really what he was first and foremost he was Charlie Kirk Christian. Yes. And then he was Charlie Kirk husband and father. He listened intently. He loved people. He he shared even his deep convictions. He did it uh with definite clarity and conviction, but he never did it in a way that put other people down. We'll miss him. We'll miss his voice. And to have a young man like that, so articulate, uh, you know, we just say, "How can we replace him?" I pray that God will raise up 10,000 more just like him. Right down to this guy's last breath, he was boldly and courageously speaking truth and exercising his right to free speech. May we feel that same stirring to do that right to our right down to our last breath. And to be reminded that every breath is sacred. Every second we get in this life is a gift. And Charlie Kirk ran his race well. [Music] But Charlie was one of those people that was not combative. He was not a confrontational person. He was not a shock jock as some people enjoy being. He listened intently. He loved people. He he shared even his deep convictions. He did it uh with definite clarity and conviction, but he never did it in a way that put other people down. That's one of the things that made him so effective. He could go on a college campus and he could talk about the hottest issues of the day that normally would have people yelling at him. He was unabashedly pro-life. He was unabashedly a follower of Jesus. He was a person who believed there were only two genders. And he spoke about that. He believed very strongly in the state of Israel and the Jewish people. Uh his legacy here in Israel is very strong. I could go through all of these issues. Now, those are tough issues to talk to college students about. And normally that gets you booed right out of the room. But because he did it in such a winsome way with intellectual uh integrity but with compassion toward the people that disagreed with him, uh he was just the kind of person who was so effective. And that's why I find it so just disgusting that someone decided to take his life from him. Th this is demonic, Allan. We're not dealing with just somebody who woke up one day and said, "I don't like that guy." This was inspired right out of the pits of hell. And this is an action of demonic magnitude that we just thank God don't see a lot. You know, Mr. Ambassador, I think you're so correct. Charlie wasn't a shock jock and he didn't play gotcha when he was doing these discussions with the students. You could if you watched enough those interviews, it seemed that he earned the respect even of those people who didn't agree with him. Even when they're talking about issues in which they may have been deeply divided, it feels like we need more of those voices, not fewer of them. It's not something to react to with with violence. It's something to be embraced. How have we arrived at a place where public discussion about issues we don't agree on is no longer tolerated? Because we can't accept that, can we? Well, we can't because free speech is the very essence of a free people. If people can't think for themselves and speak for themselves and even have disagreements but do it in a fashion that does not lead to violence and and a sense of even separation of people's uh very presence, then we lose our freedom. We don't have it anymore. And that's one of the things Charlie was such a champion of is to be bold and speaking truth to power. Uh I first knew Charlie when he was still a teenager. uh he was a guest on my show several occasions and then as you know he took the time slot that that I once had right here on TBN when I was appointed to be ambassador. I was with him in Phoenix at his uh headquarters just a few weeks before I left to come to Israel. Uh Charlie was a remarkable person, brilliant, articulate. Never ever was he caught off guard. He was never the deer in the headlights that somehow got stumped. And that was one of the amazing things about him. But he didn't do it by raising his voice or or going after people unfairly and belittling them. He always did it with a sense of compassion. And he spoke uh really with the spirit of of Christ in a way that I think I would love to have been better at. Uh Charlie was maybe the best I've ever seen at being able to to carry that out. He was I think you're pretty good at it yourself. I never said thank you, but I really appreciate you and Charlie doing the intro for my program on TBN, and it's very kind of you both. You know, I you're no stranger to public service. You've run for president. You've served as the governor of Arkansas. I know you've had security along the way. You're also on the job in Israel when Iran began its massive attack on Israel. You, your wife, and your staff, I'm sure you spent a lot of nights in bomb shelters. What have you done across the years to stay safe even while your day job is protecting the people that you serve? You know, Alan, I've always had uh this understanding that God is the only one who can ultimately protect me. Yes, I've had security details as governor and I have a very intense security presence here in Israel as the ambassador, but I don't wake up every day and say, "Somebody might be out to get me." I wake up every day and say, "This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. And my life is in his hands. I I don't think about the things that could happen because I got a pretty full schedule. I just believe that. And especially while I'm here in Jerusalem, I I tell my friends cuz I say, "Are you worried? Are you afraid?" And I say, "No, because if the worst thing that could happen to me should happen to me here, at least my next move from Jerusalem, it'll be a local move." So, I try to just deal with it with a sense of humor and recognize that I can't stop people from hating me or even people that may want to do some harm to me. But what I can do is be faithful. Be faithful in every day and live my life so that if it is the last day, I hope that the first words I hear in heaven are well done, good and faithful servant. And if I hear that, life's been good. And I guarantee you, Charlie Kirk, I believe after that bullet went through him, the next voice he heard was that of the Lord. Well done, good and faithful servant. Amen. Well, I know you're in Jerusalem these days. I had the privilege of living there for a season. I learned something from the