Before I share the following I want to make myself abundantly clear. What happened to Charlie Kirk was a tragedy. It is my hope that Charlie is with the Lord even though I reject some of the ideas he advocated. The concerns I am expressing in this article is the ideology of Christian nationalism.

It is not my intent to trigger anyone to feel as if they need to defend Charlie Kirk, this is not about him. It is about the belief that is held by many Christians who conflate scripture with their political ideology.

This was on full display in the speech given by Jack Posobiec at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service, who said that “Charlie’s death was not just a murder, but was a sacrifice.”

If he had left it there, it would have been completely understandable, he’s expressing his love for his friend in a time of grief, but he didn’t stop there. What followed was language that one would use to describe Jesus giving his life for us, but he wasn’t referring to Jesus. He was referring to Charlie Kirk.

Again, this is not an attack on Charlie Kirk, so please be mature in how you listen to what I say. This is about the ideology of christian nationalism and how it has taken over much of Christianity in America.

Posobiec’s speech, of which I will share more below, took the language of scripture regarding Christ’s sacrifice and placed it into a Christian nationalist context to describe Charlie Kirk’s death. I am not OK with that, and if you truly love Jesus, you shouldn’t be either.

Posobiec continued, “The true word for what Charlie did is sacrifice. You see the difference between murder and sacrifice is that sacrifice is a gift. Sacrifice is that last full measure of devotion for God, for country, and for his people, and for his family. Charlie Kirk died for all of you. And Charlie Kirk’s gift of his sacrifice means that Charlie Kirk will live forever. Not just for all of us, not just for his family, and Erika, and his children, but for all future generations of Americans.”

Notice that the descriptions coincide with Christ, who is the gift of God, whose death was a sacrifice and an offering for our sins, who died for us all, and who lives forever for all generations of people. 

I am pretty sure that if Charlie Kirk had known that there would be a gunman hidden in the crowd with the intent to kill him, he would have either canceled the event or requested heightened security. I seriously doubt that Charlie Kirk chose to give his life at the hands of a gunman over going home to his wife and children. Yet Posobiec spoke as if Kirk laid down his life as a sacrifice.

The death of Charlie Kirk was a tragedy and it was horrific, but his death cannot and should not be compared to Jesus. Charlie did not lay down his life as Christ laid down his life for us. The difference between Charlie Kirk’s death and the death of Jesus is that Jesus gave his life for all people because of God’s love for all, even his enemies.

For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. ~ Romans 5:10

Jesus died for his enemies, Charlie Kirk did not. In Kirk’s memorial service, his death was exploited by multiple speakers, including the President of the United States and the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller. They exploited his death as a rallying cry to unite the people against their political enemies. 

As Jack Posobiec continued, he did not stop twisting biblical language saying, “for Charlie’s sacrifice for all of us we will overcome their evil.”

According to scripture, it is through Christ’s sacrifice that we overcome evil. In the book of Galatians, the apostle Paul tells us that Jesus gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father … ~ Galatians 1:4

Attempting to equate the death of Charlie Kirk with that of Christ’s sacrifice so as to wage war against the enemy who happen to be other human beings for whom Christ died, is blasphemous against God’s truth in Christ.

Posobiec doubled down in his twisting of scriptural language saying, “we will come to find in the final moment, that Western Civilization was saved through Charlie’s sacrifice, in the only way possible, by returning the people to Almighty God.” He follows this by saying, “are you ready to put on the full armor of God and face the evil in high places, and the spiritual warfare before us.”

Evil in high places within the context of this speech is a reference to political enemies, namely people on the left, (i.e., the democrats, and/or their policies).

Posobiec claims that Charlie’s sacrifice is what will save Western civilization and return us to Almighty God. Where does anyone actually begin to refute such ideology because the entirety of the New Testament refutes it. Jesus is the only mediator between God and man and only Jesus’s sacrifice for sin can return any people to God.

The apostles in the book of Acts viewed themselves as unworthy of being compared to their Savior, but Jack Posobiec showed no such reverence in his speech.

Using Charlie Kirk’s death as a rallying cry to engage in spiritual warfare against political enemies can only be inspired by the real adversary of us all, the devil, who walks about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour ~ 1 Peter 5:8

We do not put on the whole armor of God to wage spiritual warfare against people, because our warfare is not with flesh and blood.

Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 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. ~ Ephesians 6:11-12 

The enemy is not people on the left, and the church is not the people on the right. The enemy is Satan, and the church consists of people on the right and on the left who follow Jesus, and who love one another regardless of their political differences. The mark of the people of God is their love for one another (John 13:35), and not their political identity.

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul instructed the church to judge matters within the church, and to leave judgment regarding matters outside the church to God. It is not the church’s responsibility or calling to engage in culture wars or to enforce their values on those outside the church. The problem with Christian nationalism is that too many evangelicals have blurred the lines between the church of the Lord of glory and their political identity.

The republican party is not the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.