By Gustav Krös
26/09/2025
A lot has already been said since Charlie Kirk’s death on 10 September, and now that his memorial service has taken place this past Sunday, the news will start drifting in different directions again. The one element that has stood out for me throughout this whole time is how the truth of God’s Kingdom and the Gospel of Jesus Christ were interwoven throughout Charlie Kirk’s mission in life and how God allowed it to spread through his death.
His assassination has very much been a physical display of the spiritual battle that is raging against the truth of Christ and His Kingdom. Charlie Kirk had his faith as the bedrock from which he built his vision for Turning Point USA and debated with students on university campuses on a host of different subjects, including abortion, God’s design for marriage, and Israel. Since he spoke on many different subjects, it would not be fair to pinpoint his killing to one specific topic, because many will also argue that it was a political assassination and not necessarily religiously orientated.
No matter what reason the shooter had for pulling the trigger, we know that the spirit behind him was from the devil. Jesus tells us in John 8 verse 44: “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” The devil surely had his reasons for leading that young man to pull the trigger, because if Charlie Kirk was advocating lies that served his purposes, then there would not have been a reason to have him killed.
The reality is, though, that there are many godly truth speakers in the world, but very few get assassinated for doing it. So, why did Charlie get killed?
The reason is that he took the truth into the world.
People who only speak the truth in churches and within Christian gatherings are no threat to the devil. But if we start speaking the truth outside Christian audiences, then you should expect opposition. And that is exactly what Charlie did. He took the truth into one of the most hostile areas in the world when it comes to the battle for people’s hearts, minds, and souls – universities.
For decades universities have been one of the most prominent spiritual battlefields that the devil has targeted to draw young people away from Christ and His Kingdom, and when we look at universities in the USA in general, we see that the devil has been mightily effective in doing so.
If Charlie Kirk had only spoken at churches and Chirstian conferences, he would not have been nearly as successful in his mission and he would most likely not have been assassinated.
As Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3 verse 12, the reality is that everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But that only becomes a reality when we do what Jesus told us to do, preaching the Gospel of His Kingdom to all nations and to the ends of the earth. When we start shining our light in the darkness, then we should expect opposition. As Jesus tells us in John 14 verse 17, the world cannot accept the Spirit of truth because it neither sees him nor knows him.
As long as we minister within the safety of our churches and Christian communities, we won’t experience the reality of the spiritual battle that is raging, because we are posing no threat to the devil. If, however, we follow Charlie Kirk’s example and actually start speaking truth into the darkness, then we should expect resistance. It is unlikely that you will get assassinated, but you could be mocked and ridiculed.
God has certainly been using Charlie Kirk’s death for good (Romans 8:28), with many people re-evaluating their relationship with the Lord and many others being exposed to the Gospel in a tangible way during his memorial service, with Erika Kirk speaking forgiveness towards the young man who killed Charlie. Together with all of this, I believe this event was a timely reminder that the spiritual battle remains real and that we need to speak truth – in love, into the darkness and to the ends of the earth, with the knowledge that there will be a price to pay, but our eternity is secure in Him.
