Pastor Mark Driscoll Mourns Charlie Kirk's Assassination and Calls Him This Generation's Martyr

[00:06] Oh yeah.

[00:18] >> Like many of you uh in shock and

[00:25] complete wrecked at a soul level. Um, we

[00:30] have been standing by and getting

[00:32] information from behind the scenes for

[00:34] some time that uh, our brother and my

[00:38] friend um, Charlie Kirk is dead,

[00:42] murdered,

[00:44] assassinated, martyed. Um,

[00:48] President Donald Trump just confirmed

[00:50] this on his uh, personal account. The

[00:54] great and even legendary Charlie Kirk is

[00:58] dead.

[01:00] No one understood or had the heart of

[01:02] the youth in the United States of

[01:04] America better than Charlie.

[01:07] He was loved and admired by all. That

[01:10] includes me. Absolutely.

[01:14] Especially me, President Trump says. And

[01:16] now he is no longer with us, Melania.

[01:19] and my sympathies go out to his

[01:21] beautiful wife Erica and his family.

[01:24] That'd be son and daughter. Charlie, we

[01:27] love you is what President Trump said.

[01:30] And we

[01:32] wholeheartedly

[01:34] agree with um

[01:37] first thing I would encourage is prayers

[01:40] for his wife and children.

[01:43] None of us can even fathom um what they

[01:46] are going through today.

[01:49] The absolute senseless, demonic,

[01:52] murderous loss of a husband and father

[01:55] is irreoverable and irreplaceable.

[01:59] Um, when you see people on platforms

[02:02] producing content, particularly those

[02:04] that are global and historic, legendary

[02:07] leaders and figures like Charlie, you

[02:10] can easily forget that they're also

[02:15] husbands and fathers. They go home to a

[02:18] wife who loves them and has to endure

[02:22] more than we could even imagine for the

[02:24] calling that is on the life of their

[02:26] husband. And also the

[02:31] horror it is for a man like Charlie to

[02:35] spend his life being attacked and

[02:37] maligned and then to go home and to try

[02:41] and shut all of that off and be present

[02:44] with his children and just be their dad

[02:46] because they don't know about what is

[02:48] going on through all of his um online

[02:52] ministry. But instead they just know

[02:55] that that's their daddy. That's it's

[02:57] their dad.

[03:01] Um

[03:06] Charlie Kirk is a once in a generation

[03:09] uh irreplaceable leader. Um

[03:14] in our day, I would go so far as to say

[03:17] that his star was rising to be the

[03:19] equivalent of Billy Graham in our

[03:21] generation. Uh there has not been

[03:24] another Billy Graham. I didn't think

[03:26] that there would ever be. But Charlie

[03:29] was uniquely anointed by God. And I

[03:33] believe that the reason he found himself

[03:36] at the top of the demonic hit list, and

[03:38] this is demonic, if you don't believe in

[03:40] demons, if you don't believe that people

[03:42] are inherently evil, if you don't

[03:44] believe that the world is fallen and

[03:45] cursed, if you don't believe that Satan

[03:47] and demons are real,

[03:50] well, now they've come out of the

[03:51] shadows. They've they've emerged into

[03:54] the light and it's no longer even

[03:58] questionable if evil is real and Satan

[04:01] and demons are real. They are. Um I

[04:05] believe the reason that Charlie was

[04:06] moved to the top of the the kill list

[04:10] for Satan and demons and those who

[04:13] oppose the gospel is because Charlie was

[04:15] not just a conservative. He was a

[04:18] Christian and his Christianity was far

[04:21] more important to him than his

[04:23] conservatism. He loved conservatism and

[04:25] traditional and conservative values, but

[04:27] he loved Christ. He honored Christ. He

[04:30] served Christ. Last time I heard from

[04:33] Charlie was yesterday. I'll read his uh

[04:36] text. He said, um, "Thank you. I really

[04:39] want to spend time with you sometime

[04:41] soon. Uh, we need the prayers." Uh, and

[04:43] he says, "Your teaching impacts me

[04:46] daily." Um Charlie and I um

[04:50] were friends. Um

[04:53] I'm not going to overstate our

[04:55] relationship and say we were the closest

[04:57] friends, but um I've seen him in recent

[05:01] months and I text with him all the time.

