Political violence is nothing new, but it typically doesn’t create spiritual revival in a secular world. When Charlie Kirk died that changed.
We know the assassin claimed to target Kirk for what he labeled “hate speech.” But beneath the veneer of cultural confrontation, the battle between supernatural kingdoms, that of light and darkness, was on full display.
As Christians, we know that persecution and violence ultimately come from “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). We know that something far deeper and darker than claims about hate were responsible for Kirk’s murder. But beyond the darkness that inspired his death, the world is now witnessing a supernatural manifestation of God’s Presence in two very powerful ways.
Supernatural Grief
I never knew Charlie Kirk. I watched him online as many of us did. I was familiar with him to the extent that I thought he was a good debater, and I appreciated that he stood for similar values.
But when he was brutally murdered it cut much more deeply than I ever would have imagined. I felt like I was mourning for someone I’d been close to personally, even intimately connected. I had no reference for this kind of experience.
But interestingly, I was far from alone. Countless posts from across the social media spectrum show that a lot of people are experiencing an unexpected level of grief over someone they never knew. While some of this could be related to what psychologists call “parasocial attachment,” a phenomenon where people feel connected to celebrities they admire, I don’t think that’s what’s going on here. The depth and breadth of mourning seems to surpass simple celebrity infatuation. It’s a collective mourning that represents something much deeper — a ripple of sadness through the spirit realm.
Kirk’s death appears to have triggered something transcendent. None of us can put our finger on what exactly took place, but it’s still rippling, sending shockwaves of grief from a higher plane than our own.
Supernatural Revival
Many who’ve been feeling this collective grief aren’t even Christian — yet. As various commentators have noted, countless people from non-Christian backgrounds have felt a strong call to go to church and seek God after Kirk’s death. They say the line between good and evil has been made clear to them, and they want to get their lives right.
This is nothing other than a manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s conviction (John 16:8-11). In one of the many stories documented by Christian speaker Glen Scrivener, an atheist TikToker said three days after Kirk’s death, “Ever since he passed away … every time I see a video of him talking about his faith .. I .. bro … straight waterworks (crying), it’s almost hard to control … it doesn’t make any sense to me at all … so I got a Bible … and I guess this marks day one of me trying to read the Bible.”
These kinds of testimonies are being repeated en masse almost everywhere. Atheists, Muslims, and ex-Christians are all feeling the supernatural pull toward the God that Charlie Kirk worshiped. Could it be that his death is a real Turning Point for revival in a spiritually hungry world?
The momentum only heightened during his memorial, when Erika Kirk chose to publicly forgive her husband’s killer.
“My husband, Charlie. He wanted to save young men just like the one who took his life,” she said. “On the cross, our Savior said, ‘Father, forgive them for they not know what they do.’ That man. That young man. I forgive him.”
Her declaration has become a clarion call even for those within the Church to remember the pattern of Christ. Unconditional forgiveness in itself is something that can only come through knowing the supernatural love of Jesus.
God can choose to move when and where He pleases. He is sovereign, after all. But one thing that seems to be clear is that He is moving right now — and He’s using Charlie Kirk’s death as a medium to touch many lives. As the Church father Tertullian famously said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church,” and the killing of Charlie Kirk seems to be no exception. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen such an obvious and public display of God’s grace, but it’s here and the Church needs to be watching for what comes next.
Angelos Kyriakides is a husband, father, pastor, and apologist who lives in Southern Ontario, Canada. He holds a master’s degree in Theological Studies from Regent College and has a special focus on secularization, science, and faith. You can catch more of his content at www.therightstory.org