Israelis while I was there. You know, they live in a tough neighborhood and violence is kind of a part of their lives. Their response isn't to hide. They live through it. They still go to the restaurants. They ride the public buses. Uh they refuse to give up the routine of their lives and enjoying life together as families. I feel like that's an important lesson for us in America these days. We can't hide from those who would try to bully us. We've got to push forward with our lives. Does that seem like wise counsel? It's absolutely the only council. And I marvel at the resilience of Israelis. Uh you're right. They go to the shelter and when the alarm is over, they get back up and they go right back to what they were doing. They refuse to let the challenges of life cause them to curl up in a fetal position and hide from the world and hide from their lives. And that's what I feel like that as believers, it's how God wants us to live. uh we can't change what people are going to try to do to us. But what we can do is make sure that our reaction is one of uh courage, one of faith, and one of resilience that says you you just can't make me quit. And that's what I so admire and I see it every single day in the people here in Israel. It's a great testament to their understanding that God has put them in this land. He has chosen them as his people and he has given them a purpose. And I believe that as Christian believers, we do well to learn some things from that and never act like, "Oh, I don't want to say that cuz somebody might not like me over it." We're going to say some things as Christians. We'll take positions and stands. People aren't going to always like it. But I want God to like me more than I want the editorial board of the New York Times to like me. Amen. I think our best response to the coward that shot Charlie Kirk and the people who are cheering on his actions is for us to live on, to show up at our churches, to show up at our families and with our friends. On the NBC cable channel, they had a guest yesterday, the political analyst, Matthew Dow, to be specific. Now, he's been dismissed since, but still, he actually suggested it was a Charlie Kirk supporter who may have shot him and that he deserved it. It's sick. and they're the same people who ignored the murder of the young woman from Ukraine. How do we respond to immediate that's out of balance? I think we just simply write them off. We don't listen to them. We don't give them the respect of uh participating in anything they say and we yet we call them out. We've got to confront that. We have to let them know that what they did is is vile and that it's inappropriate, that it's inhumane. And we need to let their employers know, their networks know, their editors know that it's an inexcusable and reckless form of uh advocacy journalism that is demeaning to every human being who just cares about uh human life and cares about what's right and what's wrong. And I say send them back to the sandbox. They clearly didn't learn those lessons when they were four years old. and they're probably not qualified to be on television or in print telling the rest of us how to think. Well, Ambassador Huckabe, you have always been a courageous voice for truth and I thank you for that. Thank you for taking the time to be with us today. Allan, it's my pleasure. God bless you and the people who are a part of your audience every day. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Amen. Thank you, sir. You know, I recently spoke with Charlie and before we go any further, I want to play highlights of what he had to say. My question has got to do with DEI in the military. What do you guys think about President Trump and Secretary Edith kind of getting rid of it? First of all, thank you for your service, sir. Uh that's uh we really uh very much against it. I'm I'm against uh any sort of DEI measurement in corporate life or in schools, but especially in the military. The military is a place where, to be perfectly honest, the military does not exist to accommodate all people. The military does not exist to make people feel good. It's to be excellent and lethal and to protect the homeland against threats that want to wish us harm. And not only am I against DEI, I'm very much in favor of what Secretary Hegsth, who's doing a phenomenal job, by the way, he's just doing a great job of what Secretary Hegs uh issued yesterday where he said, "Look, combat is hard. It's difficult. People's lives are on the line. And if you want to serve in combat, if you're a man or a woman, you have to have the same physical fitness standards." One in particular is that in 2015 they said that women in combat you only have to be able to deadlift 210 lb. A man has to be able to deadlift 320 lb. Now to put that in perspective, an average soldier, that is a man with his pack and his ruck will weigh about 220 230 lb. That means that a female Marine or a female individual in the US Army if all of a sudden a male Marine would have his leg blown off. That female would not be strong enough to be able to carry him on her back to be able to give him necessary medical attention that could save his life. That is not a military. That is a social experiment and that ends and is ending right now thanks to President Trump at beats. And you could always go back to where does this idea originate? For example, natural rights, human equality, freedom of speech, all started by Christians and people that adhere to scripture. Diversity, equity, inclusion to a were all the outgrowth of secular philosophers like Derek Bell and Kimberly Krenshaw and Herbert Marcusa and Michelle Fuko. None of them were believers. That is a great test before we go any further. When an idea is pushed to you on the culture, ask yourself, are the people who theorized this, who authored it, are they Christians and people who believed in the authority of scripture or are they secularists? That does not mean that secularists cannot have good ideas. However, it's a very good beginning and starting point of what is the origination. I would go a step further and say that a lot of the impulses of DEI is anti-scripture and against our faith. What are your thoughts on Greek gods? Um, do you think they're fallen angels? I know there is only one true God, but how do you think as a kid in public school who was taught about all of this and many generations have