Lucas Miles on Turning Point USA After Charlie Kirk's Assassination and America's Spiritual Revival

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[00:02] Hi folks, a little story. Um, couple of

[00:04] Sundays ago, I was at the Charlie Kirk

[00:07] uh, funeral uh, memorial and I'm

[00:09] standing there, you know, right up

[00:10] towards the stage and looking at the

[00:12] beautiful just everything was just

[00:14] beautiful. The music, the people,

[00:16] there's so much love in that room. I

[00:17] bumped into a guy and let's let's talk

[00:20] to this guy. My next guest is a senior

[00:22] director at TPUSA Faith who was

[00:24] handpicked by Charlie Kirk to work for

[00:26] the organization. He's the host of

[00:28] Strong Church podcast and his newest

[00:30] book is Pagan Threat: Confronting

[00:32] America's Godless Uprising. Let's

[00:34] welcome Lucas Miles. Welcome, Lucas. By

[00:37] you know, what are we three three weeks

[00:39] to the day? In fact,

[00:42] 3 weeks ago and 10 minutes ago, I made

[00:45] the announcement that Charlie Kirk had

[00:47] died from from the assassin's bullet

[00:49] from this very stage at this time. Three

[00:51] weeks ago, tell us Turning Point went

[00:53] back to Utah just three weeks. Utah

[00:56] State University in Logan, Utah, only

[00:59] about 2 hours away from Utah Valley

[01:01] University where Charlie was

[01:02] assassinated. What was the thought

[01:04] process behind that, sir?

[01:07] >> But these were, you know, these were

[01:08] stops that we had uh scheduled, but

[01:10] we're not backing down. We're not going

[01:12] anywhere. Uh we're not stopping. Um

[01:14] Erica made it very clear Charlie's

[01:16] vision is going to continue. His name is

[01:18] going to be known. Uh and this isn't

[01:19] about, you know, it's not about uh uh

[01:21] this isn't a revenge tour. This is

[01:23] America's comeback tour. you know, we

[01:24] want to see uh uh the America that all

[01:27] of us uh want to live in. We believe

[01:29] that this nation is great and built on

[01:30] great principles and we really want to

[01:32] sing that ring see that ring true and

[01:34] and really there's a revival taking

[01:36] place in this nation among young people

[01:37] right now and as a pastor myself. Uh

[01:40] that's something I could not be more

[01:41] excited about. We miss our friend, but

[01:42] this is this is unbelievable what we're

[01:44] seeing on the other side of this.

[01:45] >> Yeah, it's it's incredible the the

[01:47] outpouring. You just walked in that

[01:48] stadium when we we were there and just

[01:50] looking around and it wow. It's just

[01:52] just phenomenal. and and as head of the

[01:55] faith outreach at TPUSA, Lucas, you must

[01:58] be inspired by how much love and how

[02:01] much faith people have really pushed

[02:04] forward since Charlie's assassination.

[02:06] >> You know, Charlie Kirk died a martyr and

[02:09] um I can't even begin to describe how

[02:11] much I respect him. His life, he was the

[02:13] most integrityfilled person I knew. Who

[02:15] he was in front of the camera was who he

[02:16] was behind the camera. He lived, he

[02:18] truly practiced what he preached every

[02:20] single day. There was no idol moment in

[02:22] his life. uh he he was living for this

[02:25] moment for revival to take place. None

[02:27] of us thought it would take him giving

[02:29] his life uh to get us here. Uh but the

[02:31] Bible or really the church history tells

[02:33] us that the seed of the martyr is is or

[02:35] this uh excuse me the death of the

[02:36] martyr is the seed of the church. And

[02:38] Charlie, you know, uh I think just

[02:40] exemplifies that we are seeing churches

[02:42] double. Uh we are seeing people buy

[02:43] Bibles and come back to the faith uh in

[02:46] record numbers right now.

[02:47] >> Tell us what else you guys are doing.

[02:48] What else you seeing within TPUSA? I

[02:50] know within, you know, days of Charlie's

[02:52] assassination, I think the number was

[02:54] 67,000

[02:56] requests for chapters at different

[02:57] schools around the country. Tell us

[02:58] more.

