Transcription
Since the unfortunate assassination of Charlie Kirk, my news feed on social media, as I'm sure yours has been, has been dominated with videos of people weighing in and sharing their feelings, their opinions about Charlie Kirk. And it has been a wide range, I tell you, of opinions varying from people defending Charlie Kirk's image, defending every single thing that he said to people downright celebrating his death and calling him a racist.
So, I figured I'd do a video on it, but not probably in the way you expected. So, if you clicked on this video hoping that I would play all of these clips of isolated sound bites of what Charlie Kirk had said, giving evidence that he was a racist, then you'll probably be sadly disappointed. Conversely, if you were clicking on this video hoping that I would play those same clips of what he said about people of various races and completely and totally defend everything he's ever said, well, then you too will also be disappointed.
Instead, what I'm choosing to do is to take what I believe is a different approach, a biblical approach, a better approach. And so I want to ask and answer three questions in this video. And I'll give you the questions as we go along. But I want to caution you and beg you that if you click off of this video after question one or before I get to the second and third question, guys, you are going to miss the entire point of the video. So, I want to plead with you and encourage you before you go down in the comments section and put your opinions on what I'm saying. Watch the entire video because all three questions are very, very important.
Okay. Question number one, how should Christians respond to racists? Now, I am not going to go on record and say that Charlie Kirk was a racist, but for the sake of argument, for the sake of this video, let's just assume that he was a straightup racist. Let's just assume that. I'm not saying that. I'm saying let's assume that. The bigger and more important question is this. How does the Bible instruct us as Christians? Because if you're a Christian, I assume you believe the Bible is true and you want to align your life with the Bible, or at least you say you do. But let's see how much you do by the end of this video. How does the Bible instruct us as Christians to respond to races?
Now, first, if you believe someone is a racist, that would put them into the category of being your enemy. And the Bible has a lot to say about how you and I should treat our enemies. So let's dig into it. Okay. Matthew chapter 5:43-48 says this. "You have heard the law that says love your neighbor and hate your enemies." So you can love the people that are nice to you, but you can hate your enemies. But Jesus says, "I say, love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. In that way, you will be acting as your father in heaven." True children. And then it goes on to say this a couple verses later. "If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. Even pagans, even non-believers do that. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you, Mr. or Mrs. Christian, different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you you are to be perfect even as your father in heaven is perfect." Notice this. Jesus is saying you don't get any credit for loving people who are nice to you, who speak well of you, who love you in return. No, even unbelievers can do that. That's easy. But what separates us as Christians is how we can love even people who are the our enemies. Who how we can love people who are even racist toward us. He says when we do that we prove that we are true children of God.
So so far we are to love someone who is a racist. And we could go and drill down a little bit further by looking at 1 Corinthians 13 where it talks about love is about being what? Kind. So are we posting kind things about Charlie Kirk or anybody else? Donald Trump, anybody that we don't like or if you don't like, let me just say it that way. Or it also says not being easily irritated and not keeping a record of wrongs. So we're supposed to love these people.
Now the second thing it says we are also to pray for them. So let me ask you a question. Have you spent any time at all any time at all? If you're bitter about Charlie Kirk, you don't like him. You whatever. You don't like what he stood for. You thought he was a racist, whatever. Have you spent any time at all praying for his friends, praying for his staff members, praying for his wife, praying for his children? Probably not because it's very hard to pray for someone when you're still bitter at them. Let's keep going. It's going to get bumpy, I'm telling you. But watch the whole video, please.
All right. Romans 12:17-21 says, "Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable." That means what you post, how you talk, whatever. "Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the scriptures say, 'I will take revenge. I will pay them back, says the Lord.'" In other words, let God deal with Charlie Kirk. If he was a racist, then let God deal with him. That's not your business. Let God deal with him. And then it goes on to say this. "Instead, if your enemies are hungry, feed them. See, we don't like it. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads. Don't let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good." Uh-oh. H. There is so much packed in this verse, in this passage. So much.
