Tag: Jesus

Charlie Kirk and Our Turning Point

Charlie Kirk was a great man.  I had the pleasure of seeing him speak with Pastor Jack Hibbs at church back in 2020.  I also worked for Turning Point Action during the 2024 election.  He loved our country, he loved Jesus, and he loved his wife and two young children. 

Today, he was taken by an act of pure evil.  The organization that Charlie Kirk started was called Turning Point USA, and today needs to be a turning point for our country.  My first reaction when I heard that he had died was anger.  I was angry at Democrats for the murder of a brilliant young husband and father.  How could they want this?  What kind of terrible people could do this? 

Then I took a breath and prayed.  I am still angry, but I realized that my anger needs to be logical and focused.  Not all Democrats wanted this.  In fact, I am sure that many Democrats are disgusted by Charlie Kirk’s murder.  My anger should not be towards them.  Our turning point actually needs to start with them.  If you are shocked and disgusted by this evil act, you still have hope.

My anger is not towards most average Democrats.  My anger is towards the leftist ideology and worldview.  My anger is towards secularism.  My anger is towards the media who pushed this secular-leftist worldview.  The only way we can turn this country around is to turn to Jesus. 

If you are one of those who held those views but are outraged and appalled at this murder, we need you.  We need to end secular leftist ideology.  We need to bring back sanity.  That requires Jesus.  Charlie Kirk would be the first to agree with that sentiment.  Jesus is the only one who can fix this.  We are at this point because our nation has gotten further from God.  We need a religious revival. 

If you are a Democrat, and this terrible evil has woken you up to the damage that turning from God has done, I am pleading with you to give Jesus a chance.  Go to church and talk to a pastor about Jesus.  You still have hope.  You can even send me a message if you have questions.  If you are genuine, I will respond.

Charlie Kirk has spoken openly about how Jesus saved his life.  I know with certainly that I will see Charlie Kirk again in Heaven. Until then, thank you Charlie.

We Are Living Schindler’s List

It is award season, and we are all hearing the Oscar buzz. Will it be the musical about the transgender drug lord?  The biopic about Bob Dylan?  The musical about witches in Oz?  While some of the movies are pretty good, none of them really stand out as a film that we will be talking about or quoting five years from now.  Some films actually do stand the test of time.  Lately, I have been contemplating a memorable Best Picture winner from the past. 

The big winner at the Oscars for 1993 was Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece, Schindler’s List. The film was based on the true story of Oskar Schindler, a businessman in Poland, who hired Jewish workers for his factory during World War II.  When the Nazis began to round up Jews to be sent to death camps for extermination, Schindler became a hero by helping Jews escape being murdered at the hands of the Nazis.

Today, most of us think that we would have done the same, but very few did stand up for Jews in occupied Europe during World War II.  Schindler risked his own life for the lives of others.  Looking back, it was obviously a noble cause. 

Contemplating Oskar Schindler made me think about an acquaintance of mine who was always desperately longing to be part of a noble cause.  Unfortunately, he also desperately wanted to be liked and approved of by our mainstream, secular culture.  For this reason, he started looking at the causes that were popular in society.  He tried to take up the causes of the people who see themselves as victims.  He began to see race as the motivating force for everything.  He looked to the past and saw the civil rights movement of the middle of the last century, and since that was an important, noble cause, he wanted to be a part of it.  He got caught up in the slandering of whites and the police.  It turned out not to be enough for him for a couple of big reasons.  First, the real civil rights movement was won before he was born.  Segregation had ended.  Jim Crow had been defeated.  People who think skin color makes somebody better or worse are hard to find.  The only people still pushing race as a problem are hucksters like Al Sharpton who are trying to make a buck.  My acquaintance’s second problem was that he is not black.  He could not claim to be a victim himself.  This eventually led him to other woke causes, none of which are noble.

He was led astray by his searching for meaning and something to fight for, but most people do want to be part of a noble cause.  It gives purpose to your life.  Instead of looking to the past for a cause that our grandparents already fought, we need to fight a fight that is relevant now.  Here is the thing.  We can have an even bigger impact than Oskar Schindler did.  We are living Schindler’s List right now.  In fact, there is a cause that is even more important than Schindler’s.  While the Jews of Europe were boarding trains to almost certain death at Nazi death camps, many more people today are boarding a train to eternal death and torment in the next life.  We have the opportunity to help these people like Schindler helped those that he saved.   Countless people have not accepted Jesus as their Savior and are thus on the path to Hell and eternal damnation.  It should be our cause to tell those people about Jesus.

Matthew 28:18-20 says, “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’”  This is our mission on Earth. 

