This essay addresses the ethical, moral, and theological implications of publicly celebrating the death of a political or philosophical opponent, specifically in response to the killing of Charlie Kirk. I highlight the reactions from some individuals who feel it is unfair that people celebrating his death have faced consequences, like losing their jobs. I argue that there are serious moral, ethical, and theological concerns when someone openly rejoices in the death of another.
In a reflective essay, I express sorrow over recent deaths and societal evils while finding peace and joy through faith in the Lord. I emphasize the Bible as a guiding manual for life and salvation, offering hope amidst darkness and urging readers to look to Jesus for comfort and understanding.
SYNOPSIS The post discusses the reaction to the death of TPUSA Founder Charlie Kirk, highlighting how some individuals on the political left have celebrated it. I highlight the biblical perspective of enmity against God, citing scripture to illustrate the deep-seated hostility towards truth among the unsaved, and concludes with the importance of the Gospel as the only saving message.
I am reading several theologically rich books, my pastor is preaching wonderful sermons, I listen to terrific hymns, and the Bible is always deep with truths…and all this creates heavenly thoughts in my brain. Which is as it should be. This is how the Spirit transforms the mind.
Today I am sharing some of the rabbit trails my mind has been traveling this week as I ponder, mull, and meditate on the things of Christ.
“Dying Adam begat mortals.” From Thomas Boston, (1577-1635) Human Nature in its Fourfold State.
It’s an interesting way to phrase the concept of Adam becoming a sinner whose destiny is death, rather than the immortal person he was before he rebelled.
Think on this- Genesis 5:3 says, “When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.“
‘His own likeness’ the verse is careful to remind us. Adam’s likeness is mortal, because after his fall, sin became our human nature, and sinners receive the due penalty of death. MacArthur says of Adam, “He was created in the image of God. Unfortunately, Seth was made in the image of man. While still bearing the imago Dei residually, still having something of the image of God in him, he is most dominated and marked by the image of man, which is the image of fallenness and sin. So he becomes, does Adam, the father of a son who bears his image. How sad.”
“Though the Flood could not carry off the corruption of human nature, yet it pointed at the way at how it is to be done; to wit, that men must be born of water and of the Spirit, raised from spiritual death in sin, by the grace of Jesus Christ, who came by water and blood, out of which a new world of saints arise in regeneration” ~Thomas Boston, Human Nature in its Fourfold State
Yes, the Flood did not solve man’s gravest problem, our sin nature inherited from Adam. A sinner cannot beget a saint. A sinner can only beget a sinner. If God took the same path with men, there would be deluge after deluge, because the corruption of man’s nature remains still. But God promised there would not be another flood, and sent the rainbow to seal this promise as a reminder to us when we see it. Instead, He sent something better, someONE better, Jesus, to live the holy life we need to live, to die in our stead, and to be raised again having conquered death by his perfect life.
Jen Hatmmaker made the rounds on social media this week. It was reported that Hatmaker has a new course which you can take for only $69 to learn how to be separate from religion and church but still love Jesus. It’s a course on how to ‘deconstruct’ which is a trendy word for the biblical term of apostatising.
As a response to the outcry and outrage that Hatmaker would make filthy lucre off impugning Jesus’ name, toxic empaths insist on being nice and using gentle words with Hatmaker as we discuss this terrible state of affairs. “Be nice” they say. No. Whether wolves are baring their fangs or smiling through them, it behooves us to use strong language to warn about their deadly effects. Be gentle with her? No!
Megan Basham said on Twitter, @megbasham For those telling me that we should approach Jen Hatmaker with gentleness – – be aware, she is a false teacher who has long peddled destructive doctrines, and now is making money selling a course to lead people out of the church. The ultimate wolf.
Fiercely protect the faith. We don’t have to sling mud, but we should be forthright, honest, and clear about those false teachers who seek to destroy us.
Michelle Lesley has some good thoughts about this topic.
