Tag: Charlie Kirk

They want to shoot you, not refute you. The distractive nature—and ultimate futility—of political struggle.

Rioters cause havoc in Los Angeles as they rail against the US Government
Protesters hold up foreign flags during protests after a series of immigration raids on June 8, 2025 in Los Angeles. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

(Also on Substack)

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. (1 Timothy 2:1-2 ESV)

In my ultra-“progressive” neighborhood, tragically represented in Congress by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, soon in Gracie Mansion by Zohran Mamdani, I noticed flyers taped to the public-facing windows of storefronts. One of them, directed at I.C.E., shouts:

Get the f— out of our city! You f—ing monsters!

Like Christmas, I.C.E. is coming to New York City with lawful orders to remove, as they have from Chicago and other cities, illegal aliens convicted of horrific crimes. Those behind the flyers, however, do not reserve “monsters” for those child predators and sex-traffickers. The tone of the flyer communicates an unwillingness to debate. The offer of debate would only reveal oneself to be an enemy. They have proven willing to act violently on that predicate.

The prospect of removal warms my heart, but it will happen only because of who won the presidency last November (but not, I remind my readers, with a 90% majority). Many who had voted for Trump now voted for Mamdani.

There will be riots. Now, how much time and other precious resources should I allocate to politics, electoral or any other? This question all Christians must answer for themselves. Trump’s victory only shifted probabilities, not the anti-Christian, anti-civilizational center of gravity.

The spiritual rot has set in all over. Culturally, the kids who were under my feet in the Nineties, the grandkids of the antinomian screwballs I knew in the Seventies, are now running things, only they read even less, emote even more.

Turning Point USA loves to debate. God bless them and keep them safe, but we saw what that got Charlie Kirk. That’s their answer. What’s our rebuttal?

The civil war is no longer a cold one. The emotional answer of shit-for-brains brats to Charlie’s “Prove me wrong” challenge is “F— you” and the like, etched on bullet casings. They want to shoot you, not refute you.

If, however, we could not only pray for what Paul urged us to pray for, but also influence the process that determines who will wield that authority, how much time should we spend trying to influence that process? For if hearts and minds are not changed, something only God can bring about, what does it profit us to be sucked into the endless dialectical whirlwind? For those who name the name of Christ, I deem it a distraction from our duty to feed on His Word and adjust our living accordingly.

I’m convinced we’re living in the last days of this dispensation (2 Timothy 3:1-9), a topic I will return to. Those with different convictions may prepare to mobilize troops, Lincoln-like, in response to the Fort Sumter-like attack that’s coming. I will spend the time I have left studying and sharing the Word.

“Prove me wrong.”

That was Charlie Kirk’s challenge on campuses across this country and abroad. Those words were emblazoned on the tents where he invited interlocutors, friendly and unfriendly, to approach the microphone to debate him on political, religious, and cultural topics. He would easily show that, and how, those three “fields” overlapped.

He was a political activist, but before that, by his account, he was a sinner saved by grace who would not shirk his responsibility to sanctify the Lord in his heart before, with gentleness and respect, giving a reason for the hope that was in him in the public square (1 Peter 3:15).

For over fifty years, I’ve weighed the pros and cons of philosophical and theological arguments, always eager (and often anxious) to learn what could be said against my position. But could I have done what Charlie did? At this stage, it is clear the answer is no. I write blog posts and books, but compared to Charlie, I’ve always “played it safe.”

I remember Charlie’s first appearance on Megyn Kelly’s The Kelly File on Fox News about a dozen years ago and then followed his career with some, but not great, interest. The recruitment of young people to the conservative cause, however important, was for me a side-show. Frankly, and this says more about him than me, if he hadn’t been murdered yesterday I wouldn’t be writing about him today.

But it was not until yesterday that I realized how important his mission of preparing tomorrow’s leaders is and how much he accomplished to that end, a legacy that millions will build on. I find it surreal that I’m following the aftermath of his assassination on the 24th anniversary of 9/11, when he was a lad of eight years.

I only voted for Trump; Kirk played an indispensable role in persuading millions of younger voters to do likewise. From that perspective, my differences with Charlie over, say, apologetical methodology are neither here nor there. He was a tremendous force for the good of order we call Western Civilization. Read William Kirkpatrick’s “The Civilizational Struggle That No One Talks About,” published a few weeks ago, and tell me America doesn’t need an army of Charlie Kirks. And then marvel at the how far he went in raising such an army.

He was as productive as he was creative and courageous; the more I learn about him, the more impressed I am. (Not that impressing me is a criterion of anything important.)

The Left doesn’t have a Donald Trump but, even worse for them, they don’t have a Charlie Kirk, whose legacy is deep bench of future leaders of a movement which does not depend upon the fortunes of one person. When a young person would ask him, “Who’s the next Charlie Kirk?,” his answer was always, “You are the next Charlie Kirk.”

I look forward to learning more about a man whom, I’m ashamed to admit, I underestimated. My poor words cannot compete with the encomia pouring in from those who knew this husband and father and autodidact who commanded every stage he strode upon and whose life’s work I’m sure I’m benefiting from in ways I cannot yet see. So I’ll stop. (Better late than never.)

Treat yourself to his encounters with the human refuse of our miseducational system on YouTube.com. Read his 2024 book, Right Wing Revolution: How to Beat the Woke and Save the West. You’ll be the better for it.

Prove me wrong.