Notice it says here that even if you feel someone has been evil toward you, you do not have the right to express evil back to them. Not as a Christian. Why? Because it says we are to always conduct ourselves in a way that everyone can see that we are honorable. Then it says that if this person is hungry, we should feed him. Let me ask you a question. For those of you who feel like Charlie Kirk is a racist or for those of you I know this video is not about Donald Trump and I'm not being political. Trust me, I am not being political. I'm just telling you what the scriptures say. For those people who believe Donald Trump is a racist or a misogynist or a bigot, if they were to come to your house and they were hungry, would you feed them? Some of you right now are shaking your heads like Shana Sharp. Nope. Ain't doing that. I ain't doing not me. You forget that. I ain't feeding him now. You see the you're a Christian and you are a Christian who says you believe in the Bible. So what does the Bible say? It says you are to feed them if they're hungry. Would you cook a meal for them if they came over to your home? Would you invite them over to your home? The Bible says you should.
But there's more. And here is where it's going to get real real bumpy for some. I promise you. Luke 6:28. M it's going to get tough here. "Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you." Now that Greek word bless is actually the Greek word uligo from which we get our English word for yeah you guessed it eulogy. And what does a eulogy mean? What does this Greek word mean? It means to speak well of, to praise or extol, which is what we do when someone dies. When you go to a funeral, what do we do? What do we hear? What do we see? We see people speaking well of them. At a funeral, you don't mention all of their mistakes, their shortcomings, their failures, their flaws, all the things that they did wrong in their life, things that they weren't proud of, things that you didn't think were right. No. We eulogize them. We choose to highlight the good that they have done in their lives. We highlight the good that they did and speak well of them. Why? Because we know that at a funeral is not the time nor the place to highlight how bad the person was. We speak well of them. We eulogize them. Which is exactly what this verse commands us to do. That means if you are to bless our enemies and you feel Charlie Kirk is an enemy because he's a racist, then to speak well of him might mean to highlight his stance on traditional marriage between a husband and a wife since you say you're a Christian. or to highlight how vehemently he stood against abortion since you say you're a Christian. Or how vehemently he stood against children having the right to transition without a parents consent since you say you're a Christian or how he stood against same-sex marriage. Once again, I'm not justifying him. I'm not painting him out as some of you gonna say in the comments to be perfect. I'm saying that the scriptures say that we are to eulogize them.
Okay. Well, brother Paul, I hear you, but what about what he said about MLK being an awful man? What What about that? Okay, you get upset because Charlie Kirk made a comment about Martin Luther King and didn't highlight all of the amazing things he did to move race relations forward and civil rights forward in our country. And yes indeed, I love Mr. Martin Luther King. Praise God for him. And yet here you are doing the exact same thing at Charlie Kirk's death that you're criticizing Charlie Kirk for doing for Martin Luther King. You don't see the hypocrisy in that? Well, I hear you, brother Par, but what about what he said about the black pilot? And what about what he said about Kla Harris and the other black women being DEI hires? You're just going to ignore all those things just because he says some good things here and there. Okay, hold on. We'll get to that later in the video. I promise you, don't worry. I'm not excusing or justifying the things he said. I'm just choosing to speak well of another Christian brother. But let's keep going.
Next, the Bible says this. 1 Peter 3:9, "Don't repay evil for evil. Don't retaliate with insults when people insult you." This is the exact opposite of what I'm seeing online from many Christians. Many Christians are insulted. Insulted by some of the things that Charlie Kirk said. So what do we do? Well, he insulted us. He insulted me. And in return, I'm going to retaliate back with insults of my own. I'm going to post these memes. I'm going to post these pictures. I'm going to post I'm going to give people a piece of my I'm going to show people what I think about him. He insulted me. I'm going to insult him right back. You're a Christian. You're a Bible believing Christian. Start acting like it. But notice the rest of the verse. It says, "Instead, pay them back with a blessing." Why? That is what God has called you to do and he will grant you his blessing. Listen, you want to be blessed, stop retaliating with insult and start blessing people instead, even when they insult you.
Okay, there's more. This is just question number one, and I told you don't click off because question number two is the clincher in this video. Next, it says this. Romans 12:15, "rejoice with those who rejoice. Mourn with those who mourn." Now, I find it so interesting that many of the people posting negative things about Charlie Kirk almost immediately after his death were the same people who were livid when other people posted negative things about George Floyd when he was killed. Let me ask you this. If you're someone who was heartbroken over the murder of George Floyd, how did it make you feel when you saw people online posting negative things about George Floyd when he was murdered? Or what about when they said he was a drug addict, said he was ghetto, or here it is, said he deserved what happened to him. Did that not make you feel like the people that were posting was completely insensitive to the pain that your community was experiencing at that time? You can't tell me that you were not angered to see your Christian friends online not showing empathy to you who were heartbroken over another person's life that was taken unjustly. And now many people are taking this opportunity to do the exact same thing at Charlie Kirk's death. It's hypocrisy. And all of it needs to stop on both sides. Listen, as Christians, we are to recognize that whether we agree or disagree, our other brothers and sisters in Christ are hurting right now. There are people that are hurting right now.
