Revival or Reaction? Discernment in the Wake of Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS
In this thoughtful and sobering reflection, I examine the spiritual implications of blending politics with ecumenical religion. Drawing historical parallels to past movements like the Moral Majority, I question whether the current surge of enthusiasm is rooted in biblical faith or emotional nationalism. With contributions from voices like Pastor Don Green and Jess at “Anchor for the Soul,” the piece warns of the dangers of Christian Nationalism, theological compromise, and spiritual confusion in emotionally charged moments. Readers are called to rejoice when the Gospel is preached, yet test all things by Scripture.
This is not a critique of mourning or conviction—it is a call to clarity. Revival is not measured by crowds, political energy, or emotional response, but by repentance, obedience, and fruit that remains.
A well-known conservative speaker, husband, father of two was shot and killed before a live audience. His shooting was caught on video and then broadcast instantly around the world.
I’m speaking of course of Charlie Kirk.
The country’s reaction to this heinous crime was horror, shock, and outrage. It was channeled appropriately into vigils, songs, prayers, and peaceful gatherings. The President of the United States and other luminaries attended the man’s memorial, which apparently contained gospel proclamations. Many speakers lauded Kirk’s Gospel work and shared the Gospel live, which was broadcast around the world. Older videos of the man’s labors on both the political and the religious side of his organization popped up more than ever. Some even dared to call him a prophet, apostle, and martyr.
The man’s political-religious organization received tens of thousands of requests for new TPUSA chapters to open on college campuses all around the country. A groundswell formed that only grew. Many called it “revival.”
But is it? Should it be?
Anytime we suffer or lose for a cause, our perceived value of that cause increases exponentially. And we see this in the real world all the time. In fraternity or sorority hazing initiations, in military boot camps, even in tribal rituals,” says this behavioral-sociology-psychologist.
Any time there is an outpouring of emotion combined with religion, discernment can become a casualty. I am grateful for many things regarding Charlie Kirk; his fatherhood and husbandly life, his commitment to conservative values, his way of reaching out to young adults, and his growth in the gospel, but there are cautions too.
A political movement with heavy religious overtones? Or a revival that began in politics?
We read in The Economist: “Perhaps more striking than the president’s rally speech at a memorial for a murdered man was the total entwinement of evangelicalism and Republican politics. This is not a new trend: evangelicals are more reliably Republican than any other religious group, according to Pew Research Centre. … The antidote, nearly every speaker suggested, is a coming religious revival. Spreading the Gospel was in the air.“
That’s how a secular magazine sees this situation of the killing of Charlie Kirk and the aftermath. How do I see it? First, a trip down memory lane. Please take a moment to read the next few paragraphs summarizing a certain organization…
“Following a series of “I Love America” rallies, the organization’s leader and a group of conservative strategists officially founded it”.
“The organization was ecumenical, actively recruiting from a diverse range of conservative religious groups, including fundamentalists, evangelicals, Catholics, and Jews, to create a large voting bloc.”
“They campaigned on a socially conservative platform that included:
–Promoting prayer in public schools.
–Advocating for traditional family structures.
–Taking a pro-defense stance in foreign policy.
–Limited government, regarding social programs and federal involvement in education and welfare”
“At its peak, the organization claimed millions of members and mobilized conservative voters through television broadcasts, direct-mail campaigns, and voter registration drives. Their efforts brought religion back into the center of public political debate.”
What is the organization spoken of in this synopsis? TPUSA? Nope. Moral Majority, 1980-1989. It was a crusade/political groundswell/faith-based organization/movement that briefly lived then died.
I lived through it. Mixing politics and ecumenical religion does not work – for religion. It might have a temporary effect on politics. But sinners gonna sin and pagans gonna pāg. A political movement based on a moral overlay is just that, an overlay. Only the church with its members proclaiming the Gospel will break stony, sinning hearts and allow the Gospel seed to be planted there.
