Who Is Charlie Kirk?

My VIP for this week is Charlie Kirk, conservative activist who was assassinated on September 10, 2025, at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. One month prior to his assassination, Kirk finished drafting his book, “Stop, in the Name of God: Why Honoring the Sabbath Will Transform Your Life.”

Eva Terry at the Deseret News reported on the release of Kirk’s final project. The book was released last Tuesday and “sold out in every Barnes & Noble across Utah and is still sold out on Amazon. “Kirk’s book asks the question, ‘Are we still bound to observe the Sabbath?’ His answer draws from the Bible, his own quest to keep the Sabbath day holy, and centuries of Christian and Jewish theology.” Terry’s report continued as follows. 

The book begins with a preview by his wife, Erika Kirk, written after her husband was killed.

“These pages are not theory for him, they are testimony. The words you hold in your hands were the convictions he lived that were written on his heart,” she wrote.

Then Charlie Kirk’s words begin: “I desire to bring all humanity back to God’s design to rest for an entire day. To cease working, to STOP, in the name of GOD.”

Terry explained that the book originated in the spring of 2020 because Charlie Kirk “was becoming progressively more fatigued, tired and spiritually confused.” He spoke to David Engelhardt, by that summer. “‘I told him I was hitting a wall, I had more obligations than time, and I was drinking eight cups of coffee a day just to stay afloat,’ Kirk wrote. Engelhardt responded simply, ‘Are you honoring the Sabbath?’”

Kirk replied that he did not have time to take one day off work a week and explained why he was so busy. That night he searched through a Bible for every single verse about the Sabbath. “‘The more I started to appreciate the Sabbath, the more I realized the great need to share its wondrous beauty with the world,’ he wrote. ‘I hold this belief very clearly: If the Sabbath can change my life, it can change everyone’s life.’”

Across the book’s 13 chapters, Kirk argues the case for Christianity and keeping the Sabbath day holy. While attitudes about the Sabbath have loosened among Christians, Kirk said a return to full observance will help counter society’s ills.

To explain why, Kirk went back to the beginning. He asked, why did God rest on the seventh day of Creation, and why has he commanded us to do the same?

“This rest is due not to fatigue, but to fullness,” Kirk reasoned. “It is not the withdrawal of power, but the crowning of meaning. It is the divine punctuation mark at the end of the most magnificent sentence ever spoken. It is the declaration that the created world imbued with divine speech and radiant with order, is not merely functional but good – and that its goodness is worthy of joy.”

The Creator’s “commands are not arbitrary,” he wrote. “They are rooted in His goodness and designed for human flourishing…. Obedience to God is not servility to a cosmic despot but alignment with the moral fabric of reality itself.”

To fully observe the Sabbath, you must fully commit yourself to the rest of the week, Kirk wrote.

“The lazy heart isn’t just inefficient – it’s disobedient,” he said. “We are witnessing a crisis – not of job, but of purpose. What happens to a culture when men stop building, stop protecting, stop leading? When instead of planting gardens or shaping the world, they retreat into virtual realities and chemical sedation? The Bible doesn’t describe that as rest – it calls it sloth. And sloth isn’t just laziness. It’s a refusal to become what God made you to be.”

Kirk connected surging depression, anxiety and suicide rates with the declining belief in meaningful work.

“Work is not punishment; it is participation in divine order,” he wrote. “God is not idle, and those made in His image are not meant to be either. Labor is a way of mirroring the creativity and faithfulness of the Creator, and when we detach from it, we not only weaken ourselves materially, but unravel something essential in our souls.”

Though the book is largely philosophical, there are several moments where Kirk gets personal with his reader, and they are heart-wrenching to read after his death.

“I thank God every day for the work I’ve been given. I leap out of bed without caffeine, energized not by adrenaline, but by gratitude. I get to speak truth. I get to reach people. I get to labor in a cause that matters,” he wrote.