[05:04] He sends he was sending me Bible and

[05:06] theological questions and one thing that

[05:09] he had said I was on vacation with my

[05:11] wife Grace and we just got back and I

[05:14] said we would connect after vacation and

[05:16] tragically we will not have that

[05:18] opportunity but he was saying that he

[05:20] was feeling called of God to be the

[05:22] apologist for this generation. See if I

[05:25] can actually find his words just take my

[05:28] word for it. He said that he felt like

[05:30] the platform that God had given him uh

[05:33] through politics and cultural engagement

[05:35] and commentary was all um culminating in

[05:40] him being an evangelist which is someone

[05:42] who preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ

[05:45] and an apologist and that is someone who

[05:47] defends the gospel of Jesus Christ. He

[05:50] felt like he was shifting and moving

[05:53] into a primarily ministry focus to reach

[05:57] the next generation with the gospel of

[05:59] Jesus Christ. He talked to me about this

[06:02] repeatedly and openly. He would ask for

[06:04] prayer and he would send me his

[06:06] questions and I would do my best to

[06:08] answer them. I sent him research briefs

[06:11] and I did summary research. I just

[06:13] wanted to help this young man. He he was

[06:17] an incredibly gifted young man. Um an

[06:21] incredibly courageous young man and an

[06:25] incredibly integrous young man. I have

[06:28] never carried the weight of

[06:30] responsibility that Charlie Kirk has

[06:32] carried. But as a young man, just the

[06:34] the very fractional amount of public

[06:41] eye and critique and responsibility,

[06:44] it it nearly crushed me. And Charlie was

[06:47] a lot tougher than me. He had a lot

[06:49] bigger platform. He had a lot more

[06:51] responsibility.

[06:52] Um I don't know anyone who is capable of

[06:56] what Charlie Kirk accomplished in the

[06:58] short years of his life. I in no way

[07:02] could ever do in a lifetime what Charlie

[07:05] Kirk did in a few years. He is one of

[07:09] the most amazing Americans. He is one of

[07:12] the most significant men of this

[07:14] generation. I want to publicly honor him

[07:17] for helping turn an entire generation

[07:20] politically uh toward sanity and to

[07:23] encourage young men toward uh Jesus

[07:27] Christ and heterosexuality

[07:30] and healthy Christlike masculinity and

[07:34] marriage and parenting and fatherhood.

[07:37] That's that's what he did. He was he was

[07:40] a generational apocalyp influence. He

[07:44] was turning the tides. The Holy Spirit,

[07:46] let me say this, it wasn't just Charlie

[07:48] Kirk. Charlie Kirk was anointed of the

[07:50] Holy Spirit. The spirit of God was

[07:53] mightily at work in and through Charlie

[07:56] Kirk. And uh today uh in his honor, I'm

[08:00] going to call him Pastor Charlie. And I

[08:02] want to thank Pastor Charlie for

[08:08] for preaching the gospel of Jesus

[08:11] Christ, for

[08:15] being a big brother

[08:17] to an entire generation

[08:20] of

[08:22] younger brothers and sisters.

[08:25] For demonstrating fearless courage in

[08:28] the face of adversity.

[08:31] for setting a good example by loving his

[08:34] wife and his children.

[08:36] And I want to honor Pastor Charlie for

[08:41] making a covenant vow to the Lord in his

[08:44] own heart that for the rest of his life,

[08:47] he would be devoted primarily to the

[08:50] gospel of Jesus Christ, to the preaching

[08:52] and defending of the gospel of Jesus

[08:54] Christ. And I believe that

[08:58] the enemy of our God and our brother

[09:00] knew that. And there is a human being

[09:03] and probably

[09:06] a coalition of demonic evildoers who

[09:08] have conspired to do this evil,

[09:10] treasonous, murderous act. But behind it

[09:14] all, um, it was Satan and the demonic

[09:18] forces knowing that the anointing on

[09:21] Charlie Kirk was generational. The

[09:24] impact from Charlie Kirk was only

[09:26] beginning and the sign significance of

[09:29] Charlie Kirk could not be overstated.

[09:32] Um

[09:36] my encouragement to those of you who are

[09:39] um in shock, you're going to need to

[09:41] process that.

[09:43] Um I was looking forward to seeing

[09:46] Charlie and we were working on a time to

[09:48] get together. I I just I I I haven't

[09:50] even been able to emotionally conceive

[09:53] and actually process that this dear,

[09:56] incredible uh man is forever gone.

[10:00] You need some time to process. Um for

[10:03] those of you who may not know Jesus

[10:06] Christ, I I knew Charlie and he knew

[10:09] Jesus Christ. I am very honored and

[10:11] happy to report that right now,

[10:15] as real as what you are hearing me say,

[10:18] Charlie Kirk is hearing this.

[10:21] He's hearing,

[10:23] "Well done, good and faithful servant.

[10:27] Well done, good and faithful servant.