When we saw the lineup of the speakers at the upcoming TPUSA tour, I warned about an encroaching ecumenism on Facebook, and several others did too. Pastor Don Green of Truth Community Church was to my knowledge the first to issue a gentle warning to be discerning in this heated emotional moment. Don Green wrote-
According to a post on X today, Turning Point USA has released its upcoming tour schedule. Am I allowed as a Christian pastor to point out the tour features, according to a Google search:
1. A practicing Catholic (Michael Knowles);
2. A practicing Mormon (Glenn Beck); and
3. A practicing Hindu (Vivek Ramaswamy)?
I didn’t bother to look further. Those of us who give our lives to protect and proclaim the purity of the gospel of justification by faith alone in Christ alone based on the Scripture alone, are about to again become inconvenient irritants in popular culture and in broad swaths of the church itself.
But that’s the way it goes. This is not about Charlie Kirk. If you claim a biblical, Christian witness, you cannot platform false religion. One can’t have it both ways, and I can’t be silent. I have a Lord to serve, a gospel to preach, and a flock to protect. It is mandatory for true Christians not to look away from this. God help us all.
I and others received the pushback we expected. It almost uniformly included the statement that ‘TPUSA is a political organization, so who cares if a spectrum of speakers from different religions form a political coalition? It’s not a church’.
Pastor Don Green replied to that kind of comment:
I say gently to the friends who differ with me: the coverage of the assassination has leaned heavily into Charlie’s testimony of faith in Christ. So did the memorial. J. D. Vance called him “a martyr for the Christian faith,” for example.
I know you mean well and have an honest difference of perspective from me. But it is disingenuous, perhaps unintentionally, to suggest that TPUSA is only a political organization when biblical discernment becomes inconvenient. It is naive at best to point to their online purpose statement to quell my post. The reality goes beyond that.
Everyone has leaned into the faith angle of Charlie’s death. That has consequences. It’s too late to highlight his testimony and simultaneously say whom TPUSA platforms has no implications for the purity of the gospel. It does have implications. You cannot have it both ways. And it’s legitimate for a pastor like me to point it out.
It’s true, you can’t have it both ways. As Don Green said, the TPUSA tour includes a Catholic, a Mormon, and a Hindu. They will tour campuses where impressionable youth live. They will, together, promote their agenda, which is both political and religious. (TPUSA also has an arm of their organization called TPUSA Faith).
Jess at Anchor for the Soul wrote about this emotional moment. I agree with her assessment-
I watched Charlie Kirk’s memorial service on Sunday along with millions of other people around the world. A quick scroll through social media in the hours afterward revealed almost entirely positive responses. “God is at work!” “The Holy Spirit is on the move!” “Revival has come!” “This is a turning point in our country!” “Jesus is winning!”
The few people that dare to question or raise red flags about what they saw on Sunday are criticized and demonized. “Just be happy the gospel was preached and be quiet!” I’m here to say that, contrary to what everyone is saying, our call as Christians is to rejoice when the gospel is preached while also testing all things by God’s Word. We can be both grateful that the gospel was shared while also being concerned about the unbiblical elements of the service and where they might lead people. We can be praying that true seeds were planted while also raising red flags and warning people about what was concerning. Two things can be true at once.
I want to preface this by saying that only God knows hearts. This is not a judgment of individual people or a speculation of their motives or genuineness. This is simply a call to step back and look at the bigger picture. What is being said? What is being promoted? Where might this lead? Is it Biblical?
𝐄𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐦
I’ve been saying for a long time that everyone and everything is leading us toward ecumenism. This service was no exception. The gospel was preached by Catholics, Mormons, and Protestants alike. And so while we can be thankful it was preached, we can also be concerned in the way in which this will ultimately further the ecumenical agenda. It’s a call to tear down the doctrinal divides and unite for the cause of morality, conservatism, and redeeming the culture. Charlie Kirk was a big proponent of this.
𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦
I also watched them present the christian life as a fight for the culture and for America rather than a pursuit of obedience, holiness, purity, and honoring the Lord in all that we do. Christian Nationalism was prevalent along with the ideologies of dominionism, NAR, and the 7 mountain mandate. I watched as many speakers used the gospel as an on-ramp to political zeal rather than an invitation for a transformed life that trusts and obeys all of God’s Word. I’ve seen them change the definition of our spiritual battle against sin to a spiritual battle against left, woke, and liberal ideologies. That’s not our battle. Few people will agree with me but Christian Nationalism is not Biblical. The Bible tells us to fix our eyes on eternity, not this earth. It tells us we are sojourners and pilgrims. This isn’t to say we don’t stand up for what is right or that God doesn’t care what happens in the political realm or that executing justice and morality within the government is a bad thing. It is to say that our call as Christians is not— and never has been— to effect wide-scale political and social change, to create a Christian nation, or to seek dominion over the various spheres of life on earth. Turning Point would tell you otherwise.