This book by Charlie Kirk just weeks prior to his death is a true testimonial. His testimony about the Sabbath Day was sealed by his death. I have read and heard many testimonials about keeping the Sabbath Day holy, but I have not read or heard any better.

I can also testify that it is important to keep the Sabbath Day holy. One essential reason for keeping the Sabbath Day holy is because obedience to God’s commandments brings His blessings. A second important reason is that our minds and bodies need to rest. This is the reason for the commandment!

I learned this important principle many years ago. I usually “rested” on Sunday, but there were a few Sundays when I was out of town and could not observe the Sabbath on Sunday. I learned that I could not make it through the week without a “Sabbath.” When I could not “rest” on Sunday, then I had to devote another day during the week to being my Sabbath, or I would be too exhausted to function properly. 

Was Charlie Kirk a Martyr for Christ?

My VIP for this week is Charlie in a contrast-and-comparison to Jesus Christ. Both Charlie and Jesus Christ became larger after death than while they lived because each is a martyr for a cause. Charlie is a martyr for “the religion of social justice,” while Jesus Christ was killed because He claimed to be the Son of God. Charlie was a follower of Jesus Christ who interested many people in the gospel of Jesus Christ, while Jesus Christ has the power to change the eternal life of every mortal man, woman, and child.

Virgil Walker says that “America now stands at a crossroads.” Americans can choose “the broad path that leads to chaos and destruction, or the narrow path that leads to peace and life?” He calls the situation an obvious choice: “Christ or chaos?” 

Walker compared the situations surrounding the deaths of George Floyd, Michael Brown (Ferguson, Missouri), and Jacob Blake (Kenosha, Wisconsin) with that of Charlie Kirk. The deaths of the first group of men led to nationwide protests, riots, student walkouts, cities burned, businesses ransacked, stores looted, and calls to defund the police.

Now, set that against what followed the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

He was murdered for daring to give the biggest microphone … to those who opposed him. He welcomed debate. He confronted hostile ideas head on. He refused to be silenced by intimidation. And for that, he paid with his life.

But look at the fruit that followed his death.

No buildings burned. No businesses looted. No cities reduced to ash.

Instead, only candles burned – vigil candles, lifted high in memory of a man who gave his life for truth. People gathered in churches. Prayers rose instead of Molotov cocktails. Instead of mobs demanding blood, thousands made decisions to follow Christ. Politicians who would never publicly declare the name of Jesus suddenly spoke openly about the need for the gospel. Instead of excuses for lawlessness, there were testimonies of salvation….

What explains this radical difference?

On one hand, you have a spirit of rage. A spirit that justifies destruction as expression. A spirit that sees justice as vengeance. That spirit has turned too many American cities into ruins.

On the other hand, you have the Spirit of God. A Spirit that produces repentance instead of riots. Worship instead of war. Candles instead of chaos. When the world lost Charlie Kirk, a true martyr, the response revealed something deeper – something eternal.

The battle lines of our culture are not political but spiritual. The evidence could not be more clear.

The apostle Paul reminds us that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness” (Ephesians 6:12). What we are seeing is not merely two different sets of political responses but two different kingdoms on display….

History teaches us that rage consumes itself….

But the fruits of the Spirit endure. Out of Charlie Kirk’s death, lives are being changed forever. The gospel is advancing. The church is awakening.

The contrast forces every Christian to make a choice….

The choice is clear: Riots or revival? Chaos or Christ?

Lest anyone get the wrong idea, I know that Charlie was a mere mortal, while Jesus Christ is the Son of God who atoned for the sins of mankind, who died and was resurrected on the third day, and who will return to earth in glory soon. Charlie himself would be the first to deny that he was worthy to be compared to Christ. However, they are both martyrs, whose lives and deaths have impacted vast numbers of people. Charlie testified and witnessed for Christ, while Christ makes it possible for all of us to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father.

Why Is Honesty Necessary for Freedom?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns honesty in personal relationships, media, and politics. One important reason that honesty is necessary is that dishonesty usually ends in someone being hurt in some way. Another reason for honesty is that dishonesty shuts down open communication. A third reason honesty is critical is that other people do not know when they can trust you with the truth and when they cannot.