[10:30] Enter into your rest." Right now,

[10:32] Charlie Kirk is hearing that

[10:40] from the resurrected, victorious, and

[10:42] triumphant

[10:44] Jesus Christ.

[10:49] The Bible says that when we see

[10:53] Jesus face to face, and we all will,

[10:55] that he will wipe every tear from our

[10:57] eyes. And he will do that with nail

[11:00] scarred hands. Right now, what is

[11:02] happening is Charlie Kirk closed his

[11:06] eyes when an assassin's bullet took his

[11:08] life. He opened his eyes and he saw the

[11:12] face of Jesus Christ.

[11:15] He saw the smile

[11:19] of Jesus Christ because he is now a

[11:21] martyr following in the example of his

[11:25] God and Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He

[11:29] heard Jesus Christ say, "Well done, good

[11:32] and faithful servant."

[11:39] And because Charlie

[11:41] loved his wife and loved his kids, and

[11:44] he did, that's all he ever talked about

[11:48] was prayers for the safety of his wife

[11:50] and kids.

[11:53] Charlie would have and Charlie is right

[11:56] now. He is weeping. He is he is

[11:58] overjoyed to be with Jesus and he is

[12:02] devastated to be there without his wife

[12:04] and kids.

[12:10] So

[12:12] what the Lord Jesus is doing right now

[12:14] is the Lord Jesus is wiping the tears.

[12:19] I can

[12:22] I can see it.

[12:25] I can actually see it.

[12:32] Um,

[12:36] prophetically I can see it

[12:39] right now. Jesus Christ is taking his

[12:42] hands and he is wiping the tears from

[12:44] Charlie's eyes

[12:48] and those hands are nail scarred

[12:52] because Jesus Christ died

[12:56] to forgive sin and to defeat death.

[13:01] Charlie would want me to tell you the

[13:03] gospel of Jesus Christ.

[13:06] We are all sinners and sin has brought

[13:08] death into the world.

[13:11] Our sin against a holy and righteous God

[13:14] deserves requires death.

[13:17] The wage for sin is death.

[13:22] Out of great love,

[13:24] affection, God sent his only son

[13:28] to humble himself and to walk the earth

[13:32] and to be one of us. God became a man.

[13:36] His name is Jesus Christ.

[13:39] He lived without any sin.

[13:42] He declared himself to be God.

[13:45] He was opposed by powerful forces that

[13:48] were empowered by demonic forces.

[13:51] Forces that are demonic and still at

[13:53] work in this day, as we have, new days,

[13:56] but old demons, I like to say.

[14:00] And it was religious leaders and

[14:04] political leaders who conspired to

[14:06] assassinate to murder a powerful young

[14:10] man. The most powerful young man, Jesus

[14:13] Christ.

[14:15] Jesus was murdered openly and publicly

[14:19] and shamefully.

[14:22] We can feel a little bit today of what

[14:24] his disciples and his family felt as in

[14:28] their day you had to be present. But in

[14:30] our day

[14:32] it's just been live streamed. And if you

[14:34] haven't seen it yet, it's horrifying.

[14:37] Shot to the neck, bleeding out the neck.

[14:40] a young vibrant man exercising his

[14:43] constitutional rights to freedom of

[14:46] speech and freedom of assembly and

[14:48] honoring his commitment to freedom of

[14:50] religion all endowed by his creator the

[14:54] Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus died and on the

[14:58] cross he prayed for us. He said,

[15:00] "Father, forgive them." And then he said

[15:03] with a loud triumphant voice, "It is

[15:04] finished." And Jesus died and he

[15:07] answered his own prayer and he died in

[15:09] our place for our sins. And he tasted

[15:11] death so that we could receive life. He

[15:13] endured the wrath of God so we could

[15:15] enjoy the grace of God. He was separated

[15:18] from the father so we could be

[15:19] reconciled to the father.

[15:22] And then Jesus said, "It is finished."

[15:24] And the work of salvation was done. They

[15:27] buried the Lord Jesus. And three days

[15:28] later, he rose from death.

[15:32] Charlie Kirk believed in Jesus Christ.

[15:35] Charlie Kirk belonged to Jesus Christ.

[15:38] Charlie Kirk died because he served

[15:40] Jesus Christ. The same demons who

[15:43] murdered Jesus Christ, they murdered

[15:45] Charlie Kirk because he honored and

[15:48] served Jesus Christ.

[15:55] Charlie is a great spiritual soldier and

[15:59] he is a great spiritual son.

[16:05] He would want you to turn from sin and

[16:07] trust in Jesus Christ. I know this

[16:09] because he was my friend and he told me

[16:11] that he felt like the call in his life

[16:13] for the rest of his life was not just to

[16:15] convert people to conservatism but to

[16:18] Christ.

