Chances are your family, friends, and coworkers who don’t follow politics closely won’t know who Charlie Kirk was. They’ll hear the news of his assassination from the legacy media, and he’ll be framed as a “far right extremist” or something to that effect. Most of these people won’t come away feeling he deserved to be assassinated, but they’ll find a way to justify his killing in their minds so as to continue going about their day as though it never happened. Because in their world, it didn’t happen in any way that would affect them.
The legacy media’s fabricated narrative will seek to make the killing make sense.
But you know differently. You know that at his core he believed in everything that’s in the Bible. He lived it honestly, and probably better than most of us. He was forgiving. He was tolerant. He wasn’t anything like the person the media will paint. Because if they did present an honest picture, he’d become a sympathetic figure and that would complicate things for the left.
The strategists on the left behind the curtain knew the real Charlie Kirk in the same way demons know an exorcist. They think they’re now rid of him, but that’s not how it works for martyrs, and sadly, that’s what Charlie is now. To be sure, this is not to say he was a saint, but there is no question he was killed for what he stood for. He was killed for the cause he represented. He was killed for his beliefs and his movement. To kill the leader is to kill the movement is conventional wisdom.
Martyrdom is a powerful thing. It starts with a life well lived. Check. It continues with a message and a storyline. Check and check. It cannot exist without absolute conviction and commitment. Charlie had both in spades. It’s characterized by a lifetime campaign of successes and setbacks, all played out in the public arena. And in order for it to become martyrdom, there must be a tragic ending, one that leaves the movement shaken but with a strong sense of unfinished business.
In many cases, martyrs are even more influential after they’re gone.
Saint Stephen was stoned to death by a mob that was under the supervision of Saul. Stephen was the first Christian martyr, and we only know the details of Stephen’s story and his faith because of Saul, one of Stephen’s persecutors, who would later become Saint Paul. Stephen’s influence on Christianity only grew over time.
Joan of Arc was a French peasant girl and military leader who was burned at the stake in 1431 because of her role in the Hundred Years’ War. That was 594 years ago, and we’re still talking about her, not her persecutors.
Maximilian Kolbe was a Catholic priest who gave his life to save another prisoner in Auschwitz. His sacrifice is one of the many stories of those who made the ultimate sacrifice in those death camps, but it’s those stories, if kept alive, that will prevent the building of future concentration camps.
Martin Luther King, Jr., was martyred for his cause in 1968, a cause that only realized its biggest gains after he was gone.
One thing all martyrs have in common is that it was their death itself that marked a pivotal moment for change.
Charlie created a youth movement for conservatives as has never been seen before. His people are energized and large in number. They need a place to go, and Charlie has already given them that.
Now with his death, that place will need to have new meaning for them in ways they hadn’t imagined. They will need to find a way to give meaning to his sacrifice. The better America that he constantly talked about can’t happen without them. Without their energy, their enthusiasm, their commitment, their work, and now their leadership.
In a big picture sense, a martyr is a catalyst. So, what did Charlie catalyze?
Gen Z is conservative. Thank Charlie for that and now feed that generation. Sustain it and help it grow. Don’t let them forget Charlie and help them to empower themselves to realize his vision.
Don’t shy away from the cultural issues or the opportunity to leverage your faith to make your case. Charlie did that better than most. He provided a blueprint for how to appeal to the young masses with God and through God.
Like many who’ve been martyred, he was a fighter, and he showed his people how to fight with words, ideas, and the common good on his side. Now, it’s time for those he led to do the leading in much the same way.
Martyrs can never be replaced, but their inspiration can give awesome power to movements. Their very deaths can awaken sleeping giants.
Did a shooter in Utah awaken a sleeping giant? We can’t yet know, but it would be foolish to ignore such a possibility.
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