I was browsing my bookshelves in my Library and came across a book I forgot I had. A commentary on Jonah & Nahum by John MacArthur. I love the book of Jonah. I live Nahum even more. I’d read my book Severe Compassion: The Gospel According to Nahum (The Gospel According to the Old Testament) by Gregory Cook. It is good and I recommend that one. So I began reading Jonah & Nahum by MacArthur. MacArthur has a way of writing that is concise, but deep. Easy to understand, but thought-provoking. Unsentimental, but so exalting it raises tears in my eyes.
In Chapter 2 of this commentary, we read: “From the outset of the story, God manifested His heart for the lost. Instead of executing immediate judgment on the Ninevites for their wickedness, the Lord graciously sent them a warning of their pending destruction if they did not repent (Jonah 1:2; 3:5-9). Yet, God showed compassion not only to Nineveh but also to His wayward prophet Jonah, sending a storm to discipline him (1:4) and a fish to deliver him from the sea (1:17; 2:10). Additionally, Yahweh spared the pagan sailors whom Jonah had hired to take him to Tarshish. Though they deserved death, being steeped in idolatry and self-dependence (1:5), God preserved their lives and drew them to Himself (1:16).“
Jonah did not want to preach to the Gentiles, but he preached to them anyway- the sailors! Jonah is a good example of having head knowledge of God but it hadn’t reached his heart. He knew God was compassionate and likely to save the hated Ninevites. He knew God was Creator and King over the storms and waves. Jonah knew all this, but his heart for the lost was absent.
God was sovereign over the storm, the sailors, Jonah, the great fish, the Ninevites, the plant, the wind, and the worm. God’s sovereignty is so on display in this book, which you see as you read the commentary, it is breathtaking.
Charles Spurgeon was right in so many ways. In his Lectures to My Students, he spoke about the kind of men who apply to his seminary for training in ministry, but are rejected, and why.
Men who since conversion have betrayed great feebleness of mind and are readily led to embrace strange doctrines, or to fall into evil company and gross sin—I never can find it in my heart to encourage to enter the ministry, let their professions be what they may. Let them, if truly penitent, keep in the rear ranks. Unstable as water, they will not excel.
So, too, those who cannot endure hardness, but are of the kid-gloved order, I refer elsewhere. We want soldiers, not fops. We want earnest laborers, not genteel loiterers. Men who have done nothing up to their time of application to the college, are told to earn their spurs before they are publicly dubbed as knights. Fervent lovers of souls do not wait until they are trained—they serve their Lord at once.
I noticed that even back 150 years ago there were snowflakes, what Spurgeon called ‘those of the kid glove type.’ He didn’t hold back in this lecture, but at the outset he warned, “I am as much at home with my young brethren as in the bosom of my family, and therefore speak without restraint.” Yes, today in this era we have milquetoast men who are passive Adams, but for service in a pastorate we need hardy soldiers.
To this end we must give clear statements of gospel doctrine, of vital experience, and of Christian duty, and never shrink from declaring the whole counsel of God. In too many cases sublime truths are held in abeyance under the pretense that they are not practical; whereas the very fact that they are revealed proves that the Lord thinks them to be of value, and woe unto us if we pretend to be wiser than He.
A clear, simple, and wonderful explanation of the Gospel. Eternity can come for you at any moment. Are you ready? Poetry by Kay Cude
The Night of Golgotha, 1869, Vasily Vereshchagin
Are You Known? Did Christ see your face from the Cross at Golgotha? There your sin was laid upon Him and remains your effective condemnation if you have rejected Him. Me la The Son of God. He is Messiah. He is The Only Acceptable Sacrifice, blameless and without sin. He is the The Ransom of The Lord God Almighty provided for the forgiveness of your sin.
Understand, there is nothing unfamiliar to Him about your face. He has known your name from before eternity past. Before He created all living things before He laid the foundatione of the heavens and the earth, before the birth, life and death of centuries of your parental ancestors; before kings and kingdoms rose and fell, HE determined to die in your appointed place of condemnation to reconcile you to God
He knew every life choice you would make, every word you would speak, and every heart-decision you would put into physical action. This All-Knowing Christ Jesus, this Saviour-Redeemer, is God The Son, and He has forever known who you are. But, are you one who has never known Him?
