Tim Barry

On September 10 2025, Charlie Kirk, follower of Jesus, husband, father and the Founder and CEO of Turning Point USA, was murdered whilst speaking at an outside event on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. He was shot in the neck, in front of the crowd and his young family and he died later in Hospital. He was 31 years old. His death has taken him from his wife Erika and their two children.

‘Google’ Charlie Kirk and you will very likely come across the phrase ‘far-right’ early on.

This is a lie. Not least in that the phrase ‘far-right’ (often distilled into ‘right-wing’) is little more than a cowardly trope used to silence people who dare to challenge the mainstream narrative.

Charlie Kirk was not ‘far-right’ (whatever that is), but he most certainly was a follower of Jesus, a Christian who sought to change people’s minds through debate.

And he was very good at debating.

Take a few minutes to watch this debate to get a flavour for just how well he engaged with his audiences.

It’s safe to say that he was public enemy to the progressive ideologues who push the melting pot narratives of DEI, Critical Race Theory, transgenderism, LGBT, unfettered immigration, pro-Palestine, pro-Mohammedanism, cultural Marxism etc. Yet despite being labelled in the most vile of ways, Charlie Kirk sought to change hearts and minds by engaging with the people who disagreed with him. He built a formidable reputation in doing so and was used mightily by God.

The truth is that Charlie Kirk was helping to free young people from the woke mind virus that has infected and crippled so many and he has paid the ultimate price in standing for the truth.

The death of Charlie Kirk is likely to be another Martin Luther King Jr. moment – it really is that significant. Konstantin Kisin puts it very well here:

I hope I’m wrong. But tonight feels like some sort of invisible line has been crossed that we didn’t even know was there. The last time I felt like this was 9/11 when it was clear, without knowing the how and the what, that the world was about to change forever. Like the rules of the game had been permanently altered and there was simply no going to back to the innocent, peaceful past. I didn’t feel like this when an attempt was made on President Trump’s life. If I had to rationalise why I didn’t, I guess it’s because several US Presidents have been shot at and even assassinated. Somehow it was within the realms of the possible, no matter how awful. But to murder a young father simply for doing debates and mobilising young people to vote for a party that represents half of America? This is something else. Charlie’s death is a tragedy for his wife, his children and his family. I don’t pray often. I am praying for them tonight. But I fear his murder will be a tragedy for all of us in ways we will only understand as time unfolds. I hope I’m wrong.

Many on the ‘left’ progressive side of the fence, celebrated at the news of Charlie Kirk’s death. Even the Oxford Union’s incoming president, (quite how his position can remain tenable is anyone’s guess) George Abaraonye, posted in a WhatsApp group, “Charlie Kirk got shot, let’s f—— go”. What kind of warped humanity takes people to this point? The answer is a Godless one. To try and remove God from culture, worldview, school, workplace, media, leads to the place where the death of a young man, a husband, a father, a leader, who simply sought and spoke the truth is celebrated.

Equally, some so-called ‘Christian’ media news outlets are sadly predictable in their reporting on the death of a Christian man who lived by and for the truth. Caveating his death with words like ‘outspoken’ or ‘controversial viewpoints’, these BBC wannabes can’t help themselves as they try and tread the fictional ersatz line of impartiality.

Make no mistake, Charlie Kirk was not ‘right wing’, ‘far-right’ or even ‘controversial’, because he was a man who lived fearlessly for Christ and the cause of the Gospel. You see, Charlie Kirk was not being controversial, he was being faithful. To think otherwise is to take the position of compromise, to water down what Christ calls those who claim to follow Him to.

Tragically, we have lost a role model for boys and young men who so desperately needed his voice, an antidote to the toxic feminism that has pervaded their everyday. God can raise up other voices, but right now, it feels like a void.

In the moments before Charlie Kirk was shot, he had been sharing from 2 Corinthians 5:15 which says, “And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”

Amazingly, that was Charlie Kirk’s testimony. He did not live for himself, but for Christ and he paid the ultimate price.

The deep pain and sadness his death brings, not least to his wife and children, has to have hope attached to it. It’s because of what Jesus has done on the cross, his death and resurrection, that this is not the end of the story for Charlie Kirk.

A glorious eternity awaits those who are faithful to their Lord and Saviour and Charlie Kirk has shown the rest of us not only what walking that narrow path looks like, but that our faithful and courageous service in the Lord is never in vain.