been taught? Well, I I think the Christians have been way too passive. When they told us to take, you know, prayer out of the schools or our faith out of the schools, we rather meekly said yes. When they said you could pray at school, but only if you pray at the flag pole outside, we said thank you. But what we didn't acknowledge is in the schools, they're teaching worldviews and religions. I've walked through the public schools. There's all sorts of Egyptian gods and expressions of their faith that are a part of the educ. I'm okay with that. But they need to tell how Christianity has shaped this nation. And finally, understand that the early Christians were given what was conceived to be a very good offer by the Romans. The early Christians were humming. They were starting to win converts. And the Romans said, "Hey, look, we have this thing called the pantheon, okay? Where you could be one of many religions. We'll add you, okay? We'll have Hermes. We'll have Ra. We'll have the sun god. We'll have the dirt god. We'll have, you know, the air god. We'll have we'll put you amongst many. You'll be one amongst equals." And the early Christians, to their credit, said, "No, there's only one true God. We are not going to acknowledge all these fake pagan manifestations." And the courage of the early church to do that as they faced martyrdom, as they faced extreme exile is one of the great acts of courage that to this day led us to the truth of our faith. If they would have accepted that deal, a lot of the persecution would have stopped. A lot of the massacring of Christians in the early couple hundred years would have ceased. But they said, "No, we will go through the persecution, but we refuse to ever say that Jesus is on the same level as Zeus. That is heresy, and we will not put up with it." So, I hope that's helpful. There are any number of people who call Charlie Kirk their friend. One of them who knew him quite well is joining us tonight. Brandon Tatum, thank you for joining us today. Thank you, pastor. Thank you for having me. Brandon, it's been said that they killed him because they couldn't debate him. What do you think? A thousand%. Um, that's what the that's what the devil does and that's what unhinged people do is they can't win an argument. Um, they don't want to argue. They're caught in a in a mind virus and they can't receive the truth and so they want to eliminate it. And and and I don't want to make the direct comparison to Jesus, but we saw this with Jesus in part is that they couldn't debate him. They couldn't stand that he was standing up for truth and using biblical scripture to prove them wrong. And he did it with love and compassion in a way they wasn't expecting. When I would go on campus with Charlie and do things with Charlie, what happened was they expected him to be crazy and mean and mean-spirited. And then he get there and he's saying things and loving on people and talking about Christ. And a lot of people change even though they never said anything. And the same thing that happened with Jesus. So we can see that the evil and the parallels that it have residually how it happened to Jesus and now it happened to a good man that loved Jesus like Charlie. Well, I think your comparison is appropriate. You're not comparing him to Jesus. You're comparing him to a good Christ follower. We have the character of Christ in us and we're willing to discuss his truth in the world in which we live. That's our assignment, isn't it? That's not just Charlie's job. That's our job. Right. Every Christian I mean that's the point of being a Christian. We should be Christlike. We should follow Jesus Christ. That's the point. And I I believe that all of us should be honored at what Charlie had done on campus and in his personal life. He was not only a person who would speak the gospel, he lived it. A married man, loved his wife, loved people, always unashamed to speak up for Jesus Christ in any venue, whether it's on campus, whether it's in, you know, in a foreign country, you name it, Charlie would stand up for Jesus any time. And that's what every Christian should be doing. Amen. If you have been saved and you have been delivered, we should have our entire life dedicated to standing up boldly for Christ Jesus. I know Charlie was well aware of his vulnerability. He had his own security team. Listen to how he spoke of it on his show. The escalating violence of the American left. It's really something. There is a new Substack page and Blake flagged this for us. So Blake is going to help us navigate it and it is consistent with what else we're seeing. The amount of death threats we are getting is increasing dramatically. Campus security is overwhelmed when we go to some of these schools are like, man, the amount of death threats we're getting, it's almost too much for police to be able to even arrest all these people. There's an econ student at George Mason University has over a thousand subscribers. So, he's small, but he's not a nobody. And he writes in his Substack, "When must we kill them?" This is a Econ student at George Mason. Do you think he's going to be kicked out of school? Brandon, did he ever talk to you about the threats? Not specifically. Generically, we know that people threaten us all the time, and I I've seen him say it on his show a few times, and I I know that it's a reality. I mean, I got attacked on UC Davis campus and I'm and and Charlie is much more uh influential on campus than I am. And the crowds are are massive. So, the little bit of push back that I get, he has to be getting 10 15 times that. And and it's very sad to hear him say that and then it became a reality for him. I just really wish that things could have been different. I really wish that the security could have been a little tighter, especially on the perimeter. But it's easy to say it in hindsight. Um, it's just very unfortunate. It makes me angry to think that these cowards would want to take his life and brag about it. And there nothing there's nothing that's going to be done or had been done about these clear threats. These people do it all the time. They come to the campus and they do it. Police don't do anything. They don't get involved. They pass it off as, "Oh, it's just somebody talking." And now we see that some of these people are so deranged, they will seriously make an attempt on your life. Well, I know you