Impromptu thoughts on yesterday’s tragedy

[00:00] So, I don't think this is going to be a

[00:02] long video. I don't think that um it's

[00:04] going to be an overly in-depth video. I

[00:07] uh I didn't anticipate or plan on

[00:10] recording something today, but I just

[00:12] felt like it would be remiss if I didn't

[00:14] hop on and just say something.

[00:17] um considering what's transpired in the

[00:20] last 24 hours with the assassination of

[00:22] Charlie Kirk and just the weight that I

[00:25] think should be felt with this

[00:28] particular situation. There's

[00:32] multiple levels of tragedy to what's

[00:34] going on. Young men should not be

[00:37] killed. Young men should not be gunned

[00:39] down in public, especially for opinions

[00:41] that they hold. You shouldn't be killed

[00:43] for your opinion. There's there's no

[00:45] matter what side of the political aisle

[00:48] you fall on. And I'm a Canadian. Um I

[00:51] really don't have a dog in the fight of

[00:53] American politics. I'm a conservative.

[00:55] I'm a conservative politically and

[00:58] theologically and religiously,

[01:01] but I am uh a Canadian and the context

[01:04] here in Canada is different than it is

[01:07] south of the border. But what goes on in

[01:09] the United States undoubtedly affects

[01:12] what happens here in my nation. And

[01:16] Charlie was young. He was 31 years old.

[01:19] He wasn't much younger than I am. He had

[01:22] a young family. His children are around

[01:26] the same ages as some of my children. I

[01:29] can't imagine what it's like for a wife

[01:33] to tell her one-year-old and

[01:35] three-year-old that their dad is gone.

[01:39] I mean, I just can't I can't I can't put

[01:42] myself in that headsp space because it

[01:43] it just leads me down like a thought

[01:46] process that I don't think is healthy.

[01:49] But listen, I'm a public speaker. I put

[01:52] myself in very public situations. I've

[01:54] been in rooms of thousands of people and

[01:59] it is not outside of my my my mind's eye

[02:04] in thinking that you know there's a

[02:07] possibility even however small of

[02:10] something just going terrible

[02:13] and um I think everyone who has a public

[02:16] profile

[02:18] has their mind has gone there and

[02:21] thinking you know what are what what

[02:24] could be the worst possible scenario and

[02:26] what happened yesterday was the worst

[02:28] possible scenario.

[02:31] I had actually um I'd had communication

[02:34] with Charlie Kirk in the spring. He'd

[02:37] reached out and uh you know Turning

[02:41] Point USA and Turning Point Faith had

[02:42] reached out to me about potentially

[02:44] collaborating and Charlie personally had

[02:49] communicated with me just prior to me

[02:52] going on. and I went on a two-month

[02:54] paternity leave after my son was born

[02:57] and we were planning on touching base

[03:00] uh in the fall about

[03:03] potentially doing something um whether

[03:06] you know that was something that that we

[03:09] we both kind of wanted to do and um I

[03:12] don't love talking about politics uh but

[03:15] Charlie was a Christian. I have no doubt

[03:18] about that. Uh I mean some of the clips

[03:20] that have been floating around um I

[03:22] think have communicated that you know uh

[03:26] very recently uh Charlie was asked if he

[03:29] could speak to someone with 30 seconds

[03:31] left to live dying from a gunshot wound

[03:34] what would he tell them? And and

[03:35] Charlie's answer was that

[03:38] if if you are bleeding out and you're

[03:42] going to die you have 10 seconds left.

[03:44] You're about to meet eternal judgment.

[03:46] And so there's only one way to face that

[03:48] and it's not the good that you did. It's

[03:51] not your moral scorecard, but it's

[03:54] whether or not you have Jesus Christ as

[03:56] your Lord and Savior.

[03:58] And in another interview, you know, he

[04:01] he was asked how he wanted to be

[04:03] remembered, and Kirk said that he wanted

[04:08] to be remembered for the courage of his

[04:11] faith. I have no doubt that Charlie was

[04:15] a Christian and I I actually looked

[04:17] forward to talking to him about some of

[04:19] those things. Um,

[04:22] talking about how his faith impacted

[04:27] the motivations that he had, whether

[04:29] that was for the defense of the unborn

[04:32] or um, you know, whatever that that

[04:35] materialized as. And so I I also, you

[04:38] know, don't hear me wrong here. Um, I

[04:41] don't want to exaggerate the

[04:43] relationship. I I wasn't personal

[04:46] friends with Charlie Kirk. We'd had

[04:49] email communication um back and forth

[04:53] and uh he had expressed after the Rogan

[04:57] podcast that he appreciated what I was

[05:00] doing and how I was communicating the

[05:02] defense of the Christian worldview. And

[05:06] it feels very strange that I was going

[05:10] back and forth with him only a few

[05:12] months ago and he's gone now. He's not

[05:18] gone in the sense that he's more alive

[05:21] than he ever was. But that doesn't

[05:24] change the tragedy of a father whose

[05:27] children are left without him. A wife

[05:30] who is now a widow and the senseless

[05:33] violence that took place that just we

[05:38] know deep down ought not to happen.

