Let’s be like Charlie not Chaff
#charliekirk #turningpointusa
A couple of months ago, my grown and married daughter asked me if I knew who Charlie Kirk was. “Uh, YA! Who doesn’t know who Charlie Kirk is?” Well, until now she hadn’t. My daughter went on to tell me that her husband was listening to him last night in a video. She was blown away by the message and so encouraged that her husband was listening to it. Her husband has been listening to Charlie Kirk for quite some time now. It brought great hope, because her husband was exploring, but not rock solid in a Christian faith. She, like most of us, prays that God would bring someone, anyone, into our loved ones’ lives that will make an impact on their faith walk.
Just over a week ago, I was in the middle of my workday. I am a hospice chaplain and was driving to my next visit. A news blip came up on my phone that Charlie Kirk had been shot. My heart sank, and a burn of anger began simmering in my spirit. I began to grieve as a mother. It was grief for Charlie and his family, of course. It was also grief for my own grown children who follow him. I began to grieve on behalf of all the young people that Charlie has spoken to over the years and prayed that his death would not be an end to his voice. I see now that it will not.
I witnessed an intelligent and articulate young man use his gifts to reach out to a generation that he was equipped to understand with a message of biblical truth. In our culture, that message met continual opposition because we live in a time of hedonism when “self” is the god that is worshipped. Charlie was redirecting people back to God and a biblical understanding of truth. He was teaching people how to modify their worldview to align with God. He hit all the hard topics, and he did it well. He didn’t stay silent. He was kind and polite, but he didn’t sugar-coat or diminish God’s commands. His following grew. He was changing the country, and now he is changing the WORLD.
When I pulled up to my church on Sunday, the parking lot was PACKED! I mean jam packed. I knew right away that it was because of Charlie Kirk. I was already prepared for an emotional sermon and a message of hope and conviction to re-commit our lives to the Lord and go out and boldly share the gospel. As soon as I saw the cars, I was excited for the new people in church to hear that message.
The sanctuary was full, and people were overflowing into the lobby even sitting on the floor. The second service was the same. People had come together to mourn. Not just to mourn Charlie Kirk but to mourn over the bold attempt of the enemy to silence God’s Word. Deuteronomy 31:8 says, “The Lord himself goes before you.” The Spirit of God went ahead of us and motivated people to go to His house. He sent them to church. The sense of communal grief in the place was palpable.
I ended up in the middle of the back row, sitting next to my daughter. On the other side of me sat an anxious young man. I could feel his trepidation. To my utter surprise, the service was business as usual. Oh yes, they added the Kirk family to the prayers and acknowledged that people were probably “worried and afraid” during this time, but that was it. My daughter and I sat waiting (along with many others) for the pastor to connect the dots between his message and the horrific death we were all grieving. He did not.
Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t want Charlie Kirk preached, and he wouldn’t have wanted that either. But that young man was someone’s son, husband, and father. And he lost his life for speaking boldly about the truth God has given us, and the world is standing up to notice. I can’t believe for a second that Jesus wasn’t also standing up when that bullet emptied the lifeblood of a martyr just like he did for Stephen in Acts 7:55-56. I just can’t believe my church glossed over it as though something monumental hadn’t just happened.
Why? The motive is unknown to me. My daughter, who was beyond heartbroken at the lack of acknowledgment from her beloved church, wrote them a letter. The pastor’s response was inadequate to the disappointment and despair we both felt.
Our Lord and Savior knew that Charlie would die that day. And as scripture reminds us in Genesis 50:20, what the enemy intended for harm, God intended for good. God allowed the brutal death of a Christian, and his death is making waves around the world. Excuse the crude analogy, but God provides Charlie Kirk in death as a tool for the church, and I feel a righteous indignation at how my church handled it. I sat in church feeling sad, angry, nauseated, and empty. My church was not MY church. My church would not have let this happen. My church would not have made a choice like this. A choice to be relevant to the people who may still be on the fence with their allegiance to the word of God. A choice to baby those in the congregation who still don’t read the word of God and interpret it rightly. A choice not to provoke those who are still lost in the disobedience of their minds to the hedonism that infiltrates our culture.
Yes, we love those same people, and yes, we welcome them into our church. So that we can teach them and train them in the ways of the Lord. It’s called discipleship. “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey EVERYTHING I have commanded you,” Matthew 28:19. That is the great commission. The church was commissioned by Jesus to carry out the Gospel. That scripture ends with this promise, “And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” God won’t let us fail; HE will carry HIS Word to completion. We don’t have to be afraid of offending people with the Gospel in His own house! It’s time we stand up for what we believe and be bold in the way we speak truth. Boldness comes by way of love, but not timidity. When we hold back the truth, it isn’t love. The most loving thing we can do for others is to speak the truth.
My son Gabe is separating grain from chaff 2025.
We are living in treacherous times. The Word of God is the firm foundation we must build our lives and congregations on. In Luke 3:17, John the Baptist warns us that Jesus is going to separate the wheat from the chaff, and the chaff will be burnt up in an endless fire. In Revelation, Jesus says the church in Sardis has the reputation of being alive but is actually dead. He said the church in Laodicea was lukewarm and would be spit out. These are pretty strong warnings to believers. We must use our voices to be bold in our faith. I don’t want to be lukewarm or become like chaff. Let’s live out our faith in a way that honors our Savior. Let us serve others by proclaiming boldly the truth in love.
This is the Turning Point. This is My turning point. May Charlie’s voice ring out for years to come.