were a police officer, so you've got a background in law enforcement. What do we do to walk back this violence and this atmosphere we're living in now? We we have to take it more seriously. We got to we have to execute the law the way it's written. You cannot make threats against other people, material threats or criminal actions. And therefore, they need to take it seriously. Everybody should take it seriously. The dean of students should take it seriously. When a student is on campus and threaten a person based on their freedom of speech or religion or whatever the case be, that person need to be immediately disciplined, immediately kicked off campus. And if there's threats involved, they need to be immediately taken to jail. It's not, to me, it's not that hard. They're playing politics. Instead of them arresting people, they don't want the optics of arresting people. They don't want the optics of the conservative uh uh you know, being the victim in any way. They want to make it as if the conservative is the fascist, is the racist. And so therefore, there's no necessity to protect us when it's wrong. They got to enforce the law. And this is what what pees me off about law enforcement is when I went to UC Davis, they pretty much told me, "Well, we're not going to do anything about it." You're going to watch these people come and assault individuals at our tent. They stole our tent. They damaged material. I mean, thank goodness that I can defend myself because there was no weapons there. that I was able to be okay, but they weren't going to protect us even if there was a legitimate threat. And that's not what they signed up to do. They signed up to protect and serve with their lives. And this is the most important thing to serve and to protect is the freedom of speech. And to see them failing at that is is very is very disheartening to me. You know, one person said on air that this feels like 9/11, that it changes everything in some respects. I pray that's true cuz I think what you're describing is absolutely correct. We can't step back from our freedom of speech or our right to the freedom of peaceful assembly. We've got to have that privilege or we're abandoning the generations behind us to authoritarian cruelty. So, how do we respond to this? How do we make the future better? That's the way you and I are going to honor Charlie. We're not going to be quiet, right? We just got to go even harder. Um, we got to allow this or at least allow Charlie to not die in vain. And I I hope that everybody that's listening to this that love Charlie, ever listen to Charlie is that you owe it to Charlie to push harder, to be stronger, to have more courage. Many people who were afraid to say anything, but they let Charlie say it and they just depended on that. Now it's your turn. Now it's your time to get out and say something. Be the impact that God has called you to be. And we gota that's that's what's going to make it a a more enthusiastic movement. We have to Amfest has to be bigger. Our events have to be stronger. Turning Point has to come back stronger, bigger, bolder. We have to continue to go on campus. We can have, you know, our tactical advantages, but we got to continue to to push forward because if we do not, which I which I'm not even going to say we do not, if somehow we we chose not to do the right thing, then Charlie, his life was in vain. And every other person, pastor, that have died for our freedoms, their lives have been in vain. And I do not anticipate that happening. I think we're going to be awakening. I'm I'm going to be I I will lead the charge as far as I can lead it because I'm not putting up with it. They're not going to take out our our brother Charlie and think that we're going to back down. It just we're going to make it more difficult for him. Amen. Well, Brandon Tatum, I assure you there's a group of us that will not stop. Thank you for joining us tonight. God bless you. Thank you. Charlie Kirk got all sorts of questions from the students. That's part of what college years are all about, right? Some of it was politics and some was more like therapy. Here's an example of Charlie in action with a young girl who was trying to figure out how to navigate her parents' troubled relationship. Hi. Um, so I'm not technically I don't go to UT and I'm not the legal age to vote yet. Um, and my parents are divorced and both of my parents have separate political views. My mom's conservative and my dad's a liberal and my mom is always kind of pushing me to bring politics into my life. And I was wondering a should I care and if I should, why? And which parent should I lean more towards? Got it. So, did you say mom's liberal? Mom's conservative. Oh, wow. Okay. That's that's opposite I would have thought. Okay. So, I I see you have a shirt here that says, "Who whom shall I send? Here I am." Right. Yes. Um which I love. That is the Hebrew word hanei which appears many times throughout the scriptures. uh when Abraham, the binding of Isaac, Moses at the burning bush, the call of Isaiah, the call of Samuel, every believer here in the audience, by the way, the most important thing is to bring Jesus into your life. Let me just make sure I say that. Most important thing, it's way more important than politics. It's the most important thing. Amen. And so, I encourage every believer out here to learn what that word hain means. It means Lord, use me. Send me. And I could tell you're probably going through a trial right now because your parents are separate and it's not easy. So the scriptures are very clear about this. Uh Christianity has a heavy emphasis on honoring your parents. Now to contrast that with the prior questioner, I don't think she's doing a good job of honoring her parents cuz she's accusing them of being in a cult. Even this is very important everybody. Even if your parents share values and views and a worldview that you do not have, you are biblically obligated to honor them, which means to spend time with them and to love on them and to go visit them. Even if they are wearing a Black Lives Matter and in this home that we have no hate and trans lives, you still go and spend time with your parents because if you are incapable in this case of honoring your earthly father, you will never honor your heavenly father. And it's very clear in the Ten Commandments, and I'll get back down to the specific advice. In