Wait, don't scroll. I wanted to come on here and talk about the death of someone I looked up to, Charlie Kurt. And I wanted to say that it is disrespectful how people are making Fortnite memes and talking bad about him like he was a horrible person. All he did was have boldness in his faith with Jesus Christ. Like you guys are so mean to people just because they have beliefs. We as Christians, we respect you for your beliefs, but we tell you what's wrong and what's right righteously. But you do not need to be making fun of him because a tragedy has happened. All I that's all I want to come on here to say is it's blatantly rude and disrespectful to be talking about someone's death like he's just a piece of trash. He has a family. He has kids. He has a wife. You guys, you guys would want someone to respect you if you got shot, right? If you passed away, you would not want anyone to be talking bad about you. And I saw a video. Well, yeah. I saw someone making fun of his wife, too. Like, that's just horrible and rude. And today is a very special day to me because I hit 14,000 followers, but I I don't even want to celebrate that because I just feel guilty that one of someone I looked up to passed away and I still and I'm still able to be on this earth. That's how grateful you have to be. So, just stop making fun of him and just go. Like just stop making fun of him. It's just not It's not even funny at all.
>> There were people in 2020 that were hurting over George Floyd. There are people that are hurting and our responsibility is to come alongside them and weep with them and mourn with them and show empathy towards them the same way you would have appreciated others to do when someone like George Floyd of your community was killed.
Finally, Jesus on the cross said this about the people who were nailing him to the cross. He says, "Father, forgive them for they don't know what they are doing." Let me ask you a question. Has Charlie Kirk nailed you to the cross? No. But even if he did, to follow the example of Jesus, you are called to forgive them. See, this is the part of Christianity that we don't like because it goes against the grain of what our flesh wants to do. Our flesh wants to remain bitter. Our flesh wants to slander. Our flesh wants to be angry. Our flesh wants to lash out. Our flesh wants to retweet that uh that post or that meme. That's what our flesh wants to do. We are operating out of our flesh. These are the parts of the Bible that sadly many Christians don't want to acknowledge. We want to pick and choose. We want to cherrypick which parts of the Bible that apply to our lives and which ones don't. Well, my brother or sister, I'm sorry, but you and I don't get the right to do that. We don't get the right to do that. If you say you're a Bible believing Christian, you have to accept all of it, even if it doesn't make you feel good.
So before we move on to the second question, let me ask you very quickly. How much time have you spent praying for, speaking well of, not insulting, and forgiving Charlie Kirk or anyone you feel has wronged, offended, or insulted you? Or have you spent more of your time remaining bitter and speaking negatively against him and re-watching clips over and over again online that make you even more angry?
Question number two, and this might be the most important question in this video. Am I a racist? Yeah, we're going to talk about this. We're going to talk about it. Why is this important to ask? Because the Bible clearly says this. It says, "Do not judge others, and you will not be judged, for you will be treated as you treat others." Now, here it is. Watch this. "The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, 'Hey, let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye' when you can't see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite, first get rid of the log in your own eye. Then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye."
Guys, over the past several days, I've heard a lot of people make the claim that Charlie Kirk was a racist, or at the very least that he made racist comments, but this text says that we have absolutely no business passing judgment on anyone until until we have passed judgment on ourselves first. It is then and only then that we have the right to pass judgment on others. But I find it so I find it so interesting that we are so quick to judge him and what he said while letting ourselves completely off the hook as if we have never made some of the same comments or generalizations about people of another race. Do you know what the Bible calls you according to this verse? a hypocrite.
So, let's see if you are a racist. But before we do, let's first establish a working definition of racism. So, I will define racism as the belief that one race is superior to another, which leads to prejudice, discrimination, or the making of harmful stereotypes about people based on their race. So ask yourself if you're a black person watching this video. I'm just going to just be honest with you because I'm tired of this stuff. I'm going to be real raw. If you're a black person watching this video, if you've ever said or thought any of the following things at any point in your life. All right, some of them might be a little funny. All right, here goes.