[05:42] We know that this world, this beautiful

[05:44] yet broken world, that's a phrase I use

[05:46] often, but it's because I think it's

[05:47] true. There's so much joy and happiness

[05:52] and grace and beauty in the world that

[05:56] we live in. And yet, there's so much

[05:58] brokenness and so much injustice and so

[06:02] much chaos and turmoil.

[06:05] And you know, we worship a God who

[06:08] understands that, who who's not far from

[06:12] that in that

[06:14] we have a God who expresses his

[06:18] identity. In Exodus 34:6, he God is a

[06:22] God of steadfast love and mercy and

[06:26] compassion.

[06:28] And I've said a number of times in

[06:29] different talks that I've given that

[06:31] that English word compassion comes from

[06:33] two Latin words. calm meaning with and

[06:34] passion meaning suffering.

[06:37] Jesus Christ, the second person of the

[06:39] Trinity who stepped out of eternity and

[06:41] into humanity, understands our depravity

[06:45] because he took on the evil and the

[06:48] suffering and the brokenness on his own

[06:50] back

[06:52] and he died for that. And so he now as

[06:58] the risen God man understands

[07:02] what brokenness truly is in a way that I

[07:04] think is completely unique amongst

[07:07] religious worldviews. I don't think that

[07:10] there's another religion, another

[07:12] worldview, another perspective out there

[07:14] that can truly say that the God or the

[07:17] the eternal being or whatever

[07:20] understands

[07:21] personally

[07:24] hurt and betrayal and suffering and

[07:27] death. That's unique to the Christian

[07:29] worldview. And when we see something

[07:32] like this, when we look at the

[07:34] brokenness in the world, um, and the

[07:37] senselessness, it should break our

[07:39] heart. You know, I think it hits home a

[07:42] little closer with someone like Charlie

[07:44] Kirk because he was so public because

[07:47] and and what took place was very public.

[07:51] And I think that that that should affect

[07:54] us in a different way. I I think that's

[07:56] completely appropriate. You know, people

[07:57] die all the time. Yes. But when

[07:59] something like this happens, I think it

[08:01] should speak to us in somewhat of a

[08:04] unique way. My friend Glenn Scriber, he

[08:09] uh on X yesterday wrote underneath a

[08:11] banner saying prove me wrong, wearing a

[08:14] t-shirt saying freedom while discussing

[08:16] gun violence, and he didn't get to

[08:18] finish his sentence, even condemned

[08:20] criminals get last words. A bullet to

[08:24] the throat and he's silenced. A truly

[08:26] infamous moment. And I think I think

[08:29] that this will be an infamous moment. I

[08:31] think Glenn is exactly right. I think

[08:33] that this moment, September 10th, will

[08:38] be remembered as a day that will affect

[08:43] politics going forward. It will affect

[08:47] discussions and the marketplace of ideas

[08:50] going forward because of how much it it

[08:54] means for someone to be gunned down in

[08:56] public because of their opinions. You

[09:00] know, we still don't know the

[09:01] motivations of the shooter. Um, I don't

[09:04] think it's inappropriate for it to be

[09:06] referred to as a political

[09:08] assassination. Like I can't see any

[09:10] other reason why someone would shoot

[09:13] someone like Charlie Kirk in that way in

[09:17] that time frame other than for his very

[09:21] outspoken ideas. Whether you agree with

[09:24] them or not,

[09:26] you should at least realize that this is

[09:29] a tragedy.

[09:31] And I think we need to be very careful

[09:34] with our words and how we articulate

[09:37] these things in um you know the coming

[09:40] weeks and months.

[09:43] So let's pray for Charlie's family.

[09:46] Let's pray for his wife and his

[09:47] children. Let's pray for those within

[09:50] the leadership of his organization,

[09:53] whether that's Turning Point USA or

[09:54] Turning Point Faith or whatever.

[09:57] because um

[09:59] this is undoubtedly devastating

[10:03] for them.

[10:05] And

[10:07] you know, Paul says that we we don't

[10:10] mourn like the pagans do. We have hope.

[10:15] I think we can be confident Charlie is

[10:18] in the arms of Jesus. But that doesn't

[10:20] lessen the fact that this is terrible

[10:24] and it should be recognized as being

[10:26] terrible.

[10:28] 31-year-old men should not be shot in

[10:31] public for statements that they say.

[10:35] That's that's not what should happen.

[10:38] And yet I think we should recognize that

[10:41] the brokenness in this world is is

[10:45] something that our God

[10:48] understands and can speak to. And this

[10:52] should bring us tragedy should bring us

[10:54] closer to Jesus. It should not push us

[10:57] farther away. CS Lewis said that pain

[10:59] insists upon being attended to. God

[11:02] whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks

[11:04] to us in our conscience, but shouts in

[11:06] our pains. It is megaphone to rouse a

[11:10] deaf world. I think this is an

[11:11] opportunity, like Charlie said, you

[11:13] know, it's not going to be your moral

[11:15] scorecard. It's not going to be the good

[11:17] things that you've done.

[11:19] You need to get right with Jesus today

[11:22] because

[11:24] heaven forbid, but tomorrow is not

[11:26] guaranteed.

[11:28] And so let's be praying for his family

[11:32] and um the people around him.

[11:36] And if you don't know Jesus,

[11:39] you need to know him today,

[11:42] right now.