Letter to the Editor
With the recent brutal assassination of the evangelical political activist Charlie Kirk, many have wondered what his legacy will be. Besides leaving behind a young widow and two small children, aged 3 and 1, what type of impact will Charlie have on the broader culture?
Let me answer that question with Charlie’s own words. In a recent conversation, Charlie was asked what he would want to be remembered for after he was gone. The response was clear and filled with conviction, “courage for my faith.” Christ has a way of producing courage and conviction in his disciples. Charlie took his God seriously, and many hated him for that. I can imagine Charlie took comfort in realizing the world hated Christ as well (read John 15 sometime).
Christian conviction is the legacy Charlie wanted to leave, and he did not fail in that mission. I have heard of innumerable accounts of young people attending church for the first time as a way to honor their slain friend. This should come as no surprise to those who have followed Charlie’s content relatively recently. In an interview with Tucker Carleson, Charlie shared advice he had for young men. Charlie challenged young men to “find your way back to church, find a woman, marry her, provide for her and have more children than you can afford”.
This advice is a deadly blow to the vacuous secular philosophy that permeates our culture and seems to encourage our young people to replace Jesus with self, church with social media, marriage with meaningless sex and children with material things.
Charlie Kirk is dead, but his legacy is not. A man who wanted to be remembered for his courage in following Jesus challenged the young men in this country to trust in Christ, go to church, marry the woman they love, and value children over stuff. If that is the Kirk effect, we all can be thankful for his brief, but profoundly meaningful 31 years of life.
See you in church this Sunday.
John 11:25-26
“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”.
Pastor Justin Rumley,
First Congregational Church SBC
The opinions expressed in this letter are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of The Kewanee Voice.