the Ten Commandments, it is the only commandment. Honor your mother and father so that you may live long in the land of which you are in. It is the only commandment that deals with a promise and your country. You will cease to have a strong country, America, if we do not have kids honoring their parents. you everyone out there every day you you should call your parents on a weekly basis. I know college exists a lot of the times to separate children from the parents. They want to try to separate you from your upbringing. Your parents aren't cool. They don't understand you. They don't share your values. The closer that you stay with your parents even though you have disagreements, the better you will be and your nation will be. Now to your to your personal advice, find out what you believe and why you believe it. If a parent ever tells you to do something that is sinful or goes against God, that is a violation of what it means to honor them. It doesn't mean you have to blindly obey them, but you must honor them, which really means to treat them heavily. Basically, to treat that with a lot of weight. I would instead be close to both of them. It's a very difficult situation. You're going to grow up a lot quicker because of it. Um, and come to your own independent political views and let them be known to each appropriate parent. Well, I mean, it's kind of hard. So, how would I express the different views to say my mom or my dad? Well, your view should be the same regardless of who you're talking to. So, I think I I you're not you're not old enough yet to vote, so you're still searching. So, instead, I wouldn't even take strong political views. I would say, "Mom and dad, I don't want to talk politics. I just want to talk the Bible." My It's not a political thing. It's a biblical thing. That would be my advice to you. So, every time it comes up like, "Oh, you should support Trump. Oh, you should hate Trump." Say, "You know what? Can we just talk things from scripture? Always go back to fundamental scripture when you're talking to your parents. And when you do that, it could be very disarming. And then you both have something to appeal to. You have a greater truth that then you're able to look at, appeal to, um, and hopefully, you know, get you through this difficult chapter. It seems as if this world is getting crazier and crazier. But let me remind you that is why Jesus came. This world is broken. But remember Jesus when he said it is finished on the cross. He paid the price. So Charlie is home free. He ran his race. He finished the course. But now we need to gather around their family. Now, we need to uphold Erica. We need to uphold those two darling little ones, three-year-old daughter and a one-year-old son. Charlie was a controversial character in all the best possible ways, but it meant so many people out there who were angry had it in for him. He answered one question, a a religious question and then as he was about to answer address a second question, there was a single shot. Those who were closest to him said they heard a pop and Charlie Charlie Kirk is home with Jesus. So now as a family, you know, Charlie's show is on here tonight. Not sure what we're going to do. And I'm asking, let's just pray right now. Father God, I want to thank you that when you saw the brokenness of this world, you sent Jesus and you didn't say there would be no trouble. You said there will be trouble, but I will be with you. And Lord, we know we celebrate the fact that Charlie Kirk is home with you. But father, as a family here at TBN, we lift up Erica and the two children. Lord God, what a shock. They've only been married for four years. And yet, he bravely spoke out. And I remember hearing him talk about the fact that no matter what goes on in this world, our future is secure in Jesus. Holy Spirit, you are a comforter. As a family here at TBN, we are asking that you will be with Erica, with the children, with Charlie's family, with Erica's family, with the Turning Point USA community. Father God, watch over them. Bring your comfort. speak your words of hope into situations that seem so desperate but for Jesus because of what you do because of what you have done because of what you've finished we know where Charlie is and we pray right now for all the university staff for those who are trying to work out what on earth to do be with them Lord but mostly as a family here at TBN we put our arms around Erica and those two children and we ask you Lord God to be with them in Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. Can I read you something? Those who live in the shelter of the most high will find rest in the shadow of the almighty. This I declare about the Lord. He alone is my refuge, my place of safety. He is my God and I trust in him. For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. Charlie is home with Jesus. We're going to be joined now by one of our dear friends here at um at TBN and that's Pastor Greg Lori from Harvest Church. And Greg, I just it feels like at the moment every time you turn on the news, there's something else happening that that is just devastating and and evil seems to be overcoming good. But but I would I just love to hear your perspective on your wisdom. What's on your heart for us? Well, I'm in a state of shock, deep sorrow. Yeah. and thinking about Charlie and his life. You know, it was Corey Tinboom who you knew, I believe, Sheila, a great woman of God, who once made this statement, a life is not measured by its duration, but by its donation. Yeah. Charlie did not live tragically a lot. He did not sadly live a long life. Only 31 years. But boy, in those 31 years, he sure accomplished a lot. I mean really at the age of 18, he started Turning Point USA. In fact, I just spoke at one of their events only a few weeks ago. And then I said to the pastors who gathered how important I thought Charlie's voice was. And as it has been said, he was such a profound voice on political issues, but also on spiritual issues. And I think when you really boil Charlie down to who he was, you know, because I've seen him described, you know, there's an article in a news magazine, political activist or right-wing activist, you know, these terms that they use, but really what he was first and foremost, he was Charlie Kirk Christian. Yes. And then he was Charlie Kirk husband and father. Yeah. and and and when