Why Calling Charlie Kirk A Martyr Matters
Charlie Kirk’s murder was not simply the death of a man, but a spiritual assault in a spiritual war between Good and Evil.Charlie Kirk’s murder was not simply the death of a man, but a spiritual assault in a spiritual war between Good and Evil.How Charlie Kirk’s popularity exposes the cost of silent pulpits
The sudden wave of grief and admiration from young people after Charlie Kirk’s death caught many parents and grandparents off guard. High-schoolers and college students didn’t just know his name — they were fans. They followed him closely, quoted him, and saw him as a guide in confusing times.
But why? Kirk was not a movie star, athlete, or pop-culture influencer. He didn’t set fashion trends or headline concerts. What made him connect so deeply with a generation?
Silence does not comfort the searching. It leaves them adrift.
The answer is simple: Charlie Kirk had answers.
While America’s pulpits too often fell silent about cultural issues, Kirk spoke plainly about them. And young people, desperate for clarity and confused about the way forward, finally had a leader.
Silence in the pulpit
I once interviewed a 19-year-old in Madison Square Park who was visibly frustrated. He insisted he didn’t hate women or minorities and wasn’t extreme politically. He simply wanted the chance to live his life without being branded a "bigot" because of his identity as a white male. His frustration wasn’t anger — it was despair.
What struck me was not just his words, but the hopelessness behind them.
If he attended most evangelical churches in America, he would not have found answers. Many churches, even when disagreeing with progressive ideas, avoid speaking against them. Instead, they sidestep controversy, hoping silence will win them credibility.
But silence does not comfort the searching. It leaves them adrift.
What young people face
Several years ago, a megachurch youth pastor asked me what challenges high-schoolers face. I told him this generation is drowning in questions of identity. They don’t know who they are, how to discern truth, or how to recover from failure. Depression and suicidal thoughts are widespread.
He dismissed my concerns until days later, when both gender-identity questions and suicidal struggles appeared in his ministry. Even then, when I offered to help equip his students, he rejected the offer — in anger.
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This isn’t an isolated story. For decades, many youth leaders have minimized cultural and moral questions, reducing Christianity to behavior management and vague encouragement. Students are left unprepared for the real battles they face.
Of course, I’m grateful for the pastors and leaders who reject this trend, but make no mistake: The trend was very real. Students needed answers. Charlie was giving them.
A hunger for clarity
That's why Kirk struck a chord. He didn't shy away from questions about gender, identity, politics, and morality. Agree or disagree with his conclusions, young people heard in him something they rarely heard from pastors: conviction.
When I was once given 50 minutes to “equip” high-school seniors for college with apologetics, I found the proposition laughable. You’ve had services twice a week for four years, and you think 50 minutes of apologetics is enough to prepare them for the lies and untruth they will face day in and day out?
But it illustrates the deeper problem — leaders who thought silence is safe. They were told by all the church gurus that if they were silent, somehow that would turn into gospel opportunities.
Big mistake. It isn’t until people know the truth that the truth will set them free. Silence brings slavery. And into that vacuum stepped Charlie Kirk.
The lesson for the church
Kirk’s popularity among young people should encourage us: This generation's young people are hungry for answers, and they are not turned off by clarity.
At the same time, it should warn us: If pastors will not equip the next generation with biblical truth about cultural issues, someone else will step in to fill the void.
Charlie Kirk did not captivate young people because he was trendy. He did it because he was clear. And that is precisely what too many pastors have been unwilling to be.
I’m thankful for the exceptions. Men like Rob McCoy, Jack Hibbs, David Engelhardt, and many others have been faithful to equip their congregations.
The challenge is before us now. Will the church continue in fearful silence? Or will it recover the courage to declare what scripture says — not just about heaven and hell, but about identity, morality, truth, and life in the public square?
Young people are listening, and they are desperate for your voice. Let’s learn from the life of Charlie Kirk and boldly speak truth in love.
A message to Christians after Michigan church shooting
Members of the church of Latter-day Saints faced a heavy weekend as the head of the church, Russel Nelson, passed away on the same morning that a man shot up an LDS church and set it on fire.
At least four were killed.
“Yesterday was a very tough day for anybody who is a member of my faith,” Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck says on “The Glenn Beck Program.”
“I did get a lot of emails from friends who are part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and most of them were in tears because they were online, and they read the words of so-called Christians,” Glenn says.
These “so-called Christians” were saying things like, “I’m glad they’re dead,” “I’m glad the leader died,” “I’m glad those people died because they’re going to hell anyway because they’re a dangerous cult.”
“When I read that, I wept with the same kind of pain that I had on the death of Charlie Kirk when the non-Christians celebrated his death. ‘I’m glad he’s dead,’” Glenn recalls.
“If your church wasn’t talking about these things yesterday, maybe you should find a new church. I don’t know. There’s been a lot of things going on, and we need pastors that are actually talking about things. They’re not talking about politics; they’re talking about, ‘How do I love my neighbor if my neighbor hates me?’” he continues.