Not only that, but nothing you do in life is as important as what you do that directs people to Heaven.  If you are the best athlete on the planet, it is meaningless if it does not point people to God.  If you have career success and immense riches, it is meaningless unless that career or your money shows people the route to Heaven.  If you are powerful and lead many people, it does not matter unless you lead those people to the truths of the Bible.  This does not mean that you have to stand on a street corner preaching, but it does mean that everything you do should be done with God in mind and the glory should be given to Him.  If you do this, you have that noble cause.  You are just as important as Oskar Schindler.

Win With Class

“Turn it to MSNBC,” I said.  President Trump had pulled out to an insurmountable lead, and what better way to celebrate than to watch Rachel Maddow and her ilk come even more unhinged than they already were?  After seeing them saying awful things about good people for years, it is natural to want to see them lose it, and they did not disappoint, nor did Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, or the ladies of The View.  They turned on each other, blaming people like Joe Biden and Barack Obama for Kamala Harris’s loss.  They made full frontal, nasty, slanderous attacks on the American people.  We were called bigots and misogynists and accused of wanting an authoritarian dictator in charge.  There were tears.  Lots of tears.  It was a complete meltdown.  Online, there was more insanity.  It was hilarious and enjoyable.

On the other side, the people who had supported President Trump were elated.  There was well-earned jubilation and happiness.  There was also a lot of gloating.  It made me think.  In my email, there was a reminder from a family member about what is truly important in this moment.  Part of it read, “It is imperative that followers of Christ be ever-mindful that we are to be salt and light in this troubled time in our nation.  We have a connection to our Heavenly Father that the world needs.”  While the temptation to gloat is understandable, we as conservatives need to restrain ourselves.  Our ultimate goal is to point people towards Jesus.  If we rub in our victory too much, it will turn off some people who might be open to Christianity and drive them away.  We need to be good winners.  To use a sports analogy, it is like watching the opposing team win the World Series and celebrate on your home field.  It is a terrible feeling, and only makes you want to beat them more the next year.  When it comes to God (or politics), we do not want them to hold a grudge like that.   We want them to join us.

This is also important for other practical reasons.  Our nation is still very divided.  We need to win people over permanently, or we will lose elections in the future.  The best way to change our government is to persuade people.  If people whose candidate lost see us rubbing salt in their wounds, they are unlikely to even entertain our ideas.

This does not mean we should not be joyful and excited.  We definitely should be.  This is a great triumph for our country.  It does not even mean that you cannot gloat to anybody, but you need to know which of your friends have a sense of humor and can take some playful ribbing.  It just means that we should try our best not to permanently close off others to our ideas, and especially to God.

While President Trump’s victory is a win for all law-abiding citizens in this country, almost half of the electorate does not see it that way.  They have bought into the media attacks on President Trump and half of America.  They are scared.  They have been told the lie that President Trump will be a fascist strongman who will rule with an iron fist.  Is this true?  Of course not.  We know it, but many of the people who were getting their news from ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, or any other far-left propaganda outlet believe it.  If you believed our country was being taken over by an authoritarian dictator, you would be pretty upset about it, too.

Fortunately, these negative expectations should actually make it easier for us to win people over.  Our side is so far from authoritarianism that it should quickly become obvious.  President Trump would be the first authoritarian dictator ever whose policies were designed to force you to have more freedom, keep us out of wars, and take less of our money.  In just about every area of life, President Trump’s policies are less intrusive than those of Democrats.  The Democrats claim that President Trump would be the dictator, while they are the party that mandates a million things that we cannot afford and do not need or want.  They forced people to close their businesses.  They mandated that we lock ourselves in our homes.  They closed down our churches.  They mandated we cover our faces and get experimental shots.  They are mandating electric cars that most people cannot afford.  They threaten you with fines if your health insurance is not acceptable to them.  They push mandatory gun buyback programs.  They force your daughters to play sports against biological boys.  They want to confiscate more of your hard-earned money.  The side claiming that President Trump will be an authoritarian is the same side that wants to control just about every aspect of your life.

There are, of course, people who have dug in so deep that nothing will convince them.  For those who are less radical and still have common sense, encourage them to turn off the network news and keep an open mind to some of what President Trump is likely to accomplish.  Do not let the mainstream media spin good news into bad.  If they are expecting authoritarianism, their fears will quickly be assuaged.

If we show people positive results without being obnoxious, they will start to see the light.  If they see that those positive results and our kindness are driven by our faith in God, then we can be salt and light to those who are angry, frightened, overwhelmed or disheartened, no matter their views or what side they are on. This should be our ultimate goal.