[16:22] I would encourage you if you do not know

[16:24] Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior,

[16:27] the day of your death and mine is

[16:28] coming. And Hebrews says, "There is

[16:29] appointed once a day for us to die and

[16:32] then judgment." The most important day

[16:35] is that day. Are you ready for that day?

[16:38] Have you turned from sin and trusted in

[16:40] Jesus Christ as Charlie did? Um, I would

[16:43] encourage you to do so today and to find

[16:45] a bibleelving church and to walk with

[16:47] Jesus Christ until your life ends and

[16:50] then you walk into the kingdom of God.

[16:52] The best way for you to honor Charlie

[16:55] Kirk if you are a Christian is to commit

[16:58] yourself to pick up where he left off to

[17:00] use whatever influence you have to

[17:04] proclaim the goodness of the gospel of

[17:06] Jesus Christ to defend it from those who

[17:08] would oppose and attack it and to fight

[17:11] for faith and freedom and family in

[17:15] Jesus name. For those of you who are

[17:18] going to be angry, your anger is

[17:20] absolutely correct and right. There are

[17:23] times in the Bible that Jesus himself

[17:24] got angry. This is a day absolutely

[17:27] justifiable anger. But the Bible says in

[17:30] your anger, do not sin. Anger can

[17:32] motivate you to do some wonderfully

[17:34] constructive things or anger can

[17:36] motivate you to do some horribly

[17:38] destructive things.

[17:41] We don't return violence with violence.

[17:44] We don't just uh go out and harm people

[17:46] haphazardly because someone we treasure

[17:49] very dearly was murdered and taken from

[17:51] us. We need to remember that uh evil is

[17:56] not best responded to with evil. And if

[17:59] we learn anything from the Lord Jesus

[18:01] Christ, it is that uh a measured,

[18:04] calculated, spiritfilled response in the

[18:06] face of evil is the best testimony and

[18:09] witness

[18:11] to all those at uh Turning Point. We are

[18:15] praying for your safety and your

[18:16] ministry.

[18:18] They just killed your father, your

[18:20] founder, and your friend.

[18:23] I can't even fathom

[18:26] with all of those who are serving at the

[18:30] various organizations

[18:32] um

[18:34] the grief and the loss. And I pray that

[18:37] you would pray together and comfort one

[18:39] another and enter into the grief

[18:40] process. But know this, when all is said

[18:44] and done, um

[18:47] Charlie Kirk is with Jesus Christ and he

[18:51] would want you to trust in Jesus so you

[18:53] could have a reunion with him one day in

[18:54] the presence of Christ. For any that

[18:58] think about his family or know his wife

[19:00] and children, please give them

[19:03] love, support, prayer, encouragement,

[19:05] blessing.

[19:07] I don't know

[19:10] how the rest of their life could ever be

[19:14] without some residual sense of

[19:18] tremendous loss and grief. Um

[19:25] as well um

[19:29] to those who would want to declare a

[19:31] riotous civil war,

[19:34] let's not turn to violence.

[19:36] not in an uncontrolled and ungodly and

[19:40] unhelpful way.

[19:42] Um

[19:44] to those platforms and outlets that are

[19:47] stoking hate. It was just last week the

[19:50] Southern Poverty Law Center

[19:53] um declared Turning Point to be a hate

[19:56] crime, a hate group along with the Ku

[19:58] Klux Clan.

[20:00] um the uh narrative rolling out from

[20:03] MSNBC and the left is going to be

[20:07] gaslighting the victim and

[20:08] blameshifting, saying, "Well, he he was

[20:10] a controversial figure and he went on

[20:12] college campuses, so he instigated

[20:14] this," which is disgusting and it's

[20:19] damnable and it's demonic.

[20:22] Um,

[20:23] to the best of my knowledge, we have not

[20:26] seen the murderer

[20:30] uh identified or captured. Please pray

[20:32] for that.

[20:34] At first uh seemed like the news chased

[20:37] a

[20:38] a diversionary tactic of some elderly

[20:41] old man. This to me, I'm no expert, but

[20:45] this looked like a sniper kill shot from

[20:47] a distance. And uh twice the

[20:50] assassination of our president was

[20:51] attempted. And I'm just damn sick of

[20:54] hearing about toxic masculinity

[20:57] and uh the threat of Christian

[20:59] nationalism.

[21:00] What we need is more masculinity to put

[21:02] down this kind of violence that we saw

[21:04] in Charlotte, that we saw today in Utah.