It surprises me to see so many people who previously spoke out against the NAR, Dominionism, Christian Nationalism, and the Ecumenical agenda speak nothing but praise, admiration, and support for these things in the past few weeks.
𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦
We can’t call something a revival before we see the fruit of that so-called revival. The fruit of true revival is not more conservatives, more republicans, more church-goers or wide-scale cultural change. It’s truly transformed people who walk in the truth and obey it. Let’s also remember that the Bible tells us that we are to be looking for an apostasy and a great falling away before His return— not a great revival. The way is narrow and will always be unpopular. You might say that sounds pessimistic, but we don’t get choose to believe or not believe something just because we don’t like it. I’m not saying this isn’t revival. God can certainly bring revival if He chooses to but let’s remember it will always be based on God’s Word (not an emotional experience) and will always result in the fruit of true, Biblical faith. It will take some time before anyone can presume true revival is taking place.
It doesn’t make you a pessimist, a black piller, or a horrible person who’s against the Lord’s work to recognize these red flags or question the things we’re seeing.
We must realize that Satan can, and often does, use what feels and looks good to further his own agenda. He appears as an angel of light after all. That’s why we must compare even what seems good to the Bible. It’s not true that the whole service was honoring to God just because the gospel was shared. Will God use it to draw people to Himself? Absolutely. Does that negate the fact that Satan can also use it to further his evil plan? Absolutely not.
And so we recognize the danger in furthering the ideologies of Christian nationalism and the ecumenical agenda and Satan’s end goal while also rejoicing that the gospel was shared. We pray that there were genuine conversions and that those people grow in their faith while also praying that they aren’t led into greater deception. We use this opportunity to share the truth of God’s Word with people who are seeking and also to warn people about the unbiblical beliefs that are becoming so prevalent.
I’d rather get on here and join in with all the other voices and have nothing but good to say about Charlie Kirk and the memorial service on Sunday. More likes, more followers, more accolades, more inclusion. But I can’t because it would betray God’s truth. And if you feel the same way as me and felt a check in your spirit yesterday rather than having tears of joy, know that you’re not alone. It feels a little bit like being on an island all by yourself. But let’s pray that we stand firm on God’s Word, even if we truly are the last person on earth to do so.
There will be people who pooh-pooh the discerners who say “be careful”, or “wait and watch”. People like to mock discerners. But these kind of situations where biblical words enter the cultural milieu spark good faith biblical discussions. We’ve seen discussions about the nature of forgiveness, repentance, gospel elements, and so on. I am glad these biblical words enter the cultural and that biblical discussions occur over their meaning. But mocking the cautions and the people who issue them, as some semi-famous people have started to do, no, that is never helpful.
One thing Charlie Kirk was, was brave. He did not fear man, he only wanted to honor Christ. He persevered until the Lord called him home. Faithful sisters, go on in seeking the Lord and asking for discernment and clarity.
Don’t allow emotions to overrule the honor of the Lord. The ‘Asbury Revival’ did not turn out to be one. Many celebrity conversions proved to be false. The Promise Keepers was described as “one of the fastest-growing religious revivals in American history” and over a half a million men marched to Washington DC in 1997, but only months later, the organization collapsed financially and laid off its entire staff. The Moral Majority eventually disbanded due to persistent scandals by its leaders.
WAIT. WATCH. DISCERN. All I’m saying is-
Unless the LORD builds a house, They who build it labor in vain; Unless the LORD guards a city, The watchman stays awake in vain. (Psalm 127:1).
Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And do not lean on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5).
Further Resources
This past June, I critiqued TPUSA Young Women’s Leadership Summit, which offered contradictory messages beteeen the words and the actions of the female speakers. The Young Women’s Leadership Summit “aims to bring together thousands of conservative women who share values centered on faith, family, country, and well-being.” Politics AND faith are interwtined. TPUSA is not solely a political organization. [emphasis mine]
