Faith in the Public Square

A profound spiritual awakening unfolded at Charlie Kirk's memorial service, transcending what many expected to be merely a political gathering. The stadium filled with thousands—including the President, his cabinet, and media from around the world—became the unlikely epicenter of what speakers described as the beginning of a spiritual revival in America.

Tributes painted a picture of a young man who, despite initial skepticism, built a movement that reminded young Americans of foundational truths: that marriage and family represent life's highest callings, and that America stands as an exceptional nation worth preserving. What distinguished Kirk wasn't just his impressive knowledge of history and philosophy, but his extraordinary wisdom that seemed to transcend his 31 years of life. Perhaps most remarkably, in an era when Americans increasingly isolate themselves in ideological bubbles, Kirk boldly and respectfully engaged with those who disagreed with him—reaching out to political opponents for dialogue even days before his passing.

Tucker Carlson's emotional reflection revealed the deeper current beneath Kirk's political work—that his fundamental message aligned with the gospel's call for personal repentance before seeking to change others. "Politics, at its core, is a process of critiquing other people and getting them to change," Carlson noted, while "Christianity calls upon you to change." This insight illuminated why Kirk remained fearless yet never hateful toward opponents. Dr. Ben Carson reinforced this theme, connecting Kirk's work to resistance against efforts to fundamentally transform America through control of education, media, and culture. The service concluded with a striking biblical reference to John 12:24—"Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit"—suggesting that Kirk's passing would paradoxically yield tremendous spiritual fruit. This appears to be happening already, as millions watched what one speaker called the Holy Spirit "humming like a tuning fork" throughout the memorial. Have you felt this spiritual awakening in your own community? Join the conversation.

Chapters

• 0:00 Tribute to Charlie Kirk's Mission
• 5:15 Wisdom and Bold Engagement
• 9:05 Charlie's Impact and Legacy
• 13:20 Tucker Carlson's Gospel Reflection
• 18:05 Dr. Carson on Cultural Revival
• 21:45 Closing Thoughts on Faith Journey

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:48

About maybe 10 or 12 years ago, a person I knew very well, had been very helpful to me in my campaigns when I was in the Senate, came to me and said she had met this very impressive young man and he was going to start this. Came to me and said she had met this very impressive young man and he was going to start this group to go on college campuses and try to convince young Americans that ours is the greatest country in the history of the world and that Marxism was bad. And I remember thinking back then I was. I'm going to admit to you guys, I was a little skeptical. I said college campuses, you're going to do that. Why don't you start somewhere easier Like, for example, communist Cuba?

Speaker 1: 1:24

You know, but my skepticism was proven wrong and place after place over the last 12, 14, 16 years, we've seen this renaissance Understand where we were at that time in our history years. We've seen this renaissance Understand where we were at that time in our history, understand where we are still today in many places where young Americans are actively told that everything that they were taught, that all the foundations that made our society and our civilization so grand, they were all wrong, they were all evil, that marriage is oppressive, that children are a burden, that America is a source of evil, not of good, in the world. And here was this voice that inspired a movement in which young Americans were told that is not true. The highest calling we are called to is to be in a successful marriage and to raise productive children, and a movement that taught them that ours was not a great country, but the greatest, most exceptional nation that has ever existed in the history of all of mankind, and that it's worth fighting for, it's worth defending, it's worth preserving and it's worth passing on to the next generation. This was the mission and the work of Charlie Kirk and a couple things that stand out about him.

Speaker 1: 2:49

He led this movement, but he did so with incredible knowledge. It's unbelievable how much he knew. He came to me very recently. He said some quote. He said I said who said that? He came to me very recently? He said some quote. I said who said that? He said Marcus Aurelius. I said what district does he represent? I kind of knew who it was, but he said back no, it's a Roman philosopher, king or emperor. His incredible knowledge. Let me tell you that one of the last messages I had with him was just a few days before his passing, where he wrote me from overseas. I'm in South Korea. I have many concerns I want to share with you when I get back.

Speaker 1: 3:26

He was constantly expanding his horizons, but he just didn't have knowledge. He had wisdom, an uncanny amount of wisdom for a man as young as he was, wisdom that sometimes it takes a lifetime to accumulate. He had it in just 31 years. He was also bold. It is so easy and listen, I've been guilty of it. I think many of us have been guilty of this. You hide behind the walls and you surround yourself with people that agree with you. We do it as a society all the time. Increasingly, people are moving into neighborhoods with other people that agree with them politically and isolate themselves from people that do not agree with them. But Charlie Kirk was bold.