[21:08] In addition, uh it is not Christian

[21:10] nationalists who are going around

[21:12] shooting people. It is enemies of

[21:16] conservatism and today enemies of

[21:18] Christ.

[21:20] Um for all pastors, my encouragement to

[21:23] you would be check the security at your

[21:26] church. It seems like it's a demonic

[21:28] field day on uh those who not only

[21:31] believe in conservative ideals but

[21:33] preach Christ.

[21:35] Um,

[21:37] I'm going to go clear my head.

[21:40] Uh, for those who are part of our church

[21:42] or online family, um, I'm going to

[21:46] preach a message this weekend. Uh, I

[21:49] will wear all black. I will do so as a

[21:51] funeral message for my friend and

[21:53] brother Charlie Kirk. It will be on

[21:55] martyrdom and what it means to die for

[21:58] the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I will

[22:01] be preaching about martyrdom. Um,

[22:07] I want to honor his life and legacy and

[22:10] I want to honor his wife and family and

[22:13] I want to give biblical historical

[22:15] context to what we witness today. Um, to

[22:19] the murderers of Charlie Kirk, you have

[22:21] made him a martyr. He fits all the

[22:24] biblical definitions of a martyr. He

[22:26] fits all of the historical definitions

[22:28] of a martyr.

[22:30] um

[22:35] that makes him a saint. In the early

[22:38] church, the first martyrs were saints

[22:41] and those saints were people who died

[22:43] for their faith. And so today, Charlie

[22:47] Kirk is a martyr. And uh according to

[22:50] the tradition of the Christian church,

[22:52] he is a saint. He's a holy man of God

[22:55] set apart who has sacrificed his life u

[22:59] to follow in the footsteps of his savior

[23:01] who sacrificed his life.

[23:04] Um and uh yeah so I'll be preaching in

[23:08] all black on martyrdom this weekend. I

[23:10] would encourage other pastors uh preach

[23:12] the gospel, preach the hope of the

[23:16] victorious resurrection of Jesus Christ

[23:18] and the future resurrection of the dead

[23:21] and the eternal homecoming in the

[23:22] kingdom of God where people like Charlie

[23:25] will be reunited with their loved ones,

[23:28] their wives, their kids, and one day,

[23:31] Lord willing, he'll have grandkids. He's

[23:32] never going to meet them.

[23:50] He's never going to meet them on earth,

[23:51] but he will meet them in the kingdom of

[23:53] God.

[23:55] When I was a young man, they tried to

[23:58] kill me a few times on the stage at my

[24:00] church. Tried to slit my throat with a

[24:03] knife on the live stream. One of my

[24:06] greatest fears was not growing up to

[24:08] know my grandkids. That was one of the

[24:10] greatest fears of my whole life.

[24:14] I know my grandkids. It's one of the

[24:16] greatest joys of my whole life.

[24:19] Charlie Kirk is not going to get to walk

[24:21] his daughter down the aisle. He's not

[24:23] going to

[24:28] he's not going to pray over his son on

[24:30] his wedding day.

[24:32] He is not going to grow old holding his

[24:34] wife's hand and being Bob and Nana. Um,

[24:43] and he was a great man. I know a lot of

[24:46] men I don't know a lot of men like

[24:48] Charlie. I know a lot of influencers.

[24:52] I've not seen people off the stage that

[24:54] have the character that he has and the

[24:56] integrity that he has and the devotion

[24:58] and commitment he has.

[25:00] Uh, I don't know if I'm old enough to be

[25:02] his father, but man, I

[25:06] I just worried about him kind of like a

[25:08] son.

[25:11] Um,

[25:14] lastly, uh, for those uh that'll be

[25:16] joining me live or online this weekend,

[25:18] um, I got a credible death threat this

[25:21] week. Uh, was a couple days ago.

[25:25] Somebody sent in an assassination

[25:27] attempt threat on me, posted a suicide

[25:30] note on social media, then deleted all

[25:32] their accounts. So, there's an open

[25:34] active investigation across two states

[25:37] with the police trying to find this

[25:39] person before they find me. So, I'd

[25:42] appreciate your prayers and uh yeah, if

[25:45] they don't find them, I uh I might have

[25:48] to pre-record this weekend just for the

[25:50] safety of my family and flock. And so,

[25:54] um, I'll keep you posted, but, uh,

[25:58] but let's be praying for the the day

[26:00] that they bury Charlie. And let's pray

[26:03] that the gospel of Jesus Christ is

[26:05] preached as far and as loud as possible

[26:09] to honor a man who died for the gospel

[26:12] of Jesus Christ.