he would do these events on campuses and I've watched many videos of them, he was very patient with people. They would insult him to his face and say the most unkind and horrible things to him and he would just take it even smile. Then he would come back and respond logically and calmly to the inflamed rhetoric that people would would use against him. And and that's probably what drove people crazy is he was such a clearheaded, logical communicator. We wished he had lived a longer life, but he he lived it was I remember the words of um Jim Elliot who said, "I seek not a long life, but a full one like you, Lord Jesus." Charlie lived a full life. He lived his life well. He made a great donation. And I believe now because of media and all that we have of Charlie and as many speeches and and things he said that that his message will actually become stronger and more people around the world will will know his name and hear what he said and then ultimately reach more people than maybe he would have ever reached. But but that doesn't you know replace this wonderful man. Yeah. And the great loss it is. But uh we thank God that he lived his life well. I just want to ask you, would you pray for us? Would you pray that we would listen and hear the voice of God in these days? Yes. Father, we pray first and foremost for Charlie's family. I pray for his wife Erica, for his two children who are so young. They won't fully understand what has happened and why their daddy's not coming home tonight. But Lord, I I pray that you, the God of all comfort, will extend your hand to Erica and as she grieavves this unimaginable loss as only you can comfort. The Bible says you're near to the brokenhearted. I pray, Lord, uh for our nation, Lord, how we need to turn to you right now. How we need a spiritual awakening. And I pray that a great revival will break out. We thank you for the life and legacy of this young man, Charlie Kirk. And we thank you that he his his ministry will live on. His effect and his influence will live on. But uh how we need you, Lord. And one day life will end for all of us. And we have no guarantee that we'll live long lives. So let us live full lives and let us live godly lives. and let us live lives that honor you because we never know when that moment will come when we will take our last breath on earth and take our next one in heaven. So we commit ourselves, we commit our nation to you now in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much um for joining us Greg. We have a beautiful photo there of Charlie and his darling wife. They'd only been married about four years and yeah, it's oh, there's two darling little children and three-year-old daughter and a one-year-old son. Um, unspeakable loss, but we are praying that the God of all comfort will be with Erica and her extended family and the Turning Point USA family as they gather around one another. But thank you for your prayer, Greg. We appreciate you so much. One of Charlie's great gifts was as an apologist. And I'm going to be joined now by a very dear friend of mine, one of the chief apologists in the universe at the moment, Dr. Jeremiah Johnston. Jeremiah, talk to us about um what's on your heart and mind as you receive this devastating news today. Well, thank you for having me, Sheila. Um Charlie and I were texting on Sunday night. about him being a surprise guest for our upcoming event here at Prestonwood. And I'm just reflecting on the fact that life is a vapor. We don't know what a day will bring forth. And in moments like this, the body of Christ, we need to hear the only words that matter, and those are the words of God that bring us hope. When I think about the fact now that Charlie is with Jesus Christ, the first passage that comes to my mind is Psalms that says, "Precious in the eyes of the Lord." The very eyes of the Lord are the death of his saints. And Charlie died loving Jesus Christ. And we can say that even though it hurts really bad right now, that 2 Corinthians 5:'8 says that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord and face to face communication. So we know that Charlie is not struggling anymore. We know that Charlie is not hurting anymore. We know that he's not in pain anymore. We know that he is experiencing the fullness of joy and the presence that only Jesus can bring. At the same time, I'm really hurting, Sheila. I'm having all the emotions that are normal to have when evil happens around us. And it makes us angry as the body of Christ. A righteous anger that we live in a world that is fallen, that doesn't make sense. That we can have all the answers cerebrally and in our mind, and yet at the same time, we say, "Lord, will you help? Will you not ren us, God?" And I the only thing I can do at these moments is not trust what I'm feeling but trust what I believe. Sheila and that God is a very present help in this time of trouble as Charlie's amazing wife tweeted. And to think that Habach asked God for explanations. Habach saw the destruction of Israel. And yet God said, "You have to trust me. Even though there's no food in the barn, even though there's no cattle on the hills, you have to trust me. And so my faith in scripture reminds me in a tragic moment like this that explanations will not suffice. We could know all the ins and outs of the evildoer, the satanic person who did this, and it still wouldn't bring help. We could try to have all of our questions answered. And yet, Sheila, ultimately, we will not live by those questions tonight when we try to go to sleep. We will live on one thing and one thing only, the promises of almighty God, that he is faithful, that he's in charge, and that he gives hope. A hope that when life doesn't make sense, he is still faithful. And that is what I choose to focus on. I choose to not trust my feelings. I choose to trust what I believe. And so that's my encouragement to all those of you who like me, you may be stunned. You may be heartbroken. That's all normal. I want to validate that. In 2 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul said to the Corinthians, I don't want you to be unaware of the troubles I have faced. I have the passage in front of me. He literally said, "I have the sentence of death within me. I don't want to even go on living." And yet Paul says, "If I look behind me, Jesus, I know he delivered me at another time, I know he'll deliver me