My message to my congregation last week was about God’s love for all of us. As followers of Christ, we are called to live out that love and share it with others. The world is in an upheaval, but we are not to live in fear or worry. We are not to be conformed to the path the world is following. We are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds and by following the truth of God’s Word (Romans 12:1-2). We must be willing to tell a lost world the saving message of Christ and go ourselves or help send others to tell them (Romans 10:14-15).
This week, my plan was to build on that word and expand the message of love God has for us to share. Life intervened, and I made a course correction to discuss the hatred of truth that is so prevalent in our culture today. Last week’s and this week’s messages are both clearly spelled out in God’s Word. The demonic script follows a predictable pattern, and many in our culture are oblivious to their deceived state. I returned to a discussion of the lack of critical thinking and the unwillingness of our culture to see that they are being led down a path with eternal destruction as the terminus.
The hatred and vitriol in this worldwide culture are stunning but predictable. Matthew 24 and 2 Timothy 3 provide a checklist of what the end times will be like. The message to my congregation was expect the predicted because satan and his minions know no other game plan. Evil will be called good and good evil. Light will be called darkness and darkness light (Isaiah 5:20). I used Charlie Kirk and his assassination as the latest example. However, this is not a sermon on Charlie Kirk because his death is a fulfillment of God’s Word. Christ told His followers that they would be hated and persecuted for His sake. However, the world hated Him first (John 15:18-19).
Just like the Christian students and staff in Minnesota, Tennessee, Florida, and elsewhere. Just like the martyrs in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, their deaths are predictable and diabolical. Charlie Kirk is the latest in a long line of those martyred because of demon possession and influence. This is where the discussion of the lack of critical thinking comes in yet again. Those who call Charlie a hate monger have never heard or analyzed one of his debates. He did not hate but explored God’s truth in civil debates. He did not advocate gun violence, but he did, rightfully, embrace the same 2nd Amendment thoughts of our Founding Fathers. He knew guns, in the hands of the wrong, evil people, would cause loss and pain. But he was not willing to take guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens who do not use them at all or use them correctly. To attribute Charlie Kirk’s death to an inanimate object is deranged, lacking any critical thinking. To argue that he was a hate monger is to show complete inability to comprehend truth.
Culture has lost its love for others. Demonic activity under the cloud of witchcraft, LGBTQ, and other false religions has led us to where we are. A gun did not cause this condition. It is a mindset, an acceptance of evil as good, that has caused this condition. It is a lack of God focus, calling man a collection of cells rather than a divinely created being, that has led to this. If anyone can celebrate the brutal demonic slaying of another human, then that is demon influence at minimum and likely demon possession.
I told my congregation that I may be next on the martyr list because I will not stop speaking God’s truth. That is the only thing Charlie Kirk was guilty of. He told the transgender crowd that, according to the Bible, they were headed for hell if they did not repent. He was martyred for the truth! In that case, I must be next, or somewhere on the list to eliminate. I will not stop telling the abortionist, LGBTQ, witch, or atheist that their sin will keep them from heaven because that is what the Word of God makes abundantly clear. But I will also not stop telling them they can see heaven through Christ.
I go back to Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his treatise on “folly.” Those who refuse to listen or outright reject proven facts because those facts do not align with “their truth” pose a greater danger than the “scoundrel” led by evil. At least with evil, it manifests in a manner that can be rationally identified and fought. Ignorance and a lack of understanding of truth, or an unwillingness to entertain truth or counter-factual points, are more dangerous because of the inability to think critically.
As much as Charlie, I, or my fellow Christians are hated, we love all the more. We will tell of the love of Christ. The love that obediently went to the cross to reconcile sin and open the door to God. If you can’t accept that free gift, that is on you. Regardless, it is not a gun, a Biblical belief, or a self-deluded “truth” that has caused love to grow cold; call it what it is: evil, demons, or satan. Truth will prevail, and I pray that all of you are on the side of God’s truth when the judgment time comes. As for me, I am commanded to be “strong and very courageous” (Joshua 1:9). It is a command, and I will bravely and courageously tell the world of God’s love, regardless of the cost.