[02:59] >> Yeah, it's gone up to, I think, over

[03:01] 180,000 now. So, it has exploded. Um,

[03:04] you know, it's it's uh it's amazing and

[03:06] also somewhat undescribable

[03:08] indescribable about what we're

[03:09] experiencing. There is such a a ground

[03:12] swell of emails and messages and and and

[03:15] uh um you know, social media posts and

[03:16] these things just saying, "How can I

[03:18] help? How can I get involved? How can I

[03:20] give? Uh how can I how can my church

[03:22] get, you know, connected? We have

[03:23] pastors, thousands of pastors reaching

[03:25] out saying, you know what, I wasn't in

[03:26] this fight before, but I'm ready to be

[03:28] in it now. This woke me up. Uh we have,

[03:30] you know, Christians of all kinds, you

[03:31] know, reaching out. Our college division

[03:33] is exploding. Um there's a lot of

[03:35] activity. Charlie would be so thrilled.

[03:37] I know he's looking down from heaven

[03:38] seeing all this right now. Uh we want to

[03:40] make him proud. Uh Charlie is is in

[03:42] typical Charlie Kirk fashion, you know,

[03:44] we're working harder than ever right

[03:45] now. Uh there's there's there's grieving

[03:48] that's taking place as we're going. The

[03:49] staff is hugging each other, loving on

[03:51] each other. Uh it's a difficult time,

[03:52] but there's also a great reward of

[03:55] seeing, you know, this move, and we want

[03:56] to capitalize on every opportunity for

[03:58] his so Charlie's life and his death

[04:00] would not be in vain.

[04:00] >> How how's Erica doing?

[04:03] >> You know, I think that Erica is such an

[04:05] amazing woman. I mean, we've seen her

[04:06] several times in these speeches just,

[04:08] you know, uh really just shake the

[04:09] nation. Her resolve, her um her just

[04:12] commitment, uh love for her husband. uh

[04:14] she you know when she was announced as

[04:16] the CEO it was such a unifying force for

[04:19] the organization. I think just that

[04:20] everybody just breathed this a sigh of

[04:22] relief. We just felt like it's going to

[04:24] be okay. Uh obviously this is going to

[04:26] take time and there's there's a

[04:27] tremendous amount of grief. Um you know

[04:29] I I think that I've I've you know I've

[04:32] seen very few women that is stronger

[04:34] than her and she is the right person for

[04:36] the job right now. Uh and we're all

[04:38] behind her 100%.

[04:39] >> You know and and there's still bad

[04:40] people in the world, Lucas. And the

[04:42] reason why I'm saying this, a couple

[04:43] hours before the event in in Utah,

[04:45] apparently there's a suspicious package

[04:47] that was found on the Utah State

[04:49] University campus and was detonated by

[04:52] law enforcement. Now, what's that all

[04:54] about? Do you think this was left there

[04:56] on purpose to kind of mess with people's

[04:58] minds like, "Oh, here we go again." What

[05:00] was Do we know what that was?

[05:02] >> I I I don't have any information on that

[05:04] particular uh you know, package or

[05:06] anything like that. What I can tell you

[05:07] is that um you know there of course the

[05:10] powers that be you know and as a pastor

[05:12] I believe that uh that there is an evil

[05:14] one and he wants to thwart any

[05:16] opportunity for life. You know Charlie

[05:18] would all the time quote John 10:10 of

[05:20] my favorite passages. The thief comes to

[05:22] steal, kill and destroy, but I've come

[05:23] to give life and life to the full. The

[05:25] thief has never he's never made anything

[05:27] in his life. He's never built anything

[05:28] in his life. He's never created anything

[05:29] in his life. He's just there to steal.

[05:31] And you know we're not going to back

[05:32] down. Obviously we're being safe. We

[05:34] want to have as much you know uh

[05:35] security. And I'm encouraging pastors

[05:37] all over the country. This isn't just

[05:38] about turning point church. You know,

[05:39] Christianity is under attack. You need

[05:41] to be thinking about security at your

[05:42] church. You need to be making sure that

[05:44] you're taking those steps. Uh but

[05:45] ultimately, all of us have to say it is

[05:47] worth it to share the gospel. It's worth

[05:49] it to save this country. It's worth it

[05:51] to save this generation and we're going

[05:52] to follow in Charlie's footsteps and

[05:54] we're going to do it anyways.

[05:55] >> Very inspirational, Pastor Lucas. Um

[05:58] when I announced Charlie's passing on

[06:00] the show, uh I was ticked off. I was

[06:02] mad. Um I didn't go through the stages

[06:04] of grief. I wasn't going to go through

[06:06] shock and sorrow and anger and

[06:08] confusion. I went right to anger. I just

[06:09] went right to anger. I'm still mad. I

[06:11] want to see the death penalty for this.

