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Boldness inspires boldness. Right?
I listened to Erika Kirk’s response to her husband’s death this morning, which was delivered with a strength only God can provide, and I couldn’t help but draw upon the inspiration of her message to those responsible for his death.
The evildoers responsible for my husband’s assassination have no idea what they have done. They killed Charlie because he preached a message of patriotism, faith, and of God’s merciful love….If you thought my husband’s mission was powerful before, you have no idea. You have no idea what you have unleashed across this entire country and this world. You have no idea. You have no idea the fire you have ignited within this wife.
Charlie Kirk had an incredible and infectious boldness, a fire inside that came from God. My prayer is that Christ followers around the world, many who never saw or heard of Charlie Kirk until now, will see that boldness and want that same fire in their life. I know it’s challenging me. My prayer is that those who don’t know Christ will hear and believe because of the witness Charlie Kirk so boldly demonstrated.
There often is a price for boldness. Kirk was likely killed due to that boldness. He was not afraid of the consequences of letting people know what he believed, not ashamed of the gospel, gifted with an ability to defend what he believed with intelligence. I have watched a lot of interviews, debates, and campus open mike sessions in the last two days. He didn’t back down, was not afraid of those who disagree with him, was confident and sure because he knew the God that provided that wisdom to him. When confronted, he most often would do everything to expose the obvious deception of this world, a deception that he knew influenced the minds of youth..and children, those so easily swayed by the foolishness of evil and this world. Kirk addressed issues that many Christians remain quietly and carefully, even fearfully, silent about — and that Christians wish they were able to speak against without being cancelled, dismissed as being ignorant and closed minded. We are now being reminded that expressing the truth is not ignorant or closed minded. It is being aware of the God who made us, who knows us, and created us in His image. It is being aware of the deception, a seeming open minded intelligence, that keeps us from experiencing God in the way we are meant to experience Him.
Ironically, faith in God is both simple and complicated, but complicated only because faith must be lived i a world that does not understand. As Paul reminds us, the message and way of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, who do not believe, but to those who are saved it is the power of God.
As I write, I am painfully aware of the difficulty of being even slightly bold. No one likes being disagreed with. No one likes being questioned. Many feel inadequate to answer those questions. I know that I do, even knowing that I can find those answers if given time. Those wishing to trap me aren’t willing to allow time, they want only to attack. And I am reminded that I can’t expect someone who doesn’t know Jesus to understand in the same way as I do, to be aware of the truth or to accept the truth as it is.
For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. — I Corinthians 13:12
There is so much I don’t know about God, yet as someone who believes and seeks Him, I understand more simply because of that belief. My faith helps me to understand the ways of God in only a way a believer can understand. Charlie Kirk understood that, expressed his opinions with a common sense that comes from not just believing in God, but in seeking God and His ways. Kirk encouraged people to read the Bible each day, to seek God, because he knows of the clarity (even the protection) that brings.
Thank you, Charlie Kirk, for your willingness to listen to God, and to present Him so boldly. Your passing is indeed a bold passing.
In closing, I am reminded of Paul’s words in I Peter 3:8, which remind me of another way I must be bold, which I believe Charlie Kirk also demonstrated, and challenged me as well —
Finally, all of you, be like minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.
shenrydafrankmann 