I was on the road at 4AM and it seems like all I could think about was Charlie Kirk. Three hours of windshield time to consider this tragic murder. This political assassination. While the manhunt is still underway for the killer, my mind went to the question of why Charlie Kirk in particular would present such a threat. Why did someone out there think that Charlie had to die?
I thought about the amount of planning and determination it takes to choose a target for assassination. I know that sounds cold, but this kind of act is cold. Most of us can somewhat understand the kind of murder that takes place in a moment of red hot anger. We have become accustomed to the insane, hate-filled shootings that are not aimed at an individual but at innocent groups, like children. We have seen the results of career criminals released by judges who go out and kill, maim, and rape and are rightly angered by the systemic wickedness of a justice system that shows mercy to any but future victims. But Charlie Kirk’s killer planned and determined and counted the cost. Whoever he was, he chose Charlie Kirk, which means that he believed Charlie HAD to die. My question is “why”?
My answer is simple: Charlie Kirk was winning. I’m sure the killer would have disliked anyone who advocated for the type of normal, conservative, Christian things that Charlie stood for. But I don’t know that they would have become a target. Take me for example. I believe those things, but I could never have done what Charlie did. Not with the energy he had. Not with the joy he found in it. And certainly not with the success he achieved.
Charlie started Turning Point when he was eighteen years old. He went to college campuses with a card table and a sign that said “Prove me Wrong” and won individuals to his cause one at a time. No cameras. Just passion. Turning Point grew to become the most influential political organization of the 2024 election, succeeding in a demographic that conservatives had all but given up on: youth. Charlie was winning the youth in droves to a vision of life that wasn’t just about Donald Trump. It was about getting married, having kids, and building a world for them in stable families that honored the Lord. And young men were responding.
Charlie Kirk became a target because he was the embodiment of a thought that is inconceivable to the Left: that conservative, biblical, normal American values are desirable to young people who are tired of the Leftist Utopian dream that, it turns out, is meaningless. Meaningless degrees that function only as public certifications but don’t actually equip the student. Meaningless sex that has denied the underlying covenant relationship that undergirds the lasting meaning of sex. Meaningless victimizations that remove agency and functions as an excuse for failure. And free pot so that no one would have enough brain cells left to care about it. Charlie was challenging all of that and young people were responding.
This begs the question of how it is, to the consternation of those who think the Left’s victory is simply a matter of time, that Charlie could be so successful. Did he trick and manipulate young people into believing in a fantasy or an oppressive system that values some members of society above others? Did he bribe, blackmail, and beat people into following him? No, he just spoke the truth. He used facts. He debated. He made jokes. He invited opponents to challenge him. He allowed his ideas to be tested, tried, and attacked in public. He was so confident and so quick and so genuine.
Charlie was winning because the things he was saying are rooted in reality. Creational reality, like the reality that there are only two biological sexes. Biblical reality, like the reality that marriage is God’s plan for young men and young women. And even national reality, like the reality that importing millions of people who have no interest in supporting the values of America is going to result in American values, like free speech, being degraded.
Charlie was winning because God won’t be mocked, and because the Bible is true, and because in the end, Truth will out. And for that, he was killed. For speaking biblical truth into a corrupt world and finding an audience that was hungering and thirsting for something better than the lies they have been fed by the systemic oppressors of youth in the modern world – media, the public school system, and social media.
What Now?
The thing is, Truth is far more powerful than a bullet. You can’t kill Truth, the way you killed Charlie. And even if you could, it would find its way out of the grave. I don’t know if we’ll see another champion like Charlie, but I hope we see countless lesser soldiers fighting for the cause. Not fighting with guns and insults and threats, but with joy, like Charlie was joyful. Fighting with confidence, because God won’t be mocked. Fighting with hope, because people – especially young people – want more than what the world can offer them. We are winning, and there is no reason to stop using the weapons that Charlie used: open debate and conversing with our adversaries.
I think Charlie’s death portends something, and what I hope it portends is the end of Wokeness. I hope it is a nail in the coffin of the “higher education” industry that has become a brainwashing mechanism, not to mention a financial trap, for young people. May it be the death knell of feminism with its bloody sacrament of abortion. May it signal the return to valuing faith in God above all else, and of the cherishing of family and children above careers. I certainly hope it portends the end of anyone caring anymore when the media tries to censure free speech and of cancel culture. May it signal the return of households to worship on the Lord’s Day. May Charlie’s death be a watershed moment not just in politics, but in the return of our nation to Christ.
Nathan Writes 