in a future, and I know he's delivering me now." And so I say with believers who right now are heartbroken as we all are. We have to look to the one who conquered sin and conquered Satan and conquered death, the resurrected king, our messiah, Sheila. That's what I'm choosing to do. choosing not to listen to my feelings, choosing to follow what I know to be true, what I know God's word promises, that he is a very present help in this time of need. Father, we thank you that you died for all sin on the cross when your son died. That the promise of redemption is available for all who look to Jesus. And we pray that God, even through this tragedy, that many would come to Christ through it. Lord, this is our prayer. Father, we trust that you've heard it even when our words fail according to Romans 8:26 in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you, my friend. And let us just say as a family, we I'm so sorry for your personal loss. I know he was a friend, but um thank you for being with us. Thank you for bringing those words. Um, I've got to be joined now from Los Angeles by someone who is very dear to us at Trinity Broadcasting, whose whole ministry has been about not only being the president of Samaritan's Purse and bringing hope and health and healing around the world, but also to bring the good news of the gospel that Jesus Christ is our hope. Um, Pastor Graeme, thank you so much for being with us. What's on your heart as you listen to this tragic news? Jesus said, "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me." And he said, "In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place where I will come again and receive you unto myself." Uh Charlie has graduated today. He's in the presence of almighty God. And he he's not there because he was he he he motivated people. He's not there because uh he was a good guy. and he, you know, he was a good guy, but that's not how you get to heaven. He's in the presence of almighty God, and he's going to take hold of that mansion that uh the Lord Jesus prepared for him. He's there right now. Uh but he's there because he put his faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Yeah. And you see, we're all sinners and we're all under a death sentence from God. The wages of sin is death. And when the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, when they disobeyed God, sin came into the world and infected the world uh like a cancer of the human soul. And we we see evidence of sin all around us. We saw it. Charlie was murdered there. Utah Valley. Uh it just it breaks your heart. But we we can't I mean my heart is broken for his wife, for his kids, but uh I praise God. He's in he's in God's presence and he's he's he's taken hold of that mansion that was promised to him and for all of us who put our faith and trust in Christ. But Charlie put his faith and trust in Jesus Christ. He confessed his sins. He repented and he believed by faith that Jesus Christ was God's son. That Jesus died and shed his blood on a cross. That he was buried for our sins. And on the third day, God raised him to life. And that's our hope for all of us that one day we'll be in the presence of almighty God. And so, you know, we'll miss him. We'll miss his voice. And to have a young man like that so articulate, uh, you know, we just say, "How can we replace him?" I pray that God will raise up 10,000 more just like him that will go to all the college campuses and go out on the streets and who will be a a a champion uh for the Lord Jesus Christ. So I I pray that this this death is not end in despair but be hope that many more will rise up and they'll say if Charlie can do it I can do it if God can do that through Charlie I can do that and just pray that there'll be an army of young men and women taking a stand for the Lord Jesus Christ motivated by what they saw today that God would just touch their hearts to go out and do the same. Beautiful. Thank you so much for taking time out of I know a crazy busy schedule to be with us, Pastor Graham. I'm going to throw back now to Eric who's in Washington and with a very special guest, Eric. Sheila, thank you so much. And we have a dear friend of mine, of Charlie Kirk of TBN, our good friend, Pastor Jack Hibbs, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel, Chino Hill, host of the Real Life Network, Real Life with Jack Hibbs. Pastor Jack, I it's tough to find words today. Uh Charlie was a lion. Uh he was 31 years old. He was a giant. And you know firsthand about his growth in the Lord. I said earlier, Pastor Jack, I met him. He was maybe 23 years old, a fiery young conservative activist, which was great. But we saw, I think in real time, his growth in the Lord, in Jesus. He became a lion for the gospel in a very public way, including at Calvary Chapel, Chino Hills on your stage. Tell us more about that, Pastor Jack, about uh the the faith behind the man, Charlie Kirk. Eric, first of all, thank you for having me, and you said it right. So he here here here's Charlie Kurt young guy extremely extremely uh adept at learning not normal super bright and uh with his early days uh he had all of the knowledge right and he could just do what he did so wonderfully but the beautiful thing was as he invested more and more in Jesus and in the word of God you could see this young man so to speak in the soul age, Eric, from from being, as it were, a spiritual teenager to a spiritual uh giant, as you said, and he loved the word of God. Charlie Kirk would send me verses in the morning. Uh we would talk I talked with him yesterday. Um the his his growth in Christ was awesome. And like his intellect, so his spirit, he's a he was a remarkable treasure. Of course, he had this brain power of his. He had this he had his salvation. But the beautiful thing that we watched, Eric, with him was his ability to be under the control of the Holy Spirit when people would get in line, to rail on him, to attack him, to yell, to be ugly, and throw words at him. I never saw him ruffle. I never saw him uh get angry. I never saw him go personal. And he let them vent themselves. He would answer their question and then always give them the hope that their life could be changed through Jesus and that actually made them more angry, but he gave them the truth. And um yeah, Pastor Jack so well said. He was unflapable, I would say. Uh and he did it with a smile on his