Christianity has never been politically correct. It never will be. Therefore, there have been numerous attempts to snuff it out, beginning with its very Founder. As the saying goes, if you don’t like the message, shoot the messenger. But beginning with Him, there’s always a resurrection that its opponents had not counted on.
The killing of Charlie Kirk last week was a Christian martyrdom. And that assassination could well see a positive turning point in the life of America.
Martyrdom has been an historic fact in the 2,000 years of the Christian faith. One of my favorite stories involving it goes back to around the year A.D. 300.
At that time, there was a Roman emperor who was so anti-Christian that he did everything he could to stamp out Christianity. His name was Diocletian. He killed Christians for being Christian, and he burned their scriptures. There are fragments of the New Testament that exist to this day that were saved from the fire of Diocletian’s persecution. Diocletian’s chief general was quite suspicious of the Christians, and he had them completely purged from the Roman army.
Thankfully, Diocletian’s anti-Christian crusade did not last too long. He resigned because of illness. And after him, the first Caesar to claim to be a Christian took his place: Constantine. For the first time in the history of the Roman Empire, Christians were allowed to worship the Lord freely.
Diocletian had declared in effect, “You worship Christ over my dead body.” And God said, “OK – if that’s the way you want it.” Ironically, Diocletian’s tomb eventually became the cornerstone of a church. So in truth many people have indeed been worshiping Christ over Diocletian’s dead body. My parents have even worshiped in this church; it’s in what used to be Yugoslavia. A lot of people visiting that church probably assume Diocletian was some saint from centuries ago.
The Scripture notes, “There is no wisdom,no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord.” (Proverbs 21:30, NIV)
I got to be interviewed by Charlie Kirk once on his radio program, and it was a great honor. Christians have been praying for decades for a true revival in America. When revival began to break out at Asbury College in February 2023, Charlie interviewed me on his podcast to get some commentary.
He asked me about my Providence Forum film, “The Road to Independence,” which shows how America was essentially born in the wake of a Christian revival – the First Great Awakening.
Charlie even played a short clip from the film, which was a sound bite from Dr. Os Guinness, and Charlie commending me for getting such a stellar guest for my movie.
In that sound bite, Guinness commented on the great role Rev. George Whitefield, the British preacher of revival in America, played in our nation’s history: “The Awakening was the sowing of the seeds for what became the freedom of the Revolution. So, I’m a great admirer of Whitfield, and Americans should appreciate his immense contribution.”
A year or so later, I got to interview Charlie for a Providence Forum podcast on the need to fight against cultural Marxism, i.e., “Woke-ism.”
Charlie’s fearlessness came through loud and clear. We were discussing his book, “Right Wing Revolution: How to Beat the Woke and Save the West.”
In that interview, Charlie told our viewers: “Liberty is not man’s idea. It is God’s idea. And that is a very important thing – that God wants us to be free. … The Woke do not want us to be free. They want us to be controlled and afraid.”
The secret of Charlie’s fearlessness came through loud and clear. He only cared about God’s opinion of him, not that of man. He said the Woke have been “weaponizing name-calling” throughout the West, but that can end when Christians exhibit more courage.
He argued: “We need to care less about what the bad guys call us. I can’t tell you how many people are just paralyzed, and they’re in a place of almost hypnosis by what the bad guys call them or what the Woke call us when they call you ‘racist’ or ‘bigot’ or ‘misogynist’ or all that nonsense. No, you should not care what they call you. You should care about your close relationships. You should only fear the Lord.”
The ultimate case of “cancel culture” is murder. And so, the hatred against Charlie Kirk canceled him on Sept., 10, 2025. As Gary Bauer notes: “All this hatred simply because he promoted Faith, Family and Freedom.”
But because of his faith in Jesus, Charlie Kirk was hopeful, even for the future of America – knowing he was on the winning side. As Martin Luther’s hymn, “A Mighty Fortress,” puts it: “The body they may kill. God’s truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever.”