Seconds after Charlie Kirk was assassinated, his critics and enemies attempted to destroy his legacy. According to staff at Blaze TV, Kirk was previously labeled “racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic white supremacist.” After his death, the ghouls in our society “had to make up bald-faced lies about him, twisting his words to paint him as the nazi they believe all conservatives are.” 

The many circulating lies are an attempt to justify the murder of Charlie Kirk. Beck called their efforts “grotesque to the highest decree because the truth is: Charlie Kirk was above reproach.” Beck recently discussed “the five biggest lies” about Kirk on “The Glenn Beck Program.”

Lie #1: Charlie Kirk endorsed the enslavement of black people.

One of the lies currently making the rounds is that Charlie Kirk said, “Black people were better off in slavery.”

… On the contrary, Charlie made it clear that the enslavement of any man is evil.

What he did say, however, was that the black family was faring better before the passage of the Civil Rights Act, which ended the Jim Crow era. “And it was!” says Glenn, a history aficionado. In those days, divorce rates were lower, fathers were more present in the home, and the crime rate was lower in the black community. Statistics prove that following the Civil Rights Movement, divorce rates among black couples surged, as did crime rates.

Glenn’s theory is that the Civil Rights Movement was spearheaded by progressives who wanted to oppress the black community, but instead of denying rights, they targeted the family. According to his hypothesis, President Lyndon B. Johnson, who he reminds was “the biggest racist up until he died,” packaged his Great Society – Medicare, Medicaid, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and expanded welfare programs – as a means of tackling poverty and racial injustice in order to conceal his true intentions: enslave black people financially.

“The Great Society did more damage to the black family than anybody could have done outside of Margaret Sanger. I think that’s what [Charlie] meant,” says Glenn.

Lie #2: Charlie Kirk said black women are intellectually inferior.

Many progressive[s] are falsely claiming that Charlie Kirk said all black women are inferior intellectually. This is a distortion of a comment the Turning Point USA founder said on “The Charlie Kirk Show” in 2023 following the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and UNC, in which the court declared that affirmative action violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14^th Amendment.

Kirk called out Joy Reid, Michelle Obama, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Ketanji Brown Jackson – all of whom had admitted that their success was only made possible by affirmative action.

“All of them basically confess, ‘Yeah, I was an affirmative action person, and I’m proud of it.’ This is how arrogant Joy Reid and Ketanji Brown Jackson and Michelle Obama and Sheila Jackson Lee are. They’re like, ‘Yeah, I took your slot.’ They do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken seriously, but they had to go steal a white person’s slot … to be taken somewhat seriously,” Kirk said….

To suggest that he called all black women dumb is “so incredibly dishonest,” says Glenn.

Lie #3: Charlie Kirk said gun deaths are worth protecting the Second Amendment

Another quote that’s making the rounds is Charlie’s comment following the Nashville school shooting. At a TPUSA event in Salt Lake City, he was asked about defending Second Amendment rights against gun control advocates.

In response, he said, “You will never live in a society when you have an armed citizenry and you won’t have a single gun death. That is nonsense. It’s drivel. But I am – I think it’s worth it. I think it’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational.”

He then gave the example of deaths related to car accidents. “We have determined as a society that it is worth it to have cars, even though 40,000 people die every single year in car accidents.” ….

Lie #4: Charlie Kirk used an Asian slur

Perhaps the most egregious lie circulating among leftists is that Charlie used the racial slur “c***k” to refer to an Asian woman. A deceptively edited video from a 2018 Politicon event shows Charlie using the word repeatedly.

Except the word he was actually saying was “Cenk.” Charlie was engaged in a heated exchange with socialist progressive Cenk Uygur, co-host of “The Young Turks.” The maliciously edited video aimed to paint him as a racist and give progressives justification for celebrating his death….

