2025 has been a roller coaster.  As Bob Dylan would say, the times they are a-changin’.  Many great things have happened.  After four years of weakness, America is strong again.  The bad guys fear us.  We are no longer allowing Iran to develop nuclear weapons.  We once again support our greatest ally, Israel.  Inflation is down.  Gas prices are down.  Illegal border crossings are not only down, but are basically non-existent.  Crime is down and our streets are safer.  In general, things seem to be heading in the right direction.

Unfortunately, 2025 has been a year in which we lost some very great men.  These were some of the most influential people in my life.  Their loss will be felt widely, and there is a void in moral thinking that will be nearly impossible to fill.

Hulk Hogan (July 24) – The Hulkster deserves an honorable mention on this list because his influence on us was mostly through entertainment and his wrestling career.  While you may not think of Hulk Hogan as a leader in Christian thought or a great moral teacher, he did, in fact, turn his life back to Jesus in his final years.  He made this list because he articulated one of the most important and simplest messages that all of us should understand. 

On August 23, 2023, Hogan went on The Joe Rogan Experience and said that he attended and was baptized at Indian Rocks Baptist Church in Florida.  When Joe Rogan warned him against naming his church because swarms of people might show up to “go to church with the Hulkster,” Hogan said, “No.  I want more people there.”

He recognized his true purpose for being on this earth.  It happens to be the same purpose that all of us have.  As the Apostle Paul told the Ephesians in Acts 20:24, “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”  Ultimately, the only meaning for our lives is to spread the good news of Jesus.

Dr. James Dobson (August 21) – Dr. Dobson helped my parents raise me.  His best-selling 1970 book Dare to Disciplinewas a must-read for Christian parents in the 1970s and ‘80s.  I vividly remember watching videos of Dr. Dobson lectures on parenting and childhood in church as a kid.  What he said made sense, and he earned my respect even then. 

My dad would often tell me that “Dr. Dobson says this” when teaching me lessons about growing up.  On the advice of Dr. Dobson, he even took me on a “Preparing for Adolescence Weekend,” where we got to go stay in a hotel and do fun father-son activities while he also taught me from Dr. Dobson’s book, Preparing for Adolescence, about what to expect in those formative years of my life.  I still have the copy of the book that he gave me that weekend.

Dr. Dobson formed the juggernaut Christian organization Focus on the Family in 1977.  It became a massive multimedia empire that helped bring family values to the forefront again.  As Focus on the Family grew, it gained influence in American politics and social issues.  Now, if you search the internet for Dr. Dobson, you will find many attacks on him by people who reject the Bible.  This shows how effective he was at spreading solid, biblical values to families across our country.  He will be missed, but if more families rediscover his wisdom, our nation will be better off. 

Pastor John MacArthur (July 14) – He was the greatest biblical scholar of my lifetime, with a body of work that includes nearly 400 books.  The MacArthur Study Bible is one of the most well-regarded study Bibles around and has commentary on the entire Old and New Testaments.  It is also the Bible that I personally use and recommend.

I became familiar with John MacArthur because of a girl.  I really liked her, and she was a Christian, but she started getting into charismatic Christianity, which concerned me.  I wanted to learn more about it, so I found the book, Charismatic Chaos, by Pastor MacArthur.  I eventually lost touch with the girl, but never with John MacArthur. 

When the government tried to illegally and immorally shut down churches in 2020, he instead obeyed the Bible’s instruction from Hebrews 10:25 to “not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some,” and reopened the doors of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California for services.  I had the pleasure of hearing Pastor MacArthur preach in person.

John MacArthur was also the President of The Master’s University and the founder of The Master’s Seminary, so many other pastors and missionaries learned the Bible under his leadership and tutelage.  While his loss will leave gaps that his insights and knowledge might have bridged, much of his wisdom is fortunately still available through his writing and through his media ministry, Grace to You.  There you can find all of his sermon recordings dating back to February 9, 1969.

Charlie Kirk (September 10) – Charlie was the most effective Christian evangelist in the last decade, and he was not even a pastor.  He broke onto the scene as a political commentator and strategist at only 18 years old, when he started Turning Point USA in 2012.  He was brilliant.  He was ambitious.  When I first heard about him, he was an up-and-comer in the conservative movement.  Then, in 2020, while attending Calvary Chapel Chino Hills against tyrannical government orders, Charlie came as a guest to speak with Pastor Jack Hibbs.  I was instantly impressed.  He was not only knowledgeable about politics and our culture, but he knew God’s word.  He looked at politics the same way I do.  He realized that political wins are important, but that they would be futile and short-lived if they were not built on a strong understanding and belief in God. 

Charlie was not just a thought leader.  He was not a modern general who plans the battle and sends out orders.  He was like an old general who rode his horse to the front lines and led the charge.  Through a successful podcast and radio show he shared his message.  Through Turning Point Action, he built a massive political organization that mobilized and won elections for candidates who love freedom. 

As we all know, he also got down into the trenches of the most godless, morally bankrupt, dangerous places in our country:  college campuses.  He stood up to the intellectual brainwashing of our youth by openly speaking about both political issues and the Bible.  He was articulate.  He was courageous.  Most importantly, he was effective.  Unfortunately, this moral clarity and effectiveness led many to hate him.  As Jesus says in John 15:18, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.”  On September 10^th, a young man, fueled by the vitriol of the left, gunned down Charlie while Charlie was speaking at one of those college events.

This will be the toughest hole to fill because he was in the prime of his life and had lots more to accomplish.  His death also left a power struggle in the conservative movement that is very dangerous.  Some bad actors are trying to push us away from biblical values and into anti-Israel positions.  Charlie would be appalled.  We need to honor him by filling that void with voices who follow the values he preached.  We also need to keep the revival going that began with his martyrdom.  Churches are seeing a swell in attendance.  This is directly related to Charlie. 

Fortunately, all of us are able to revisit Charlie’s college debate videos online.  Even I have been surprised at how many of those videos were about Jesus.  We all need to keep that in mind as we try to continue what Charlie Kirk started.

This has been a rough year for some of my most trusted voices.  These losses are on top of missing the wisdom of the great Dennis Prager, who is no longer on the radio after his spinal injury at the end of last year.  Hopefully, he will regain enough strength to share that wisdom widely again. 

We have reason for optimism about 2026 and beyond, but I wanted to acknowledge some of the great men that we lost this year and pray for people to rise up in their places.  Happy New Year!