The Best of Us

George Orwell, once said, “in a time of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act.” We are living in a time of universal deceit, and Charlie Kirk was a truth-teller. And because he told the truth, he was killed yesterday. Robert Kennedy Jr said, “Once again, a bullet has silenced the most eloquent truth teller of an era.” RFK Jr is right. Charlie Kirk told the truth unabashedly, and the left didn’t like him because he told the truth because the left depends solely on people believing their lies.

Charlie loved his wife, he loved his children, he loved his country, and most of all he loved God, and he was willing to not only risk his life but laid down his life for who and what he loved. There are so few people in this world who are like him. And definitely so few people in the political arena who are like him. Most of our politicians love power, and money, and fame more than they love the country or the people they serve or God or even their family. Charlie did everything that he did for those whom he loved, and he died because of it, he died because the people who hate God and hate this country and hate those of us who love our families, our country and God, needed him to die.

Some people have suggested that Charlie Kirk got what he deserved because of his rhetoric. MSNBC’s Katy Tur, minutes after his death, called Charlie Kirk a “divisive figure, polarizing, lightning rod”. MSNBC’s Chris Dowd pointed the finger at Charlie Kirk when he said, “you can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have, and then saying these awful words, and then not expect awful actions to take place.” A beat writer for NBA’s Pheonix Suns Gerald Bourguet called Kirk, an “evil man” who spews “hateful rhetoric.” In other words, Charlie Kirk got what he deserved because he said things that they did not like or agree with.

Let’s take a look at some of the rhetoric that the people on the left have deemed divisive, awful, and hateful. When asked, how he would want to be remembered, Charlie Kirk said, “I want to be remembered for courage for my faith, that would be the most important thing, most important thing is my faith in my life.” Charlie was a man of God. He was a man of strong faith and conviction for what he believed. He was willing speak out about the importance of God in his life, even to the most ardent atheist.

At one of his rallies, he was asked by a young man how he can improve his life and become a man, and Charlie responded, “you got to read the bible every day, and finally if you want to get closer to God, stop doing sinful things… People say, ‘well I’m not close to God. I was up till 3 AM drinking and I have been doing weed all day long and watching pornography and eating whatever I want to eat. The flesh dulls the spirit from getting closer to the almighty… if it makes you feel good in an instant, it is probably bad for you… the most masculine thing you can do is stand up against the injustice and suffering of others… we men are not called to sleep with a hundred different women. That’s B.S. Find one woman for your life, take her as your wife, and have a family with that person.” That’s real divisive and hateful rhetoric, there.

In a campus debate on abortion, Charlie was very clear where he stood. He said, “We allow the massacre of a million and a half babies a year under the guise of women's reproductive health. We are allowing babies to be taken away and discarded every single year, just saying they are not humans… You are using dehumanizing language, saying ‘ohh it's an embryo’; no, that's a baby, made in the image of god, deserving protection. It is never right to justify the mass termination of people under the guise of saying that they are unwanted. That's how we get Auschwitz, that's how we got the greatest horror of the 20th century.” All of this is what the left hated about Charlie Kirk. Everything the left has promoted for the last 50 years – promiscuous sex, the drug culture, abortion, anti-family, anti-God – Charlie stood against.

Charlie was willing to point out where people went wrong in their lives, when they made poor life decisions. And to the left who worships at the altar of tolerance, Charlie was hateful and evil because he was not afraid to call a sin, ‘a sin’. And in a world that is addicted to sin, those who stand against sin appear hateful, appear mean. Those who tell the truth about man’s sinful nature will be targeted. Jesus spoke out against sin. He called for repentance from sin. He came to save the world from sin. The Gospel of Matthew says, “She [Mary] will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him at the Jordon River, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Through his ministry on Earth, Jesus exposed the sinfulness of the Pharisees, and the political leaders, and that was why he had to be crucified.

Sin destroys the self, sin destroys the soul, and that is why the left needs people to be embroiled in sin. Destroyed people with destroyed souls are easier to control, easier to bend to their wills. Placate the people from the misery that leftism has brought with drugs, alcohol, sex, pornography. Free them from life’s responsibilities with no-fault divorces and quickie abortions. It wasn’t Charlie’s political positions that made him a target for assassination, it was his moral positions. Culturally and morally, Charlie stood against everything that the left stands for. He was the best of us, and that is why he was killed. But now, he walks with Jesus on roads paved in gold – two truth-tellers, who tried to save the world from its sinful nature, gone way too soon.

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Mr. Garrett is a graduate of Princeton University, and a former NFL player, coach, and executive. He has been a contributor to the website Real Clear Politics. He has recently published his first novel, No Wind.