When a Faithful Witness is Killed — A Biblical Response to the Charlie Kirk Assassination
This isn’t a eulogy of Charlie Kirk. The people closest to him are already doing that in profoundly beautiful and poignant ways. It’s also not a call for political or cultural change to save our civil society, though God knows we need both. No, this post is a call to God’s people—hopefully a clarion call—to hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church in this moment. Because watershed moments require watershed responses.
It’s been ten days since that dark afternoon at Utah Valley University, and America is still mourning the assassination of Charlie Kirk in diverse ways. So much has already been felt and said in the grieving process. Much remains to be processed.
Like many of you, Charlie’s murder impacted me deeply—far more deeply than logic would dictate. I typically don’t talk politics outside of my home. Don’t get me wrong—I believe political engagement is an essential element of being salt and light to the world. But my personal passion is to spend my words on turning people toward the face of Jesus Christ, so I’m happy to let others carry the political torch. At the same time, I’ve followed Charlie’s work closely for many years and respected him greatly. I never met him, yet, for some reason, this loss aches deep down in my bone marrow—a godly sorrow of spirit that feels both heavy and holy, as if God has drawn close to weep and comfort and instruct His people. And it is vital that we clearly discern those instructions—that we have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church in this hour.
I believe our response in this season will affect the destiny of an entire generation. The stakes are unimaginably high. Fortunately, God knew this in advance. He saw this moment in history long ago, and He embedded the exact wisdom we need in the book of Revelation. Not just in timeless proverbs or loosely-related truth-statements that can be easily missed or missapplied. No, Jesus Christ described a scenario in His letter to the church in Pergamum that closely parallels our present predicament. And as with Pergamum, He explained exactly how He wants us to overcome.
Please here me well: I’m not saying that Charlie Kirk’s murder was specifically prophesied in Scripture. But I am saying that the precise alignment between our situation and the letter to the church in Pergamum is God-ordained so that we can recognize the immensity of the moment and have the wisdom to respond appropriately. In many ways, it is a letter to us, full of encouragement and rebuke, sobriety and hope, and it offers us a path through our present darkness toward a divine encounter with the revelation of Jesus Christ.
With that in mind, let’s dive into Christ’s letter to Pergamum:
“And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.
“‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’
—Revelation 2:12-17
My Faithful Witness
I’m sure you can immediately see at least some of the ways this exhortation applies to us, but allow me to unpack a few of the parallels. There are certain keys we need to understand to clearly hear the Spirit’s message. The most important key of all is “the sharp two-edged sword” of Christ’s mouth. After all, that is how Christ introduced Himself to Pergamum. But we’ll circle back around to that shortly.
First, think of Charlie Kirk as similar to Antipas, Christ’s faithful witness who was killed in Pergamum. Far more than just some political activist or talking-head, Charlie was a faithful witness for Christ, both in word and deed. It was absolutely true during his life, and it may be even more true now, as millions of people around the world are discovering for the first time the authentic faith of Charlie Kirk.
Second, think about how Pergamum dwelled “where Satan’s throne is,” and how Antipas was killed among them, “where Satan dwells.” Likewise, Charlie was martyred in front of his supporters on the campus of an American university, which, one could argue, represents the seat and the source of so many of Satan’s lies in our country. It is certainly the current seat of the marxist and trans ideologies that are radicalizing so many young people.
I’m not saying that Utah Valley University is “where Satan’s throne is,” but rather that Satan—the father of lies and the accuser of the brethren—has specifically coopted the American university system to spread the seeds of his rabid antichrist, anti-christian, anti-Israel propaganda into the hearts of an entire generation.
Ancient Balaam and Balak
Third, think about “the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel.” Who was Balaam? Who was Balak? And what stumbling blocks did they put before the sons of Israel?
The story of Balaam and Balak is found in the book of Numbers chapters 22 through 25 (with a follow-up in Numbers 31). It happened at the end of Israel’s forty year wilderness wandering. As the vast host of Israel left the wilderness and camped on the plains of Moab in preparation for entering Canaan, Balak (King of Moab) hired Balaam (a pagan soothsayer) to curse Israel. The planned curse was Balak’s desparate attempt to preempt a war (which he knew his armies would lose) and to prevent Israel from entering their promised land.