I AM The Resurrection and The Life, he who believes in Me will live, even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. DO YOU! believe this?” John 11:25-26
What will YOU do with Jesus?
Therefore I say unto you that you will die in your sins, unless you believe that I AM HE you will die in your sins.” John 8:24
“For there is One God, and One Mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. who gave Himself as a Ransom for all, The Testimony given at the Proper Time.” 1 Timothy 2:5-6
ART- THE NIGHT OF GOLGOTHA Vailly Vosbchagin, 2000. Original in Trstyskor Gallery, Mincow, Rassis: http://www.styskorgallery.ru/) -Text addition by author Kay Cude
In Thyatira, a woman identified as a false prophetess, referred to as “Jezebel,” was leading the church into sin and idolatry, which Jesus condemned. Despite the church’s loving deeds, it tolerated her harmful teachings, risking its spiritual purity. This ultimately contributed to the church’s decline by the second century, and gives us in this century lessons to learn.
The essay discusses the concept of redemption through Jesus Christ, emphasizing that many underestimate the seriousness of sin by comparing themselves to others rather than to Jesus. True redemption, signified by Christ’s sacrifice, frees individuals from the power of sin and bondage, enabling them to live in holiness under God’s grace.
Discipleship requires careful selection of mentors grounded in Scripture, as highlighted in some people’s experiences with misguiding figures. Recognizing the importance of discernment, both new and mature believers must avoid false teachings and seek genuine, faithful Christian guidance. Much of one’s spiritual growth flows with the quality of chosen disciplers and spiritual models.
In 2013, Aerobatic Wing Walker Jane Wicker and her pilot Charlie Schwenker were killed when the plane crashed at a Dayton, OH airshow.
The second before the plane crashed, the Dayton Ohio air show announcer said as wing walker Jane Wicker positioned herself on the upside down wing: “Jane Wicker, on top of the world!” One second later, she was dead.
I often speak of the soon return of Jesus. Today is one day closer to His return than yesterday was. Paul used to speak of Jesus’ soon return often. As a matter of fact, every New Testament book except Philemon speaks of Christ’s coming. You need to be ready.
However, we are not guaranteed a tomorrow. Yes, Jesus could come, but death could come also.
James 4:14 says “yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”
I often wondered what Ms Wicker was thinking as she sat on the upside down wing. Nothing indicated that one second later she would be dead. Did she think she had loads of time left to ponder the deep mysteries of faith and salvation? Had she put it off until tomorrow, but tomorrow never came?
I hope she was saved by grace of Jesus.
So many people are abruptly taken out of this world to meet their eternity. Yet so many people put off for tomorrow what they should be reconciling today. I remember during a sermon one of my elders had said that as a teen they were evangelizing in a grocery store. One of the team gave the gospel to a man who was exiting. He said he did not need Jesus. He walked out of the sliding door to the sidewalk and fell down dead right then.
If you are not saved, then do not put off to tomorrow what should be done today. God has appointed you to a limited number of days in this lifetime. You do not know what that number is.
“Show me, LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure.” (Psalm 39:4-5).
Taking care of business means coming to grips with a few things. First, this life is not all there is. We are given a limited number of days to dwell upon the earth, but this body and this life is only phase 1. After death, there is a phase 2. If you have repented of your sins and believed on the resurrected Jesus as Lord and Savior, you will go to heaven and be with Him. You will be given a glorified body that is impervious to death or sickness, has no sin nature, and can withstand the full blast of His glory and Holiness. (1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 50; Philippians 3:21).
If you rejected Jesus in this life- and you don’t have to actively reject Him but passively fail to accept him (doing nothing is the same as rejecting) then you will go to hell after you die. This is a place of eternal separation from God and you will be given a body that can withstand the full blasts of the punishment that will be inflicted on you as eternal payment for your sins and crimes against Him. (Revelation 14:11, 2 Thessalonians 1:5-9)
It is a lie that you will be annihilated, that there is nothing else after death. It is a lie that hell is only temporary. It is surely eternal, as your sins are eternal and as Jesus is eternal. (Matthew 25:46). That is why Christians can dwell with Him forever, (Matthew 28:20; John 14:3) because He is eternal and He paid the price for our sins eternally when He took God’s punishment on the cross. (Romans 3:23-24).
