On the night of September 9, 2025, as the sun went to sleep over America, so did things as we knew them. It was impossible to predict the change that awaited the next day. The evil that would reveal itself, the incivility that would ensue, and the heartache that would envelop the country.

The assassination of Charlie Kirk was far more than just the ending of a great man’s life. It exposed the underbelly of a deep division that had poisoned our nation —and continues to —and the gaping hole left without the young dad of two. 

Charlie was humble. He was completely grounded and steeped in biblical truth. His main and only objective was the truth. But not his truth, or even the truth of the conservative movement. God’s Truth. 

I still remember the exact moment I learned that Charlie Kirk had been shot, and the exact moment I found out he had died. I think almost everyone in my generation does. 

I’m 22 years old. I was in my senior year of college when the tragedy of Charlie’s murder occurred. People my age, and many of the people in my generation, Generation Z, were not alive on September 11, 2001. While we have heard about it our entire lives, and are impacted by it, we did not live through it and weren’t there to experience it. Growing up, I wondered what it must have been like to be alive on that day. To witness a tragedy so extreme, that it feels as though the country’s collective air supply had been cut off,stopping people in their tracks. Now I have some idea. I wish I didn’t. 

It’s hard to find the right words to explain what Charlie meant to the young people of today. As our millennial elder (but not that much older), he was a true role model to us. He inspired us to face the hard questions, attack them head on, and stand up for what we believe in. He never shied away from engaging in dialogue with anyone; he taught us what it means to defend our convictions. I don’t think I’m the only one who feels a little lost without Charlie as a guiding voice and light in the political and cultural climate of today.

Earlier today, “Culture Apothecary” podcast host and employee of Turning Point USA, Alex Clark, posted on social media to share her thoughts from when her boss died: “I knew immediately that America, and the conservative movement as a whole, would never be the same,” Clark said.

She continued, “I’m devastated to have been right. The past year has felt like one long gnashing of teeth: dark, hopeless, and demoralizing. The person who kept everyone in check is gone, and what has followed feels like a free-for-all of relentless abuse, torment, and destruction directed at the people Charlie loved most in this world. I wish I could tie a hopeful ribbon about America or conservatism around this post, but I can’t.”

I can relate to the feeling of what Clark is describing. I think a lot of us can. 

There is a true spiritual sickness in our culture. The day after the first anniversary of the assassination of Charlie Kirk is the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Back-to-back tragedies to remember. An indescribable amount of grief and sadness to bear as a nation. A reminder of how fallen and twisted humanity can be. 

In the last week, our country was divided over how we should respond to the case of a mother who strangled her three young children to death. As New York City approaches the 25th anniversary of the attacks on the Twin Towers, it sits under the leadership of a Muslim, socialist mayor. America is fighting against an Islamic regime, Iran, in war. I can’t help but wonder what Charlie would have to say about the state of things right now. 

“We are called to contend for what is good, true, and beautiful —not because God has promised us a particular political outcome or guaranteed that we will always see the results we want, but because he has called us to be faithful,” one of my colleagues, David Closson, director of the Center for Biblical Worldview at Family Research Council, told me. “Our responsibility is obedience and faithfulness. The results belong to God. That perspective allows Christians to grieve what is broken, work courageously for what is right, and still refuse to give into despair.”

He continued that Charlie understood that calling well. “He spent his life courageously contending for what he believed was true, and his example should remind Christians that our task is to remain faithful, trusting God with the results.”

Charlie Kirk’s assassin took his earthly life from him. But what not even the Devil himself can take from Charlie is his reward: eternal life with the Savior in Heaven. If you are especially missing Charlie’s presence today like me, take comfort in knowing that he is with his Heavenly Father in paradise forevermore. Still, what an earthly loss. 

But we serve a just God. He will not let death nor evil have the last word. If you are a believer, you can take heart:  ^“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. … I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).