Speaker 1: 4:08

He actively sought out to engage, peacefully, respectfully, those who he disagreed with. As recently as two days ago, we learned of one of the hosts on CNN who said that one of the messages he had gotten just a few days before Charlie's passing was from him, inviting him to dialogue. And he did this on campuses. He did this on podcasts. He did this on radio shows. He did this on television shows. Time and again, he sought to engage those he disagreed with, because he understood that we were not created to isolate ourselves from one another, but but to engage. The irony in all this is that what our nation needs one of the many things it needs is the ability to discuss our differences openly, honestly, peacefully, respectfully. And Charlie Kirk did that more than anyone alive in America today is doing. And Charlie Kirk was impactful impactful because of all the things I've said. But look around this place. There's a hundred something thousand people here. The president of the United States is here. His entire cabinet is here. Television, audio outlets and media outlets from all over the world are covering this. I just came from overseas and every country I stopped they gave us their condolences for his passing. Impactful, in just 31 years of life, he made a difference, he mattered and he will matter now more than he ever has before.

Speaker 1: 5:34

And let me close with this how do you remember? This is a memorial service. It's to honor him. How do you best remember it? I'll take the liberty of saying what I think we can best do. Look, I think he had a tremendous impact on young Americans in general. I think he had a very special and direct impact on young men in this country. That's one of the greatest developments I've seen. It's been very positive. I think we remember him for that. I think we remember him for constantly saying you want to live a productive life, get married, start a family, love your country.

Speaker 1: 6:18

These are powerful messages, but I hope many who are watching I imagine there are people watching here tonight that didn't know much about Charlie Kirk until 11 days ago. Maybe they were disengaged from politics, maybe they were partially engaged. I hope one of the things they take from this is that the movement Charlie Kirk led and started and gave fuel to was about politics, but not only about politics. It was deeper, it was broader and I would say that, taking the liberty, but I'm confident he would agree one of the things he wants us to take away from this, from all of this, is the following His deep belief that we were all created every single one of us before the beginning of time by the hands of the God of the universe, an all-powerful God who loved us and created us for the purpose of living with him in eternity.

Speaker 1: 7:04

But then sin entered the world and separated us from our creator. And so God took on the form of a man and came down and lived among us and he suffered like men and he died like a man. But on the third day he rose, unlike any mortal man and then and to prove any doubters wrong he ate with his disciples so they could see and they touched his wounds. He didn't rise as a ghost or as a spirit, but as flesh. And then he rose to the heaven, but he promised he would return, and he will. And when he returns because he took to the heaven, but he promised he would return and he will and when he returns because he took on that death, because he carried that cross, we were freed from the sin that separated us from him and when he returns, there will be a new heaven and a new earth and we will all be together and we are going to have a great reunion there again with Charlie and all the people we love. Thank you, and God bless you.

Speaker 2: 8:10

Ah, that made me emotional. Made me emotional to see that Susie Wiles had tears in her eyes, which you don't often see in politics, but it's real. This is the most unbelievable thing I think I've ever seen and I don't. Whatever happens next in America, I hope it's in this direction, because God is here and you can feel it. And Charlie would have loved this, not just because he loved large groups of people, but because, ultimately, he was a Christian evangelist. And it actually reminds me of my favorite story ever.

Speaker 2: 8:48

So it's about 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem and Jesus shows up and he starts talking about the people in power and he starts doing the worst thing that you can do, which is telling the truth about people, and they hate it and they just go bonkers. They hate it and they become obsessed with making him stop. This guy's got to stop talking. We've got to shut this guy up. And I can just sort of picture the scene in a lamplit room with a bunch of guys sitting around eating hummus, thinking about what do we do about this guy telling the truth about us? We must make him stop talking. And there's always one guy with the bright idea and I can just hear him say I've got an idea why don't we just kill him? That'll shut him up, that'll fix the problem. It doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way. Everything is inverted and the Beatitudes tell it, I think, the most crisply. Everything is sort of the opposite of what you think it's going to be. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. That is true and you can feel it here. The thing about Charlie's message I've thought a lot about it and I'm trying not to be emotional because, in addition to everything else, he was a wonderful man and a decent man and one of those rare people you meet who you just groove with in conversation and have these very intense conversations that you don't stop thinking about, which is my experience with him.

Speaker 2: 10:13

But the main thing about Charlie and his message he was bringing the gospel to the country. He was doing the thing that the people in charge hate most, which is calling for them to repent. So how is Charlie's message different? And Charlie was a political person who was deeply interested in coalition building and in getting the right people in office, because he knew that vast improvements are possible politically. But he also knew that politics is not the final answer. It can't answer the deepest questions, actually, that the only real solution is Jesus. And the reason it's really simple. The reason it's really simple?

Speaker 2: 11:02

Politics, at its core, is a process of critiquing other people and getting them to change Christianity. The gospel message, the message of Jesus, begins with repentance. Christianity calls upon you to change Our core. Prayer given to us by Jesus, the Lord's prayer, demands that we forgive other people, but preceding that is a request for our forgiveness. In other words, forgive us, our sins, meditate on what we've done wrong, how we've fallen short, meditate on what we've done wrong, how we've fallen short, and then it becomes possible to forgive other people. That is a call to change our hearts from Jesus and that is the only way forward in this country. That is the only solution to where we all know we're going, and Charlie knew where we were going without that. And that is not a call for being politically passive, of course not.

