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The sunset here in Southern Oregon last night was unreal! 🤙

I don't want to linger too much on horrible events, but the Charlie Kirk assassination has rattled me in a very unexpected way. So much, that I'm still working through it.

It's no secret that humans are capable of evil. We constantly see it online. We've become desensitized to it.

This feels very different, and it's not even the horrible murder itself. Throughout history, non-violent people have been executed for less. Awful, but not unexpected.

What's new is seeing friends, or maybe even family, embrace the evil. Be it with gloating, laughing, indifference, etc. We probably all know someone who has reacted in a very startling way to this murder.

That's hitting hard these past few days.

Politics are irrelevant here. You should be comfortable existing alongside peaceful people who think differently.

What I don't want is to be around people who find pleasure or satisfaction in acts of pure evil.

I'm questioning why I allowed these people to be a part of my life, or how I didn't notice signs earlier. What could I have done better to possibly prevent this?

We're not used to this.

I think we're still processing what this means going forward. Who we allow into our lives, and around our children.

If the overwhelming majority of humans reacted to this tragedy with disgust and empathy, we wouldn't be here.

Unfortunately the evil within some people is worse than realized.

And that's terrifying.

Ryan Finlay 3mo ago

Those who rebel against God are not peaceful at their core. They steal His glory, debase money, debase human life, and have no problem using force.

Ryan Finlay 3mo ago 💬 1

The danger for Christians right now is not anger, it’s continued pietistic-retreat. This is basically where well-meaning Christians attempt to maintain personal holiness, believe their faith is only concerned with the spiritual realm of personal salvation, prayer, and church activities, while neglecting their God-ordained responsibilities in the spheres of government, law, education, and culture.

It’s good to be heartbroken over the murder of Charlie Kirk, and it’s also good to be angry. A Christian brother with a wife and two small children was murdered as a public spectacle today because he publicly stood up for the truths of the gospel. He has been hugely influential in encouraging the church to not abandon the public sphere and likely would have been a future president in our country.

Romans 13 says rulers are to be a terror to those who do bad and evildoers are to be afraid of them. But our country is filled with weak men and wicked rulers and largely there is no fear of God or the law in our country.

This is not because the pagans are winning. This has happened because Christians have been unfaithful and passive for at least four or five decades. Christians largely abandoned the public square and allowed the institutions that shape our culture via education, media and law etc to be completely captured by those hostile to the Christian faith.

Now, we are reaping what was sewn.

As Christians, our role as salt and light is to work to restore the foundations of justice that allow all law abiding people to live quiet and peaceable lives. Our society should be a place where the righteous flourish and the wicked are restrained by just rulers we elect. Being soft on crime encourages the wicked to be a terror on all people, instead of our just rulers being a terror to the wicked. This must change, or things will only get worse.

Our righteous anger and grief must be channeled into action. We are not called to mere outrage, but to the hard, foundational work of rebuilding. This begins with our own repentance for decades of silence and retreat. We must be the ones to lead with Biblical conviction, to reclaim the institutions we abandoned, and to elect godly rulers who will fear God and fulfill their Romans 13 mandate to be a terror to evil. May God grant us the courage, wisdom, and resolve to be the salt and light this darkening world so desperately needs.