Reviving Our Prophetic Voice
It has been an intense couple of weeks. The assassination of Charlie Kirk seems to be much more than just a case of political violence or public tragedy. There is something more significant, more weighted, more profound at play. From the UK to South Korea, demonstrating citizens are shouting the name of “Charlie Kirk” in the streets, while still others are displaying a dizzying level of vitriol and enduring hatred for what he represented. Nevertheless, by so many reports, a swell of atheists and the unchurched are feeling compelled to visit worship services, many for the first time. The movements signal there is something more going on than the death of a Republican political pundit, or even an evangelist. It feels like the world has shifted.
An associate of mine attended a vigil in a local city park. Among those who took a moment to share their thoughts into the open mic was a twenty-something “goth girl”. Dressed in all black with her dark makeup and various facial piercings she addressed the crowd, “I’m not a Christian, and I don’t believe the same things a lot of you do that are out here today. I’m not sure why I’m here or why this has affected me so much. I just know that what happened was evil and I don’t know what to do with that.” Of all of the various self-assured statements and musings that flooded social media platforms, podcasts, and television programming in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder, this irreligious young lady in her uncertain authenticity, may have most accurately surmised the reality. Something evil happened and it affected her deeply. Yet, evil things happen every day. There is no shortage of injustice or even murder in our world and they don’t have this collective effect.
While the political and social affairs world of talking heads have and will continue to assert their analysis and call for an end to violence, as they should, they will only be talking around the edges of a reality they cannot fully grasp. Paul, in his letter to the believers gathering in Ephesus, delineated a truth we must take hold of in order that we interpret the world accurately.
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
The murder of this Christian role model for a generation of youth was not merely an act of political violence, it was a demonic blitzkrieg. It was a piercing of the veil, an incursion into our material world that was undeniable. The onslaught was so palpable that even the unbelieving felt the reverberations. I am reminded of a similar reverberation on Calvary:
“Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, “Truly this was God’s Son!””
There are times, when an evil is so conspicuous and incarnate, that it stirs even the bones of the spiritually dead! Everyone felt the earthquake on September 10, 2025, and the world is seeking purchase on stable ground.
In the week immediately following Kirk’s murder, I heard a repeated refrain of how disappointed Christians were with their church or pastor’s response to the events, leaving many seeking new pastures. As the irreligious made unfamiliar pilgrimage to church, seeking the unadulterated and proven truths, the solid foundations of western society that have withstood millennia of shifting tides, they were largely met with milktoast declarations engineered to neither offend nor embolden. The statements sounded more like they had been spun up in corporate board rooms than by Spirit-filled shepherds. In the moment the masses gathered to hear a prophetic voice, they received a political one, with an admonition not to be too political. The message could not have been more ironic. In order to honor a man murdered for publicly sharing his faith and its real-world implications, so many pastors resolved to make statements that would not arouse political backlash, modeling to their congregations that cultural approval is more important than faithfulness that might cost something. In the words of comedian Chad Prather, “That is not shepherding, it is self-preservation dressed up as wisdom.”
Watershed moments, such as they are, can be difficult to interpret in the instant the streams split. There is yet much we can’t know about the effects of the gathering water in this newly cut channel, but the flow is going somewhere, and gathering momentum.
The unaffiliated, agnostic, and atheistic are feeling compulsion to find something to believe in, to return to traditions that proved at least useful, if not true. They hunger for higher ground, elevated purpose. Would you not loose your voice dear Christian to call them up? Would you not declare the goodness and faithfulness of our God? Would you not be so bold as to assert that indeed, our Jesus, is the Savior they are seeking? If you do not call them up, the prophets of Baal will call them over. May we not leave them grasping. May we revive our prophetic voices to direct their eyes upwards while they yet have ears to hear!
Heart, Mind, and Soul: Atheism is a seminar being designed to do just that! To equip believers to engage their irreligious neighbors, family, and friends with grace and truth to turn their eyes to the beauty of Christ. We’re looking for partners in this ministry to help us push this training into the next phase of taking it to local congregations, to create momentum in actual churches, cities, and neighborhoods. The world is shifting, and we have the security of eternally stable ground! The harvest is upon us, it’s time to get to work!
