This is Pastor Tim’s article with appeared in the Evening Leader on Tuesday, Sept 30, 2025
I am writing this article 2 days after the large Memorial Service held for Charlie Kirk at the Arizona Cardinals football stadium. I could not sit and watch it live because I was involved in a candlelight vigil held locally that same evening. But I went back and watched it online and that Memorial service went on for 5 ½ hours. The stadium was reported to be filled to capacity, a secondary building near the stadium was also filled to capacity and the streets around the stadium were also full. If you add that crowd to those who were participating online, the argument could be made that this Memorial Service was one of the most viewed events in the history of the world.
If you did not see any of the memorial service, it is not hard to find online. I particularly recommend the speeches by Marco Rubio, JD Vance, and Erika Kirk. I really enjoyed listening to so many of our leaders testify to their own faith in Christianity. I fully appreciate that it will not appeal to everyone, but it was very nice to this old Christian’s ears to hear something so grounded and so based at a time such as this. I credit these leaders for doing this because that was the only way Charlie Kirik’s life could be celebrated since his faith was so much a part of what he did. They were able to testify in just such a way because Charlie paved the way for those statements to happen. For that, we are forever grateful for the great work that Charlie Kirk did through the organization he founded: Turning Point USA.
I want to take a moment and recognize what many people are calling the most moving part of the whole event. It was when Erika stood in front of this incredible crowd and forgave the man who shot and killed Charlie. There are not enough accolades we can place on her to say those words in that setting. She could only do this because she understood the nature of forgiveness. She is not saying that the killer should be shown any leniency whatsoever. What happens to him now is no longer up to her, and that is how it should be. What she did in that moment was she took the first step to making sure that bitterness from what that evil man did does not haunt her the rest of her life.
It does not change the fact that the killer owes a debt to society. It will probably be years in the court system, but the man who killed Charlie is guilty of first-degree murder. He only knew Charlie Kirk from what we all know of him, watching him online or maybe attending his events in person. He knew nothing of this man other than his public persona and based on that, he made plans to kill Charlie in front of his family and in front of the whole world. The fact that Charlie’s wife has forgiven him does not relieve him of the consequences of his actions.
What should those consequences be? That is not for me to say. He gets to have his day in court, and I am sure he will have many days in court. Based on the laws on the books and the legal system in Utah, whatever consequences they assign is ok by me. Given the heinous nature of what he did, the fact that he took an innocent life, the death penalty is a consequence that seems appropriate.
This is not vengeance, this is justice. We could launch this man directly into the sun and it would not bring Charlie back. Inflicting that reality upon the world and upon the Kirk family deserves a consequence and it is up to the powers that be to see that consequence is delivered.
No matter what is done to the killer, it won’t change anything or make anything better. All it will do is state clearly what we as a society believe about the sanctity of life and the consequences disregarding the value of life earns.