Speaker 2: 12:05

I stood in many stages with Charlie calling for various people to be elected, particularly Donald Trump, and I'm proud of that. It's only an acknowledgement that what Charlie was really saying is that change begins the only change that matters when we repent of our sins, and we repent of our sins, we Me A recognition that the real problem is me and how fallen I am. And that was the reason that Charlie was fearless at all times, truly fearless To his last moment. He was unafraid, he was not defensive and there was no hate in his heart. I know that because I've got a little hate compartment in my heart and I would often express that to Charlie about various people and he would always say, always say that's a sad person, that's a broken person, that's a person who needs help, that's a person who needs Jesus.

Speaker 2: 13:00

He said that in private Because he meant it. So I guess I would just say this gathering and God's presence, god's very obvious presence in this room, the presence of Jesus, is a reminder of what we've known for 2,000 years, which is any attempt to extinguish the light causes it to burn brighter every single time. So as we, as we proceed into whatever comes next and clearly something's coming next remember this moment, remember being in a room with the Holy Spirit humming like a tuning fork. This is the way Right here. This is the way, and that is what Charlie Kirk was saying underneath it all. Thank you and God bless.

Speaker 3: 14:17

Please welcome to the stage Dr Ben Carson.

Speaker 4: 14:45

Thank you. It's wonderful to see so many people out here for such a sad but also a wonderful purpose. You know we at American Cornerstone Institute grieve with everyone as we think about the loss of our friend and partner, charlie Kirk. But did you hear a political figure last week saying that Charlie Kirk was ignorant because he didn't have a college degree? Ignorant because he didn't have a college degree? I've seen him run circles around people with college degrees, you know. I wonder if that political figure realizes that most of learning in life comes outside of the classroom, and I am delighted to see the young people of our land merging with the older people like me and moving in the same direction and understanding that our nation was founded upon the kind of principles that allowed us to rise from nothing to the pinnacle of the world in record time. That was no accident. That was because of what we believed, including our Judeo-Christian beliefs that our rights come from our Creator and not from government.

Speaker 4: 16:03

Now, for many decades, there have been people who are trying to fundamentally change who we are, and there was a man by the name of Cleon Skousen who wrote a book called the Naked Communists in the 50s communists in the 50s, and he exposed the things that were being done by the Marxists to gain control of our country, such things as gaining control of the public education system and the teacher unions so that you could infiltrate and indoctrinate our young people. It was a radical leftist who said give me your children to teach for four years and the seed that I sow will never be uprooted. That's why that's what's going on. They also had a goal of gaining control of the media and Hollywood so they could change the culture in America, making sexual perversion normal, natural and healthy and, speaking of that, pushing God out of our society and changing the gospel to the social gospel. Have you noticed that a lot of preachers don't want to talk about what's in the Bible if it's counter to the social gospel?

Speaker 4: 17:28

Well, I challenge the ministers out there to talk about what the Bible says and not what the leftists say, and get on board. Get on board of the revival that is coming. We are not going to be able to stop it. You see evidence of it right here in the stadium. We're all going to be a part of it. I love the fact that Erica is going to take over and we're going to grow the turning point to a very significant level and I want us all to remember you cannot be the land of the free if you're not the home of the brave. You got to stand up for what you believe in and in closing, I want to read a passage from John 12, 24, remembering that Charlie was shot at 12.24 pm. 1224 pm, verily verily, I say unto you this is Christ speaking except a corn of wheat, fall onto the ground and die. It abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. And I want to thank Charlie for his sacrifice, because much fruit is going to be realized. Thank you.

Speaker 3: 19:14

Hey guys, it's B-Rob, it's the Food for Thought Faithcast, and God bless you. And man, that was some good stuff right there. Sunday was a great day. It just was stuff right there. Sunday was a great day, it just was.

Speaker 3: 19:31

And Ben Carson said he was shot at 1224, but I'm pretty sure I looked on the internet and all my sources it was 1223. Know that you can't have verse 24 without having verse 23, right? So it doesn't matter if it was 23 or 24, but 23,. John 12, 23 simply says the hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified. And what was happening Sunday? Millions of people from all corners of the earth were watching the Son of man be glorified. The Holy Spirit was in that town and in them TVs and through them TVs, and it was amazing to watch.

Speaker 3: 20:32

So if you're out there on Facebook and you're just being negative, I just want to say God bless you and we praying for you, because anytime people come to Christ, you, because anytime people come to Christ, we should be dancing for joy, not being negative. And that's all I got today, folks. I will get on here and talk more soon. I'm just trying to process this whole thing and we're going to start sharing the gospel and helping people who have just come to Christ. Keep the fire lit. I love you guys. God bless you guys and have a wonderful day.