The curse against Israel never happened. In one of the more bizarre stories in Scripture, God intervened in some surprising ways (including a talking donkey!) to continually block Balaam from uttering his intended curse and receiving his payday. And that’s when Balaam hatched a more devious alternative plan. If he couldn’t curse Israel directly, Balaam realized his best strategy was to tempt Israel into such heinous sin that the God of Israel Himself would curse them. As Christ described it in His letter to Pergamum, Balaam “taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.”
Balaam’s plan was simple and effective. He instructed Balak to tempt the sons of Israel into sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab and Midian. Once the Israelites took the bait, the midianite woman convinced them to attend their pagan festivals, bow to their false gods, eat the food sacrificed to their idols, and participate in all manner of pagan sexual debauchery.
The scheme almost worked. God was so furious at Israel’s sin that He sent a plague that would have wiped out the sons of Israel, if not for a faithful priest named Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron. Phinehas appropriately expressed God’s jealousy by thrusting a spear through one of Israel’s chief idolaters who had brazenly flaunted his perversion with a Midianite princess in the middle of the camp. The courage and zeal of Phinehas satisfied God’s wrath and ended the plague.
All of those story points have direct (and hopefully obvious) parallels to both Pergamum and our contemporary situation, but I’ll leave most of the details for you to reason out on your own. However, before we move on to the larger point, please remember the apostle Paul’s exhortation, especially as you meditate on the zeal of Phinehas and how it applies to us today:
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
—Ephesians 6:12
and again…
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
—2 Corinthians 10:4-5
So our fight is not against people...not even those people who have been twisted by the defilements belching out of Satan’s throne. Our war is against the spiritual forces that have enslaved them. And our weapons are not physical. We fight with prayer and words and ideas that demolish arguments and every lofty thought raised up against the knowledge of Christ. We combine spiritual thoughts with spiritual words (see 1 Corintihans 2:13). We combat evil ideas with divine ideas. And we do so only in a spirit of gentleness and humility. Charlie Kirk understood and demonstrated this truth.
Contemporary Stumbling Blocks
Christ rebuked Pergamum because they had “some there who hold the teaching of Balaam.” That is, some who embraced a brazen, even militant form of immorality. He also mentioned “some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.” We know from church history that the Nicolaitans were a heretical sect of gnostic Christians in the early church who believed that a Christian’s freedom set them above the requirements of any moral law. The Nicolaitans viewed the profession of faith as everything and placed no significance on the acts of the body or the attitudes of the soul. They accepted the practice of all manner of moral and sexual perversion because, to them, these things had no eternal significance. They were the softer, less militant form of Balaam’s teaching. They passively accepted debauchery because they believed the grace of God overlooked such things. And although Christ loved the Nicolaitans as He does all people, He unequivocally hated their deeds (see Revelation 2:6).
So Pergamum had some who embraced Balaam’s error and some who embraced the Nicolaitans’ error. But only some. Presumably the majority of the Pergamum church embraced neither. But notice Christ’s challenge: “Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.” In other words, although only some in Pergamum participated in the sexual perversion taught by Balaam and the Nicolaitans, Christ rebuked the whole church for allowing such error to continue in their midst. They went along to get along. Perhaps they were too afraid to offend. Or they feared losing their influence in the culture. Or perhaps, after seeing the fate of Antipas, they were too afraid to confront the evil spewing from the throne of Satan.
In any case, notice that the call to repentence was directed at the whole church (“I will come to you…”), but the promised discipline if the tolerant majority did not repent for their silence was only directed at the those who embraced the perversion (“and war against them….). In other words, if the faithful majority did not arise in courage (like Phinehas) and directly confront the sin in their midst, then severe judgment would come against those who had fallen into the Balaam/Nicolaitian error. In that way, the eternal destiny of those trapped in perversion was largely in the hands of the Pergamum faithful, and God was challenging them to take responsibility by boldly speaking the truth of His righteous standard.