“We need people who are applying it to today, because I want you to understand, there is hatred on the rise. There is violence on the rise. There’s all of this stuff on the rise,” he says, asking, “But what is it really? What is really on the rise?”
He then answers himself with one word, “evil.”
“That’s what’s on the rise: evil, chaos, disorder. That all comes from one author, and it’s evil,” he says, before explaining another horrific murder that occurred in North Carolina over the weekend.
A “madman” targeted a crowded dockside restaurant in North Carolina, firing his rifle into a crowd of diners. He killed three people and injured eight.
“This is happening in small communities. And you’re like, what? What is happening to us?” Glenn says.
“We are now living in Gotham. And you need to understand that the times and the seasons have changed. We’re now living in Gotham, and this is all part of the leftist plan. Destabilize, release people from prison, cause chaos in the streets,” he continues. “This is by design.”
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Stories of renewed religious fervor have flooded the internet since Charlie Kirk's assassination.
The September 10 murder of Kirk was captured on video from multiple angles for all in the world to see. Socially, Kirk's murder has invigorated a passion among supporters not seen for generations.
'For some reason, whenever he's been talking about God, I am just trying to not lose control.'
In June, Kirk appeared on "The Iced Coffee Hour" for a 90-minute conversation on fake news, corruption, and greed. Just before the podcast ended, host Jack Selby asked Kirk, "If everything completely goes away, how do you want to be remembered?"
"If I die?!" Kirk quickly clarified.
Selby specified: "If you could be associated with one thing, how would you want to be remembered?"
Kirk's answer was clear.
"I want to be remembered for courage for my faith," he said. "That that would be the most important thing. Most important thing is my faith in my life."
Posthumously, Kirk's wish is coming true.
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Kirk's grassroots activist organization, Turning Point USA, has already seen signs of a faith and freedom revival in young people across the country.
According to TPUSA spokesman Andrew Kolvet, the organization has received more than 32,000 inquiries over the past weekend about starting new campus chapters of the organization.
Kolvet added, "To put that in perspective, TPUSA currently has 900 official college chapters and around 1,200 high school chapters, with a presence on 3,500 total. Charlie's vision to have a Club America chapter (our high school brand) in every high school in America (around 23,000) will come true much much faster than he could have ever possibly imagined."
Kirk has clearly inspired Christians both new and old to head back to church or pick up a Bible. That much is clear even in the comments section of TPUSA's pages.
"I went to church today for the first time in 15 years. Thank you, Charlie, for bringing me to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Until the day we meet, brother," a man named David Perez wrote on a post about an event honoring Kirk.
On another TPUSA post with a drawing of Kirk, a woman named Samantha Lynn said that while she had not been to church in 10 years, she would be taking her entire family to service the Sunday after Kirk's death.
"I've never felt more called to incorporate God more in our lives. I owe that all to Charlie and the legacy he leaves behind," Lynn wrote.
These comments were only the start; tens of millions of viewers have tuned in to TikTok, for example, to hear similar accounts.
RELATED: Why Charlie Kirk’s assassination will change us in ways this generation has never seen
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A man named Kevin Leonard spoke to over 1 million viewers on his TikTok account when he revealed he had only been to a church service twice in his entire life, but he wanted to go last Sunday to fill Kirk's seat.
"Since Charlie Kirk is unable to go this Sunday, I'm going to go take his seat for him," the man revealed.
"It was really good," Leonard said in a follow-up video. "I will continue to go back."
The content creator added that he would start donating the money he had made off the video views to a worthy cause.
Furthermore, a quarter of a million viewers watched a woman named Brittany explain that she and her husband were inspired to go to church for the first time in 20 years.
"It was the first time for our children," she explained.
Brittany added that she wanted to raise her three sons to be "as strong in their convictions as Charlie Kirk."
Thanks to Kirk's tireless work, not only are church parking lots full, but followers are expressing feelings that they have never felt before. In fact, many who were just casual viewers of Kirk's content have been exposed to more faith-based videos.
"I've seen his content before, but only him debating the college kids. I've never seen anything else," explained one young male.
"Brother, ever since he passed away three days ago, every time I see a video of him talking about his faith, bro, straight water works, like, I can't," he stated. "It's almost hard to control."
"For some reason, whenever he's been talking about God, I am just trying to not lose control.
"And I've had a few people telling me, like, maybe it's God trying to reach out to you, which sounds crazy to me because I've never believed in God, ever. I've always been like, that doesn't exist. It's not real. But it doesn't make sense. It's like, why would I get so — I'm not an emotional dude at all. So for me to get like uncontrollably emotional about this thing that I don't even believe in, it's like, well, why is that happening?"
These powerful words are everywhere online and prove that Kirk is being remembered exactly how he hoped.
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