s impact will ripple across the political landscape for generations to come.

Perhaps I am taking this more personally. After all, I was born the same year as Charlie. I have a young family like he did, and although I am not a household name, I care deeply about my country. I have been civically engaged, having run for office and serving as an active member of my local church and Republican Party. I see myself in Charlie. He took a bullet meant for me and everyone one of us who worked alongside him. I can’t imagine the devastation his wife, Erika, and their beautiful children are enduring. Imagine, for a moment, if it were your wife and children left behind. Justice must be swift and righteous.

And in light of this attack, and others like it recently, it is the responsibility of every sitting politician to look into the mirror and ask themselves the seemingly untouchable questions about the indoctrination of our children into cultural Marxism by the public school system. It is time to do away with public education. The government has failed us.

I did not know Charlie personally as many others were privileged to, yet I have mourned as if he were family, because he is. A brother in arms fighting for the same cause. He stood for everything I believe in. And whether you agreed with him or not, he stood for you and your rights as an American.

This is a turning point in American history, just as Lincoln’s assassination was. We will either heal under the hand of God or collapse as a nation. America must return to her Christian foundations, humbly ask Christ’s forgiveness, and walk in His ways, or fall into permanent decay. Pastors need to wake up and preach a potent gospel message or step aside. We cannot continue to blindly think that the two ideologies of Christianity and Secularism can coexist, when one side is not committed to dialogue and preserving the foundations that succinctly distinguish and define the ethos of our nation. If you disagree that America was founded upon Christian principles, I implore you to investigate what Charlie had to say about the Christian foundation of our nation. It is the truth, and the truth will always prevail.

Charlie was not murdered because of any liberal or republican talking point. He was murdered because Christ said, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” Charlie was hated by many. Half of our country despises what he stood for; meaningful debate, our Christian heritage, and the need to critically think. Through his faith in God and belief in the scriptures, Charlie Kirk stood for the truth and thus he was hated for it.

But Charlie was also loved. Now his name will be enshrined in the hearts of a generation who know him to be an uncompromised beacon of hope, truth, and courage: a true American, a fearless agent of God, and a devoted husband and father that was adored by his family.

Charlie Kirk is the man of our age, a name I will never forget. I hope to continue his work in my small community in North Idaho. Because his work was defined by the salvation of Christ, his work will live forever. And because Charlie followed our Savior, Jesus Christ, he too will live forever with Him in glory.

Until we meet again in the presence of God, Charlie, I hope to continue in your work.