Lie #5: Charlie Kirk advocated for stoning gay people

Following Kirk’s death, renowned horror novelist Stephen King responded to a tweet from Fox News’ Jesse Watters calling Kirk a “patriot,” saying, “He advocated stoning gays to death. Just sayin’.”

However, he quickly deleted the post and issued an apology when the facts surfaced. Kirk never once advocated for killing anyone in the LGBTQ+ community. King’s lie originates from a 2024 episode of “The Charlie Kirk Show” when Kirk called out children’s YouTuber Ms. Rachel for citing “love thy neighbor” as justification for supporting Pride Month and LGBTQ+ inclusion as a Christian.

Kirk argued that true love means telling people the “truth” about sin rather than affirming it, accusing Ms. Rachel of cherry-picking scripture by ignoring the context of God’s laws on sexual morality. To illustrate his point, he pointed to Leviticus, which calls homosexuality an abomination punishable by death.

Kirk’s point was that God clearly sees homosexuality as sin – not that gay people should be killed.

The Blaze Staff concluded their article by paraphrasing a statement made by Stu Burguiere: “The truth … is that if there was any legitimate dirt on Charlie Kirk, progressives wouldn’t have to resort to these distortions.” He then described Charlie as:

Charlie was “a guy who worked hard to debate people, who tried to practice politics and civic life the right way, who tried to be a shining light for his faith, which was vitally important to him and his family,” he says, but “if that vision of Charlie Kirk was false, you wouldn’t need to go to these things. You could come up with 50 different things he said that were really offensive. Instead what you come up with are lies because that’s what you’re in the business of.”

The article included a video with more of the conversation between Glenn and Stu. 

What Was the Message Shared by Charlie Kirk?

The liberty principle for this freedom Friday concerns freedom of speech. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution states, “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech.” This amendment tells us that the government does not have power or authority to interfere with freedom of speech. It protects the right for Americans to express ideas and share information without interference from the government.

Yet, Charlie Kirk was shot last week because he said words that some people did not like. Those same people claim that words are the same as violence. They do not understand that words are words, and violent actions are violence.

The assassination of Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025, is the first political assassination since those taking place in the 1960s – John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. Kirk’s assassination was traumatic for most Americans as well as people in other countries – particularly those who watched it happen. This assassination will be to high school students and college age young adults much like 9/11 or JFK’s assassination was for other generations. They will remember where they were when they learned of the assassination and what they were doing. Most of them will understand that Charlie Kirk was killed for his words of love, patriotism, and peace.

Since the assassination of Charlie Kirk, numerous politicians have amended how, when, and where they will express speech BECAUSE they are afraid that they will be assassinated. Some people believe that fear of expression of speech was the purpose behind the killing of Charlie Kirk. However, Kirk’s widow and other people believe that his assassination has only created a million more Charlie Kirks.

The message carried by Charlie Kirk, his widow, and Turning Point USA was all about patriotism and love of country, marriage and family, faith, and love of God. He was telling college age young adults to get married, have children, and go to church. Since this was his message, what sort of people would want to have him killed?

Who Is Charlie Kirk?

My VIP for this week is Charlie Kirk (age 31 years) – husband, father of two small children, patriot, and founder of Turning Point USA. He was instrumental in getting young adults out to vote for President Donald Trump.

Kirk was shot in or near the neck on Wednesday, September 10, 2025, while speaking at a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. He was rushed to the closest hospital where he passed away a brief time later. According to Tyler O’Neil an unknown shooter opened fire as Kirk was “conducting a question-and-answer session with students.” 

Kirk was shot while “debating with a student about mass shootings involving people who identify as transgender when the shooter opened fire.”

Political assassination is not new to the United States, but it is the first successful assassination of a prominent person since the 1960s when John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. were killed.

In a separate article O’Neil noted that the assassination of Kirk “marks one more in a list of violent attacks against prominent conservatives.” He also noted that the assassination “came less than five months after the Southern Poverty Law Center … put Turning Point USA on a ‘hate map’ with chapters of the Ku Klux Klan.” Even though the group condemned the shooting of Kirk and all violence, this is not “the first time conservatives have been targeted for violence after the SPLC criticized them.” 