face. I mean, he would just cut through the clutter. These young college kids, God bless them, they're 18, 19, 20, 21. They think they know everything. and they'd come up, they'd confront, they'd accost, they'd even insult Charlie. He listened patiently with a smile on his face, and then he would give a withering but graceful and factual and gospelrooted response every time. And Pastor Jack, in real time, you could see those kids' faces, their countenance change. And in real time, you can see a heart and a mind being changed by Charlie Kirk. Look, we read the end of the book, Eric. You and I know it well. We we win in the end, but we're not at the end yet. Until now, we fight and we fight like Charlie Kirk did. He finished his course. He was faithful by God's grace. He didn't rot away in a hospital bed bid. He he he didn't die in a car crash. He didn't have a heart attack this morning. Charlie Kirk was assassinated by a political ideology, a a cultural ideology, that seeks to destroy any and all who are oppose it. And Charlie, I think, maybe is like a canary in the cage, proverbally speaking, whereby Charlie has lived out and he has given his life as an indicator we are so far from God, we got to turn back. It's urgent that we turn back. Amen. Pastor Jack Gibbs. Well said. Great insights as always, my friend. God bless you, Pastor Jack. And we're praying for you. I know Charlie was a close personal friend of yours. Thank you for the influence you had in his life. Pastor Jack, we'll see you again soon. Going to be joined now by um a dear friend of mine, someone who has such a heart for reaching a younger generation, who has used not just his music, but his words in such a powerful way. Matthew West, it is so lovely to have you with us and such under these circumstances, Matthew. It's so hard, but I'm just wondering, you know, where were you when you heard about this and how is this impacting you? Well, thanks for having me, Sheila. And uh you know, first just let me say when uh when you reached out for me to hop on, I had to pray um to uh decide is this the right thing to hop on right now when I'm I'm kind of angry about what I've just witnessed, you know? And so I asked the Lord just to to calm me and help me speak with the same bold boldness, courage, and humility that I feel like Charlie Kirk demonstrated so well in everything that he did. Um I was in a songwriting session today here in Nashville. I'm actually in my home studio here. It's called the Storyhouse. Right when the news broke and my coowwriters and I I was actually with Bart Millard from Mercy Me. I was with his son who's a young recording artist and we were literally writing a song about joy. Wow. and we get this news and just we we brought everything to a screeching halt and uh and just have been praying for Charlie's wife and children and loved ones um just ever since then today. And we got my wife and my daughters came home from school and we just gathered together and and just have been praying just heartbroken by what we've witnessed today. You know, it's it's so interesting. We've I've heard from so many different people, pastors and those who knew Charlie and talked about that so often the enemy overplays his hand. You know, you think to snuff out a life like that silences his voice, but the the number of young people who followed Charlie Kirk on Tik Tok, the the I mean, the millions of people who listen to him, it's really our prayer that through this that these young people will rise up. I mean, anger is understandable, grief is present, but I what I'm praying for is that from this, God will birth something far far greater. I I couldn't agree with you more and it's been nothing short of um just a miracle to see how his voice and the voice of many others has has spoken truth and faith and love and hope and patriotism and reaching and stirring a younger generation. I see it in my own daughters as well going and to to think about, you know, there's some scriptures that are easy to quote at times and harder to to grasp at other times. And I think about um the words of Paul that reminds us that that God can somehow work all things for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. And this is one of those moments where I'm like h I I believe that's true. And and yet it's it's it's like we have to just trust and believe that somehow God is going to continue to do a work and continue to stir in the hearts of people. Like I feel he's stirring in my heart even tonight to think right down to this guy's last breath. He was boldly and courageously speaking truth and exercising his right to free speech. May we feel that same stirring to do that right to our right down to our last breath. And to be reminded that every breath is sacred. Every second we get in this life is a gift. And Charlie Kirk ran his race well. And I believe he's heard the father say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." And so I've just felt a stirring going, Lord, I don't want to make this about me, but let it stir within me and do your work in my life because I want to be bold. You know, the things that that Charlie stood up for and spoke for, Sheila, you and I both know we've spent our lives doing the same. And these are things I mean, he spoke about faith, family, and freedom. And these are things that have been deemed as hate speech by so many in our world. And and I think about, you know, you know who else they hated? They hated Jesus. And and and and the thought that we are standing up for what we believe may come at a cost. Is that going to cause us to be quiet? Well, in Charlie's case, it caused him to be louder. And he did it with love and respect. And it stirs in me the desire to do the same. May we be hitting our knees and continuing to pray for Charlie's family and for our nation. Yeah. Thank you, Matthew. Thanks for being with us. Um, Eric, I just want to say it's been a joy to do this with you, although in very hard circumstances. Um, but thank you for being being with us for the pastors who have joined us today. But I want to remind you, remember Jesus said to his closest friends, find it in John chapter 16, it says this, "In this world, you will have trouble, but take heart because I have overcome the world." That word means in this world you will go through the perfect storm but take heart. I have overcome the world. God bless you all.
