There will be talk of times and seasons and this being a season of war in light of Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
There is sure to be much anger and that, be sure, is godly for we are told to abhor what is evil. What can be evil if not that horrific scene of a lamb in the slaughterhouse being shot by a coward as he, Kirk, sat openly, unsecured, vulnerable, to debate?
To talk. To persuade. To listen.
Yes, that we know. We witnessed pure and unadulterated evil today. I, like you, watched the murder of a young man I greatly admired. I, like you, mourn for his dear family and those sweet, sweet children that will never again see their daddy’s warm smile as they run to his arms. Not again in this present evil age.
We weep with them tonight and we weep with our country. This is all well and good and we need to mourn together and, let’s not miss this, we should do our mourning and our grieving before Him as well. The shock of such a day can cause us to draw conclusions that aren’t exactly wise. Let’s soberly evaluate what we know.
And don’t know.
This is what the Scripture says:
“Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:17-21 ESV
To understand this in light of the time, especially since our hearts are broken, we must start with the basics. The first basic is that to be overcome by evil is to give in to the premise of humanism…that is to say, to think that we can reason without God. It’s epic foolishness, indeed sin, to think we can reason about ethics and politics without theology. All such attempts leads us to some form of humanistic hubris and nonsense. Do we expect to win a battle with the Devil by fighting his fight? Oh, we must pray humbly that we seek the Lord’s will on a night most black and vile and wherein we might seek the ruination of our enemies. A bullet or a blow is for defense only; they never bring a person to Christ. Thus, to be overcome by evil is to try and achieve happiness, or to secure justice on earth, through humanistic means. How is it that we’re surprised by how evil a day like this is when, in fact, even the churchgoer doesn’t understand the basic precepts of Scripture? How would an atheist wokester know when even the church elder is clueless?
You see, Charlie was a martyr precisely because he followed the biblical model set by our Lord in the face of demonic opposition. He went out to preach. No weapon will change the heart of men except the sword of the Spirit of God – His holy and life giving word. To defend oneself from violence does indeed and regrettably require counter-violence. That’s true. But to actually and truly defeat evil is first to make sure we aren’t overcome by the spirit of the world in the first place.
Evil overcomes us when we reject the glory of God and His word. This means, logically, that to overcome evil with good is to preach and live the gospel! This means that we overcome evil by doing that very thing atheists scoff at: praying and giving glory to Him by means of tearful supplication! Yes, I know, my fighting readers out there, my men of action, with your balled up fists and your truculence, itching to throw a punch, to right the scale again, to hit back, are going to bristle at this. But true freedom is found on one’s knees before the holy, holy, holy Lord. This we know. What we don’t know is exactly what “time or season” this is insofar as the grand political/social/theological play goes on. But we do know assuredly that we must attempt to overcome evil with the good of faithfulness.
The thing to know is that “so long as it depends on you” means that we obey the Lord’s commandments in regard to social life and politics. The fact is, the current Democrat party is shot-through with idolatrous neo-Marxism. To live peaceably with all doesn’t mean that we must consent to being enslaved or murdered. Charlie’s murder shows the logical consequences of current leftist ideology. The Democrats’ habit of branding everyone who disagrees with them as racist, homophobic, bigoted, fascists is the foundation for the violence. If Charlie Kirk or Donald Trump are literally Hitler…you do the math. This is not a time to be a pacifist weakling. We must consider Abram with his 318 trained men of war in Genesis 14. Yes, be ready…for self-defense; don’t be ignorant. The woke left clearly hates and means harm to you. It is, as we’ve seen, the inevitable end of their logic. There’s never any peaceful co-existence with Bolsheviks.
But this isn’t (at least yet) a time for war. What it is time for is the robust and vigorous tearing down of the leftist strongholds. We must, as Van Til would say, blast the idolatrous left out of their philosophical hides-holes. The Democrat party is an offense to God on every single major issue. They embrace sin and call righteousness evil. The end result of leftism is tyranny…and murder. We must move forward prepared to attack their core ideology and call them to repentance.
“And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.” Acts 17:2-9 ESV
Charlie Kirk was doing exactly what our Lord calls us to do, which is to explain and prove the gospel of Christ. He reasoned with them. Some were persuaded. Others – wicked men, a rabble, a mob – attacked. This is what evil does when it’s exposed and that’s what we’re seeing from the woke Left and their neo-Marxism. The truth of God in Christ has no logical rival and the enemy of our souls will do everything he can to suppress that truth from reaching the ears of those he holds in captivity. This is the model. This is what’s happening and will always happen until the Day when Christ comes back, puts His holy foot down and says, “Enough!” But, again, none of us would be saved unless we first had heard the gospel. And how would we have heard it unless preachers and teachers were sent?
But how are we to respond when we’re so angry? What should we do?
“Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.” Acts 17:16-17 ESV
The biblical example for us is right here! Very angry at the false gods on parade throughout the great city of philosophy – of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle – Paul didn’t call for an armed insurrection. He didn’t strap on his sword. No, fueled by righteous anger over the lies of idolatry, he went and REASONED with all who cared to listen. This is what Charlie Kirk was doing and why, yes why, he was so effective. Unleash the sword of the Spirit against the lies of the enemy and he falls. How do we overcome the evil of neo-Marxist public schools predicated on the pernicious lie of theological neutrality, the hideous lies of Darwinism that teaches our children there is no God and everything is an accident? By following Paul’s and Charlie’s example. Our churches are asleep at the wheel! We spend thousands to send often frivolous teens to other countries (ostensibly to preach but more in fact as a cool life experience) and we call that missions. What about our public schools and our colleges that churn out America-hating atheists? Why not fan the flames of the Spirit in our teens, giving them sound systematics and apologetics, and create an army of young bible-breathing evangelists to break the back of the enemy on campuses? That’s a missionary.
While we’ve been clutching our pearls over this and that trifle, the enemy has kicked prayer and God totally from public schools and forced everyone, via property taxes, to fund their satanic secular state. Are we “provoked?” Is it wise to send our limited money and resources to other countries while ignoring the fight right in our yard? To see Charlie Kirk properly is to understand this aspect of his effectiveness.
As we can see with Paul being provoked by the idolatry, it’s no sin to be angry at the evil we see rising in our midst. It’s no sin to hate the neo-Marxist movement that’s birthed so many little beastly monsters masquerading as angels of light like DEI, feminism, Black Lives Matter, and so on. They are false gospels all. One and all they reject the reality of man’s sin. Instead, they tell millions that their problem is other people or “the system.” The savior in all those cases is the messianic state. If the central problem of mankind is politics, Washington is the savior; if the problem is sin, Christ is the answer. It’s this simple.
So, no, it’s not a sin to abhor neo-Marxism because it is the modern idol. In fact, we’re commanded to hate the evil but, and this is critical, we’re to hate it in the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We’re to tear down the strongholds of the enemy (2 Corinthians 10:5) very much like Charlie was doing himself – with humility and respect.
The anger of man avails nothing. It’s a vain thing because it can convince us that we’re better than our enemies (and, yes, they are enemies…the Bible clearly states they are, so let’s not be wimps here). We aren’t better…we’re in Christ, saved by faith, not by works. And this makes all the difference. Our office now is whatever work it is we’re doing. Let’s not get stupid in our anger and start talking about revolutions and that sort of thing when the hill we die on is the one He died on. We simply don’t know the time and season unless He makes it clear. Right now we live in faith, we do our duties in that faith, and we pray and preach and teach. Right now is the day of the Great Commission; the church militant is Paul in Athens, provoked, not to war, but to preach the gospel boldly and to cut the enemy’s lies to shreds with the loving truth!
This, you see, is how we bless those who hate us. We tell them the truth about God and sin and repentance. And we tell them about what a true government is supposed to do under the Lord: punish criminals. We tear down their idols through preaching the truth. We must tell them that the modern leftist Democrat literally is an idolator. And the end of their logic is murder. They hate America and will do violence as a matter of principle. There is no equivalent to this “on the right” so we need to stop being soft on the issue. Boldly tell the idolatrous left the truth and call them to repentance. Be prayerfully prepared to explain the biblical logic of government under God and, conversely, how the Democrat platform is tyrannical and anti-Christ.
So, let’s be stirred up to be like Charlie in that we attack the myth of neutrality in our personal lives. Let’s take the fight to the enemy with the strength of our whole heart that’s dedicated to the gospel life. The prayer of a righteous man avails much, James tells us. But too often we’re busy with trivial things, or worse, weighted down by petty sins, to pray for bold things in the Lord’s name. Let us be resolved in this moment to do what we know the season demands: preach the gospel always…through our words and/or actions. Take the fight to the enemy by living out the promises of God boldly like Charlie did, with humility, humor, patience, respect and godly wisdom.
One last thing: we mourn for his loss because we know him so well due to his amazing success in taking the fight to the enemy. In what small way can we grow closer to God and obey His voice in our lives today? To rage against the left in light of Charlie’s murder is understandable but ultimately useless unless that rage is channeled into the love of neighbor via the offer of the pure gospel. We don’t seek to destroy others, but to save them to Christ. What we seek to destroy are the false gods of the modern ideologies.
The left must repent of its idolatry and turn to Christ or they will be judged by Him. Neo-Marxism is a false gospel at every turn, a beautiful deceit crafted by the father of lies himself. Secular humanism dominates our schools at every level. The myth of neutrality is preached even in our pulpits, so why are we so shocked that the culture is accelerating toward Sodom?
In Charlie’s murder we saw the hard, cold logical consequence of sin’s premises. Just as Cain murdered Abel, sin makes murderers of us all. Just as David had Uriah killed. Just as Ahab and Jezebel had Naboth murdered over a vineyard. Just as the mob had our Lord murdered! My advice is to be gospel saturated and yet, like Abram in Genesis 14, prepared for battle. It may very well come our way. Don’t go looking for it but wisdom tells us to listen to our enemy when he tells you and shows you his murderous intent.
Today is the day of the gospel. Soon…soon is the Day of the Lord. This is what we know because the Lord has told us, so let’s put on our armor and go overcome evil with the sword He’s given us: His word! All other strategies will fail because in them man is glorified, not God.
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