Conservatives have faced many kinds of hostility, including 96 attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers and 356 attacks on Catholic churches since the leak of the Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022. Democrats, too, have faced attacks – most recently the horrific shooting of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman.

This article, however, focuses on physical attacks on Republican leaders or conservative groups.

A 2012 Terrorist Attack

In 2012, [shooter] opened fire at the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the conservative Christian think tank the Family Research Council.

… He later told the FBI he targeted the Family Research Council because he found it on the SPLC “hate map.” He said he intended to shoot everyone in the building….

The Congressional Baseball Game Shooting

In June 2017, 66-year-old [shooter] opened fire at a Republican practice for the Congressional Baseball Game. He shot and wounded four people….

[Shooter] specifically targeted Republicans in the shooting. He had volunteered for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign in 2016 and “liked” the SPLC on Facebook. The SPLC had repeatedly attacked Scalise….

Rand Paul Attacked

Also in 2017, then-59-year-old [shooter], a neighbor, physically attacked Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., from behind while the senator was mowing his lawn….

Minnesota Republican Sucker-Punched Before Election

In October 2018, 53-year-old [assailant] punched Shane Mekeland, a Republican candidate for the Minnesota House of Representatives….

 

 

A Would-Be Kavanaugh Assassin

In June 2022, 26-year-old [would be assassin] staked out near the home of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, with weapons in an assassination attempt….

Butler

On July 13, 2024, 20-year-old [would be assassin] shot then-former President Donald Trump in the ear in Butler, Pennsylvania….

A Second Assassination Attempt

In September 2024, 58-year-old [would be assassin] aimed a rifle at Trump at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beah, Florida. Secret Service arrested [would be shooter], who is standing trial in Fort Pierce this week….

Who Is Charlie Kirk?

My VIP for this week is Charlie Kirk, conservative political activist, author, and media personality who is best known for founding Turning Point USA, a prominent conservative student organization. He was only 18 years old when he co-founded Turning Point USA (TPUSA), an organization that promotes conservative values among students on college campuses. Turning Point USA operates on 3,500 campuses and has a membership of more than 650,000 students. Kirk was instrumental in turning out the young adult vote for Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

I chose Kirk for my VIP for this week because he is active in a movement to replace “Shallow, performative politicians” with conservative leadership” that loves America more than “the money or accolades associated with” politics. Blaze TV recently interviewed Kirk who made the following statements. 

“When we’re constantly trying to be held captive by ideology, it would be prudence, which would be practical judgment, and I think JD Vance embodies that incredibly well,” Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk tells Blaze TV host and Blaze Media editor in chief Matthew Peterson on “Blaze News: The Mandate.”

“When you’re in elected office, you have to be prisoner to the party dogma and the political expectations of the time. For example, when President Trump entered into the political space 10 years ago,” he continues, “you would never be able to talk about a border wall, let alone mass deportations.”

“So, a true statesman is able to identify the problems and then, with the proper amount of moral courage and with precision, rhetorically be able to address these things and then move the Overton window,” he adds.

This is what separates the likes of Trump and Vance from the rest of the Republican Party, as they are “unafraid to challenge their own political dogma if it’s actually benefitting the nation or the body politic.”

And while many RINO politicians only take action for the optics, statesmen like Vance do it out of real concern for the country and the people – and young people are among those making the difference….

“If you’re young and you want to get involved in politics or being a [statesman], that means that you are likely forsaking making more money and more wealth in another field,” Kirk says. “The high-IQ, high-driven, virtuous people are now saying, ‘You know, okay, fine. I could go make $200 million at Goldman Sachs, but that’s not deep. That’s not fulfilling. Instead, I would rather go be a statesman.’”

            “These are people that could go make a ton of money elsewhere, which means that just                            monetary gain is not the most important. It’s not the driving factor or motivator of so many in                 this generation,” he continues….