[06:13] I I I would like to see the firing

[06:15] squad. Pastor Lucas, help me out here.

[06:18] I'm a Christian. Help me out here. But I

[06:20] want to see him pay for what he did to

[06:22] Charlie. Look, obviously we want a full

[06:24] investigation on this to make sure that

[06:26] anybody that had anything to do with

[06:27] this, you know, whatsoever, whether it's

[06:29] in some of these dark chat rooms and

[06:31] those things, that everybody is held

[06:32] accountable uh for their for their um

[06:34] you know, for any involvement in this.

[06:36] We saw Erica's words of forgiveness and

[06:38] that shook the nation uh you know, with

[06:40] this incredible just you know, divine

[06:42] love and and grace that she was able to

[06:44] offer. But it's important we recognize

[06:46] the state's job according to Romans 13

[06:48] is to carry the sword and to punish

[06:49] those who do evil. And as a Christian, I

[06:51] support that. I support the fullest

[06:53] punishment possible uh for anybody that

[06:56] had anything to do with this. As a

[06:57] Christian, I can say, look, I'm no uh

[07:00] you know, I need God's grace as much as

[07:01] anybody else does. And I can offer

[07:03] forgiveness uh for that, you know, for

[07:05] anybody involved in his killing, but

[07:06] that does not mean that that forgiveness

[07:08] means that there's no consequences in

[07:10] this life. And I believe that it's the

[07:12] state's job to punish to the to the

[07:13] fullest extent of the law as a detriment

[07:15] for these things in the future.

[07:17] AOC, Eli Omar, and uh Jasmine Crockett,

[07:21] all congresswoman, Democrat

[07:23] congresswoman, within days of Charlie's

[07:24] assassination,

[07:26] came out with statements basically, and

[07:28] I'm going to paraphrase here. I blaming

[07:31] Charlie for his own assassination

[07:32] because of the words, his words. What do

[07:34] you say to those folks?

[07:36] >> Yeah, I mean, we've we've heard the

[07:37] phrases of live by the sword, die by the

[07:39] sword. Um, you know, look, I I've never

[07:41] seen anybody with a sword hand

[07:42] microphones over to their so-called

[07:44] opponents and give them three hours to

[07:46] talk and ask questions. Uh, if if

[07:48] Charlie was a fascist, he was a really

[07:50] bad one. Um, you know, Charlie Charlie

[07:53] loved people. He loved this generation.

[07:55] He was one of the few people who was

[07:56] willing to go where they are to some of

[07:58] the darker places in our society, to

[08:00] some of these campuses that just hate

[08:02] the truth. Uh, truth is only uh uh

[08:05] controversial if you don't want to hear

[08:06] it. Uh, if you're not willing to receive

[08:08] it. Charlie was going out there sharing

[08:10] freedom in life, trusted principles that

[08:12] have been held by Western world for

[08:14] 2,000 years. And he was trying to help

[08:16] this generation that's so riddled with

[08:18] confusion and and skepticism and doubt

[08:21] and they don't even know what gender

[08:22] they are. Uh let alone, you know, who

[08:24] God is. And so Charlie was willing to go

[08:26] there. I think anybody that's trying to

[08:27] put this on Charlie or blame him for it,

[08:29] uh one, they don't understand who

[08:30] Charlie was. And two, uh you know, I

[08:32] think it's a despicable and shameful and

[08:34] cowardly act.

[08:34] >> All right, Pastor Lucas Miles, where can

[08:36] we find your podcast? Tell us about it.

[08:38] Yeah. So, it's on uh kind of you can go

[08:39] to tpusafaitha.com. We're also on

[08:41] YouTube. Uh other platforms as well if

[08:43] you want to find out more about me, Mr.

[08:45] Lucas Miles on most platforms.

[08:47] >> All right, we're going to leave it right

[08:48] there. Lucas Miles, appreciate your time

[08:50] and keep the faith. So, as they say, and

[08:52] still looking for it. Still looking for

[08:54] that uh forgiving nature. It's just it's

[08:56] not in me yet. Sorry, pastor. Thank you.

[08:58] >> Thank you.

[08:59] >> All right, folks. Two and a half

[09:00] minutes. We'll be right back.

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