Charlie Kirk

Vengeance belongs to the Lord, not the mob.

A charge for conservative Christians in light of the Charlie Kirk assassination.

The news of the Charlie Kirk assassination has many different responses so far. My goal in this post is to speak to conservative Christians, give us Biblical categories for such an event and to help us walk through it well.

Charlie was a self-professed Christian and political commentator. Based on what I know about his life and saw from his work, he said plain truths plainly. In a world that hates truth, you receive hatred when you say truth.

In light of that, a people that are godless will take what they believe is justice into their own hands and enforce it by violent mob. This is historical precedent. See the French Revolution, the Red Guard of China, the Nazi movement of Germany, and (on a much smaller scale) many of the contemporary American riots of the last decade.

This is what we're seeing play out in this specific time in our history. The godless creating their own standards of truth and justice apart from the Bible and meeting it out by brute vigilante force.

How Does a Christian Respond?

First, let's deal with the fear that an event like this could stir up. The goal of terrorism, which is at least part of what we're dealing with, is to shake a group of folks up — create a bit of unrest and instability. This is caused by the fear and emotional turmoil that many will feel after such a public murder.

For the Christian, this is not a new thing. Christians have died for their beliefs for quite some time. In the New Covenant, we can trace it back to Stephen in Acts chapter 8, who boldly declared what was true and died for it. We can trace it forward to our contemporary days in the middle east and Africa, where Christians are still executed regularly simply for being Christian.

God promises to the Christian that he will use everything for good (Rom 8:28), that justice belongs to him (Rom 12:19), and he instructs us to not be controlled by our emotions during times like this (James 1:19).

Practically speaking, given our current presidential administration, I think we can say with confidence that justice will be done in our courts, but even if it isn't — God will meet it out.

Don't Feed the Trolls

Now, having said all that, the pot-shots have already started. The "he deserved it" and "play stupid games win stupid prizes" quips from progressive troll social accounts have begun. Some of these people you may know, some you may not, but in either category here is my advice that you did not ask for: leave them alone.

Ignore it. Do not be baited into any type of conflict surrounding this time. Rather, give the investigation and courts time to work.

This is not to say, "don't have an opinion," because that would be impossible. Rather, my advice is to not engage. In other words, don't feed the trolls.

Control Your Tongue

Control your tongue (James 3). And maybe turn off your socials altogether for a few days.

In a controversial season like this you could, being fired by your emotions and letting your tongue get out in front of you, set things ablaze (James 3:5–6), and that would not be helpful. In a season when things are unknown and emotions are high the best leaders will differentiate themselves by demonstrating their abilities to stay level headed and compose themselves.

By and large conservatives don't mob and riot, and that is a good historical precedent for us to maintain. We, I would argue, have at least the remnants of Christendom in our DNA and with that an understanding that Jesus reigns over all, this wasn't a surprise to him, he has a good purpose for it, and vengeance belongs to our God.

But It Is Still a Tragedy

That does not mean it's not a tragedy. Pray for the Kirk family. I believe Charlie had a wife and two young children.

And pray for wisdom and self-control. These are two things, in a time like this, that we could not have enough of.

SDG.