You say, “God is loving, He would never send people to hell for punishment.” Really? It pleased Him to crush His Son! (Isaiah 53:10). Jesus absorbed all of God’s punishment while He was on the cross. Is God loving who would do that? Yes, He was making a way for YOU, whom He also loves. Jesus did that voluntarily, because He loves His people. If you reject Jesus though, you reject the way to heaven. (John 14:6).
Eternity is real and it is permanent. You do not know what today will bring. Ms Wicker didn’t. I hope these few words from my heart makes you think of the afterlife. For the Christian, it is a joy to ponder the time we will be with Jesus. For the unsaved, there is dread and fear of the unknown. But you can know, your eternity could be secure- if you repent. (Mark 1:15).
We are warned, commanded, and urged in 26 of the 27 New Testament books to watch out for false teachers and false religious movements (example- Judaizers, Nicolaitans). Heresies have popped up like wildfires in every century since Jesus ascended to heaven. The church as diligently battled them when they arose.
But too often the word ‘heretic’ and ‘heresy’ are watered down from overuse. They have lost meaning from people who misunderstand its import. We cannot fling the word around and aim it at people when they are not in fact heretics. A heretic is bound for hell. It’s serious. So what does heresy actually mean?
Heresy
In a previous Word of the Week, I’d posted about Orthodoxy. In the religious context, Orthodoxy means conforming to correctly interpreted, established doctrine, especially in religion. Heresy is a teaching or belief that stands in opposition to the orthodox teaching, so much so that to believe it, one essentially declares himself not a Christian. Here is Matt Slick at Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry to explain.
Heresy, by Matt Slick
Heresy is a false teaching. It is a belief or idea that is in contradiction to orthodoxy. In the context of Christianity, heresy is that which deviates from standard biblical teaching. Examples of heresy would be polytheism [more than one god], a denial of the resurrection of Christ, salvation is obtained by works, etc. The Christian church has experienced many attacks by heretics throughout the centuries, but it has fought them successfully – even though many persist. There are modern-day heresies. For example, Mormonism which teaches God is an exalted man from another planet and that we can become gods. The Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity, deny the deity of Christ, and deny salvation by grace alone through faith alone. Roman Catholicism teaches this also, teaches works to salvation, and promotes Mary worship.
Thus, even though Mormons, Catholics, and Jehovah’s Witnesses claim a religion, and claim to know God, they are heretics because they deny the foundational aspects of Christianity. They do not know God.
“Error, indeed, is never set forth in its naked deformity, lest, being thus exposed, it should at once be detected. But it is craftily decked out in on attractive dress, so as, by its outward form, to make it appear to the inexperienced (ridiculous as the expression may seem) more true than truth itself,” (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1.2).
The word “heresy” comes from the Greek ‘hairesis’ which means “choosing” or “faction.” At first, the term heresy did not carry the negative meaning it does now. But, as the early church grew in its scope and influence throughout the Mediterranean area, various teachers proposed controversial ideas about Christ, God, salvation, and other biblical themes.
It became necessary for the church to determine what was and was not true according to the Bible. For example, Arius of Alexander (A.D. 320) taught that Jesus was a creation. Was this true? Was this important? Other errors arose. The Docetists taught that Jesus wasn’t human. The Modalists denied the Trinity. The Gnostics denied the incarnation of Christ. Out of necessity, the church was forced to deal with these heresies by proclaiming orthodoxy; and in so doing, condemnation upon these heresies and the heretics became a reality.
Heretics after death will be cast into hell. Heresy is serious. So we do not cast around that word unless we have mindfully studied and are sure the person or movement we are commenting on is indeed meeting the qualifications of heretic or heresy.
“Hell at last, Yawning, received them whole”, Gustave Dore illustrator, Paradise Lost by Milton.
the-end-time.org 