The Sharp Two-Edged Sword of Christ
This is the most important part of the message. Jesus was essentially challenging the church of Pergamum to exercise the sharp two-edged sword of His mouth. Not in a spirit of hatred against the sinners, but in an uncompromising combination of truth and love. He was calling them to wage a battle of ideas—to demolish arguments and every rebellious thought that raises itself against the knowledge of Christ. Pergamum was weak in that area, but Christ was inviting them to embrace the sharp two-edged sword of His mouth and become strong … because they would need that Christ-like maturity in the days ahead.
So what is the sharp two-edged sword? The writer of Hebrews explained it this way:
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
—Hebrews 4:12-13
This entire passage revolves around the ability of the Word of God to judge righteously. He doesn’t judge based on outward appearances. His Word exposes the deep things that are below the surface. It uncovers the heart of the matter. It reveals the root. Nothing is hidden from His sight.
Righteous judgment requires an unchanging righteous standard against which all things are consistently measured. Jesus is that righteous standard. The principles of His character were sewn (and sown) into the fabric of reality at the dawn of creation and then fully revealed and proven in the incarnated Christ. He will measure everything against Himself when He returns because everything was designed to come into alignment with Him. The sword of His Word will first expose and then judge the heart of all things against the principles of His character.
Do Not Judge!
But what is our responsibility when it comes to the sharp two-edged sword? After all, the sword is the Word of God, and it is in the mouth of Christ—surely we are not called to use the sword to judge others, right? Aren’t we called to just speak a gospel of love and allow God to do the judging? After all, didn’t Christ command us not to judge lest we be judged?
No, that is not at all what Christ taught! And it certainly isn’t what He practiced.
The concept that Christians should not judge sin is directly inline with the heresy of the Nicolaitans. And as with Pergamum, this lie has both weakened the contemporary church and empowered the darkness on our watch. Here is what Christ actually taught, in context:
Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
—Matthew 7:1-5
Jesus wasn’t commanding us not to judge. It is not Christ-like love to blindly accept everyone as they are and leave the judging to God. If we leave the judging to God, then we are essentially abandoning people to their eternal judgment at the end of the age.
On the contrary, Jesus was commanding us to be careful how we judge. If our judgments are unrighteous, then we should not judge, because we will also be judged for judging unrighteously. But the whole point is that we are supposed to remove the log from our own eye so that we can help our brother remove his speck. In other words, we need to embrace the two-edged sword in our own hearts, because then we can see Jesus more clearly, and only then can we help others do the same. And by starting with the log in our own eye, we learn the gentleness and humility necessary to help others judge themselves righteously as well.
That’s why Christ rebuked the silent faithful in Pergamum. They needed to remove the log in their own eye. They needed to recognize their own passive silence and lack of zeal for God’s righteous character so that they could effectively speak the truth in love to those who were in danger of being cut off from Christ:
Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.
—Romans 11:22
The kindness and severity of God. Make no mistake, it is more akin to cowardice than compassion when we know the Truth but refuse to mention the speck in our brother’s eye because we don’t want to offend. After all, the two-edged sword of God’s Word is our primary weapon for tearing down strongholds and demolishing lofty arguments that raise themselves up against the knowledge of Christ—first in ourselves, and then in others.
Obviously, judging righteously is not the same as being judgmental. Neither does it give us license to be intolerant and argumentative about non-essential doctrines. We should always look to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace (see Ephesians 4:3), and a gentle and humble heart are core characteristics of Christ (see Matthew 11:29). But the kinds of brazen wickedness and twisting of God’s nature described in the letter to Pergamum cannot be ignored. Neither can the wickedness that is running rampant in our present culture. Rather, in a spirit of understanding, it must be confronted for the sake of those trapped in its web. Such wickedness seperates people from God and keeps them from the godly sorrow that leads to repentance, salvation, sanctification, and wholeness (see 2 Corinthians 7:10). How can anyone ever repent if they never learn that they need to repent?
That’s why Jesus forestalled his eternal judgment against the perversion in Pergamum. He was waiting for the faithful to step up and call people to repentenace. I believe we are in the same boat, presented with the same responsibilities and opportunities.
