Upon arriving home from meeting with a client, my wife sorrowfully informed me that Charlie Kirk had been shot and critically wounded at a speaking engagement in Utah. Later on, various reports began to filter in regarding his condition. As of this writing, it is unclear from conflicting reports if he has passed on to be with the Lord or is still in critical condition.1 As I checked several threads on Facebook, the nasty, vile, and evil comments from the Left have already begun. Those whose life style choices Charlie had attacked in his speeches are no doubt rejoicing right now. The principles for which Charlie stood are repulsive to them, and one of them finally snapped and decided to attack the one whom he hated.
I find it interesting how this morning’s Gospel reading in the Orthodox church so clearly ties in with what has happened today:
John 3 19 “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.“
Hates the light. Hate is a very strong word that describes deep and strong emotion. The emotion is so deep and so strong that the beloved apostle, John, said this: “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” 2 Hate is one small step and one presented opportunity away from murder, as we have seen today. The one who harbors hate in his heart cannot tolerate the existence of that thing or person that is hated, and will seek any opportunity to be rid of it.
The very first person to hate the light, as do the multitudes of non-Christian people who are rejoicing now at this act of violence, was Cain. God showed him the light of truth – “Your sacrifice is not acceptable unto me.” and Cain’s response was the prototype of all who would follow in their hatred of the light of God’s truth – violence and death. From the first act of violence committed by Cain, right up to today, the children of Cain have followed the bidding of their master, the devil. They hate the light because, as Christ said, their deeds are evil and they will tolerate no one rebuking them for their wicked acts. Charlie Kirk exposed the futility, the depravity, the utter wickedness of the children of Cain by simply stating what the Bible says regarding sin and our disordered passions that drive us to pursue these sins. This could not be tolerated by those who hate the light of God’s truth, so Charlie had to be silenced.
The person who shot Charlie Kirk belongs to a class of people described by Christ:
John 8 44 “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”
Secular history is filled with those who have chosen to be a child of the devil. Cain was the first one, even if he did not realize it at the time. If all the innocent blood they have shed, from the time of Cain up to this present moment, were to be somehow collected, it would be a mighty river. In the daily prayers of the Orthodox church there are troparia and kontakion prayers which celebrate the saint(s) of the day. Here is one of them, a saint who showed the light to a man who hated it and responded with typical Cain-like violence:
Martyr Sozon of Cilicia
Saint Sozon lived in the late III century. He was from Lykaonia in Cilicia, and originally his name was Tarasios. When he became a Christian, he was baptized and received the name Sozon. A shepherd by profession, he tried to imitate the meekness of the sheep, at which he marveled. “I am ashamed,” he said, “that I am inferior to sheep.”
He studied the Holy Scriptures attentively, and he also guided Christ‘s rational sheep to good pastures. One day, while watering his flock at a spring, Sozon fell asleep under an oak tree, where he had a vision which foretold his impending martyrdom for Christ. He was also informed that the spring would become a source of blessing and of healing for many, since it would be sanctified by God‘s grace. When he awakened, he entrusted his flock to another shepherd and journeyed to Pompeiopolis in Cilicia. Seeing what impiety there was in that city, his heart was profoundly grieved.
Entering one of the temples of the idolaters, he beheld a golden statue representing a pagan “god.” Then, with great courage, he broke off the statue‘s right hand with his shepherd‘s crook and smashed it into tiny pieces, which he distributed to the poor. This caused a great uproar in the city. Maximian, the governor of Cilicia, became very angry, and a search was made to find the culprit. Many innocent people were arrested and tortured in an attempt to force a confession from them.
When Saint Sozon heard about this, he could not permit others to suffer for something he had done. Therefore, he presented himself before the governor and responded to his threats in a calm manner, saying that the statue was not doing anyone much good inside the temple, and so he used the gold for the benefit of the poor.
Maximian asked the Saint how he dared to dishonor their “god” in such a way. Sozon replied, “I did this so that you might know that your ‘god’ is powerless. When I struck off his hand, he did not protest or make any attempt to stop me, nor did he cry out with pain. How could he? Your idol is deaf and dumb and without breath. It cannot see, hear, speak, or defend itself. If your ‘god’ was real, I would not have been permitted to break it.”
When Maximian heard these words, he ordered that Saint Sozon be tortured without mercy. He was suspended and his body was raked with iron claws. Then iron boots were nailed to the soles of his feet, and he was paraded through the city. Throughout his torments, he never ceased to glorify the Savior Christ. Once again he was suspended from a tree and beaten with iron rods, so that his body was mangled and his bones were broken. Amid such torture, the Saint surrendered his soul to God in the year 304.
This is the same sort of witness to light that Charlie Kirk gave. He spoke against the vain ideas of the world, and for that, one of the children of Cain killed him. And it appears that he will not be the last. As seen by the history of the Church, to tell the truth is to anger the children of Cain and bring their wrath upon you. But here is the thing: that will not change the truth nor stop us from telling it.
The sin you so cherish, you sons and daughters of Cain, will still be sin, and the Church will continue to speak against it. It will still be sin to have any sexual intercourse outside of the boundaries of marriage between one man and one woman for one lifetime. It will still be sin to grind the faces of the poor while amassing to yourself so much money that you could buy a small Third-World country. St. Paul lists the sins that will keep you out of the Kingdom of God and bring you into a deep and painful punishment for your wickedness: covetousness, lying, greed, lust for power, adultery, whoredom, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, strifes, emulations, wraths, rivalries, dissensions, sects, envyings, murders, drunkennesses, revellings, and such like . . . 3
From the beginning of the Church, right up to the time of Josef Stalin, millions and millions of believers have brought the light of the Gospel to the world – and have been violently killed because those children of Cain who love darkness did not want the light. Now Charlie Kirk has joined that great cloud of witnesses. Let us grieve for his wife and children, who lost a precious husband and father, but let it also be proclaimed from the rooftops that no matter how many of the light-bearers the children of Cain kill, sin will remain sin and the message will remain the same – Repent and turn to Christ for eternal life!
We will not be quiet!!
Muddling Through Life 