The Blood of the Martyrs: Charlie Kirk’s Witness and Movement | The American Spectator

“The blood of the martyrs,” said Tertullian, “is the seed of the Church.”

Charlie Kirk led a movement, a conservative movement, not a church. But after seeing the extraordinary reaction to his death, the striking religious statements he made in the final weeks and days and hours of his life, and, above all, the incredible statement of his widow Erika, it seems like Kirk’s movement was increasingly spiritual as well as political, and ultimately maybe more so.

I did not know Kirk, but I’ve observed him carefully over the years. I was struck by how he became more outspokenly religious, at times pushing in a spiritual direction more than perhaps an ideological one. It’s fascinating that just a few weeks ago Kirk was asked by a fellow young podcaster how he would like to be remembered one day. It was a strange statement to ask a 31-year-old who surely figured he had several more decades of life ahead. Kirk was taken aback but went straight to his faith.

“If everything completely goes away, how do you want to be remembered?” Kirk was asked at the end of the June 29 interview. A startled Kirk responded: “If I die?” He then said: “I want to be remembered for courage for my faith. That would be the most important thing. The most important thing is my faith.”

That’s a Christian faith that demands that followers be willing to carry their cross, all the way to their own calvary — to death.

The message of faith poured out of Kirk’s crushed widow, Erika, in an astonishing speech that she felt compelled to deliver on Friday evening, only two days after her beloved husband and father of two little girls was brutally murdered. They say that behind every strong man is a strong woman. Erika made that abundantly clear in an almost supernatural show of strength at that moment. And what dominated her message was the supernatural. She spoke of Charlie Kirk as a man of faith and as a martyr:

Two days ago, my husband, Charlie, went to see the face of his Savior and his God. Charlie always said that when he was gone, he wanted to be remembered for his courage and for his faith. One of the final conversations that he had on this earth, my husband witnessed for his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now and for all eternity, he will stand at his Savior’s side, wearing the glorious crown of a martyr.

The word “martyr” comes from the ancient Greek and means “testimony” or “witness.” Whittaker Chambers, in his epic book for the conservative movement, titled simply, Witness, underscored that point. Chambers was not merely a witness in the trial of Alger Hiss but to much deeper things related to the nation, the world, the cause, and truth itself. It’s interesting that Charlie Kirk increasingly spoke of truth — and of Truth Himself — in his testimonies and witness on college campuses.

He was shot and killed on campus doing what he always did, offering witness to truth as he believed it.

Erika Kirk said that one of Charlie’s favorite Bible verses was Ephesians 5:25: “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” Of this, Erika added: “My husband laid down his life for me, for our nation, for our children.”

While thinking of Kirk’s murder these last few days, I’ve found myself likewise quoting Ephesians, but not 5:25. My go-to verse has been Ephesians 6:12: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

That is what Charlie Kirk was fighting against and what killed him. What violently struck him down goes beyond the political and the ideological. It was spiritual wickedness at work — the darkness of this world. Evil. That unspeakably brutal act against his body on Wednesday afternoon — so ghastly that the image is traumatizing to those who saw it on video let alone in person — was not merely the doing of a twisted 22-year-old assassin. It was the work of the Devil. And Charlie’s wife understands that.

“Our world is filled with evil,” said Erika. “Our battle is not simply a political one above all. It is spiritual. It is spiritual. The spiritual warfare is palpable.”

It sure is. It has been for a long time. One of my favorite sections from the Catechism of the Catholic Church is this one (409): “The whole of man’s history has been the story of dour combat with the powers of evil, stretching, so our Lord tells us, from the very dawn of history until the last day. Finding himself in the midst of the battlefield, man has to struggle to do what is right, and often at great personal cost to himself.”

Charlie Kirk’s struggle on that battlefield doing what he felt was right came at the greatest personal cost to himself. It cost him his life. As for those powers of evil, we have been at war with them since the dawn of history. And lately, it feels more palpable, especially with the recent string of vicious assaults, from the demonic attack on the Catholic school in Minneapolis to the beastly stabbing of the Ukrainian girl on the train in Charlotte to the savagery of the Kirk shooter.

The eloquent and impressive governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, observed at the Friday morning press conference announcing the shooter’s arrest that we are in a period of “darkness,” with the only question being whether we’re at the beginning or end.

I would hasten to add that we’ve been in it for a very long time, and it will continue until the last day. But lately, yes, you can really feel it. It is very palpable.

As for the role of Charlie Kirk’s witness in all of this, his wife made this powerful promise:

The evildoers responsible for my husband’s assassination have no idea what they have done. They killed Charlie because he preached a message of patriotism, faith, and of God’s merciful love. They should all know this. If you thought that my husband’s mission was powerful before, you have no idea. You have no idea what you just have unleashed across this entire country and this world. You have no idea. You have no idea the fire that you have ignited within this wife. The cries of this widow will echo around the world like a battle cry.

To everyone listening tonight across America, the movement my husband built will not die. It won’t. I refuse to let that happen. It will not die. All of us will refuse to let that happen. No one will ever forget my husband’s name, and I will make sure of it. It will become stronger, bolder, louder, and greater than ever. My husband’s mission will not end.

Charlie, I promise I will never let your legacy die, baby. I promise I’ll make Turning Point USA the biggest thing that this nation has ever seen. I promise.

The blood of this martyr may well inspire and unleash a movement far bigger than Charlie Kirk’s evil shooter — or any of us — could have imagined.

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