Perhaps Christ trusted Pergamum with this task because they already had empathy and sympathy for those caught in sin. After all, they lived where Satan dwelled. They had compassion for those caught in the flood of lies and filth. But He wanted them to take that compassion and let it motivate them to speak the truth. To judge righteously. To embrace both the kindness and severity of God. If they would deal with the log that was in their eye—that is, whatever combination of false doctrines and misunderstandings of Christ’s character that kept them from boldly confronting the evil of their times—then they had the opportunity to lead many to repentence and salvation from eternal judgment.
The Hidden Manna
Finally, notice the incredible rewards that Christ promised to those in Pergamum who overcame these challenges. The promises apply to us as well:
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.
—Revelation 2:17
There were two rewards. One for the otherwise-faithful who had passively tolerated the perversions in their midst, and one for those who repented for practicing such perversions.
The hidden manna speaks of new revelation about Christ’s character.
In John 6:32-35, Jesus called Himself “the living bread that comes down out of heaven.” It was a direct allusion to the Old Testament manna that fed the children of Israel during their wilderness wanderings. Part of what Christ meant is that if we chew on His words, ruminate on His actions, mediate on His character, and commune with Him in prayer, we will receive spiritual sustainance from the manna of heaven. And like bread to the human body, the consumption process causes the nutrients of His life to be absorbed, distributed, and assimilated throughout our being.
Furthermore, Hebrews 9:4 speaks of a golden jar of manna that was placed inside (or possibly next to) the ark of the covenant in the Tabernacle of Moses. As such, it was hidden in the Holy of Holies and unavailable to most Israelites.
So let’s drive this home clearly. During this season, Jesus Christ is highlighting certain logs in our eyes—particularly, the false ideas about the nature of His sharp two-edged sword. These logs have kept us from seeing Him as He really is rather than as we wish Him to be. And He is offering an amazing reward to us if we embrace the discomfort necessary to remove our own logs so that we can see clearly enough to accurately judge the perversions that have entangled so many. And that reward is an experiential, transformational, deeper knowledge of Christ that we could not receive otherwise.
The White Stone
On the other hand, a white stone is very fitting for those who turn away from the sexual perversion of the day.
Scholars tell us that the original city of Pergamum was one of many centers for judicial proceedings in the ancient Roman empire. And in Roman courts of law, a white stone was sometimes presented to a defendant when they received a verdict of innocence. The white stone signified the absolution of their guilt.
In the same way, when Jesus offered a white stone with a new name written on it, He was offering complete pardon and newness of life to those who had practiced the abominations of Balaam and the Nicolaitans. If they repented and embraced the sharp two-edged sword of His Word, then their destiny would no longer be tied to the defiled names of Balaam and the Nicolaitans. The white stone was His righteousness imputed to them.
Moreover, the offer of a new name written on the white stone is especially significant for those caught in today’s perversions.
The new name not only represents the wiping out of their old reputation, but also of the defilements that they had formerly embraced as their false identity. Instead of self-identifying with a rebellious perversion of God’s nature, they would receive a new identity and a new nature—one wholy inline with God’s design for them. A new name that would bring true fulfillment and become an unassailable cornerstone of intimacy between them and God.
A Worthy Response?
I don’t know about you, but I feel strongly that these promised rewards are worth fighting for! Not just for ourselves, but especially for those trapped in sin.
Charlie Kirk, one of Christ’s faithful witnesses, has passed into eternity, and now the voice of the Spirit of God reverberates loudly in our hearts. Charlie wasn’t perfect, but his life exemplified so many of the principles that God is presently calling us to embrace. Will we welcome the sharp two-edged sword into our own lives? Like Charlie, will we respond with the courage and zeal of Phinehas to confront the darkness in ourselves and others?
Who knows if our response won’t turn the tide for an entire generation?!
Many of the topics covered in this post were adapted from a deeper discussion of Christ’s letter to Pergamum found in my latest book, Come Up Here: The Unveiling of Jesus Christ, published earlier this year. If you are interested in exploring Christ’s letters to the seven churches from a truly unique and transformational perspective, please visit my online store: https://www.theunveiling.org/shop/p/come-up-here
Blessings in Christ,
Micah Paul Gaylor