One. White people's food is bland. It lacks seasoning and it lacks flavor. All right, here's another one. White people can't dance and they ain't got no rhythm. Here's another one. White women are weak, easy, and lack strength. All right, here's another one. All white people want to do is oppress black people, keep them down, and maintain control. All right, here's a good one. I don't want my black son to marry a white woman. Why? Cuz she don't deserve our best men. You keep your white hands off our black men. Here's another one. Most white people have had an easy life and don't know the first thing about what it means to struggle.
Now, do you know how I know that a lot of black people have said those things? Because I've heard it in conversation. They may not say it to a white person, but I've heard black people speak amongst themselves and say all of these things about white people. Now, I'm an equal opportunity preacher. So, if you're a white person and you've ever thought or said the following things, these are also racist comments and thoughts. Here it is.
Black people need to stop looking for handouts, work harder, and take more responsibility. Here's another one. Black people are late, and lazy. Here's another one. Black women are loud, overweight, and ghetto. Here's another one. Black men with cornrows or dreadlocks are probably dangerous, uneducated, or at the very least should not be representing a company in corporate America. Or a black woman with an afro or the name Sheniqua probably isn't equipped or educated enough to run a company or be my superior. And for the record, while I'm here, you do know that many resumes every year are straight up ignored simply because of the sound of someone's name. Yeah, we're going to go there. That's racism. This black woman could have the exact same qualifications as a white woman. But because her name is Shenikua Jenin Jenkins, her resume may not even get a second look. You can't tell me that's not favoritism. Like James says, showing favoritism. James 2:9 says, "Showing favoritism is a sin." Here's another one. Most black men need to be more sexually responsible and stop having so many kids by so many different women. Another one, most black fathers are deadbeat dads. And finally, I don't want my white daughter marrying some black man because that would be her marrying someone beneath her. She deserves better.
Now, maybe you've never actually said those things or maybe you have, but maybe you thought it and maybe, just maybe, you've communicated it subtly in some way without even realizing it. So, what was the purpose of that exercise? The reality is that all of us, all of us, myself included, have either made these comments or thought about them, which puts us all in the same category as the category you want to put people like Charlie Kirk in. The only difference is that he has a platform that reaches millions of people and most of what he says is publicly recorded and your own private thoughts and words are not. See, this is the part of Christianity. This is the part of the Bible that we don't want to deal with. We don't want to address this. We don't want to address our internal racism. No, no, no, no, no. We just want to point to somebody else and point and focus on theirs. The Bible doesn't let you do that.
So, now that we've established that more than likely all of us have made racist comments or had racist thoughts at some point in our lives, but would probably not consider ourselves racist because we always want to give ourselves the benefit of the doubt, we now need to move on to the third and final question.
Question number three, is it possible to be a racist and be a Christian? Well, I certainly hope so after we've all answered the second question affirmatively or at least we've admitted that we've made racist comments. But even if you have never made a racist comment, laughed at a racist racial joke, or have had a racist thought in your life, you've sinned in other ways. So if racism is a sin and Jesus died on the cross for our sins, then yes, it is possible to be a racist and be a Christian. Just like before you go there, it's possible to be a Christian who struggles with having sex before marriage. Just like it's possible to be a Christian who struggles with lust. Just like it's possible to be a Christian who lives in a perpetual state of anger and unforgiveness towards people who wronged them 10, 15, 20, 30 years ago that you haven't forgiven them. Just like it's possible for us to be selfish and be a Christian and the list goes on and on and on. Isn't it interesting how quickly we want to give ourselves a pass on areas that we don't struggle with the same as other people. We may not struggle in certain areas that we see other people struggling with. And so yet we want to condemn them, but we want to give ourselves a pass even though there's sin in our lives. We want to hold others to a higher standard. You don't get to do that. Thankfully, our status as a Christian does not depend on our sin, but it depends on the finished work of Jesus Christ. It depends on our confession of Jesus Christ as Lord.
So, what's my conclusion? Was Charlie Kirk a racist? I'm not sure. That's up to God to judge. Quite frankly, it's none of my business. But for me as a Christian, it remains irrelevant only because I have proven to you in this video based on scripture that our response to people we believe are racist should be based on scripture and not our emotions. And when we respond based on scripture, we leave the world in awe wondering, "Wow, how can that person respond that way even after they have been insulted in this way?" This is how we distinguish ourselves as Christians. This is why the Bible says that they will know that we are disciples by our love.
Let me leave you with one final scripture. Romans 12:2. "Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think." Let me pause there. Maybe this video is the first step at God changing the way you think about certain things. That's what Romans 12:2 says. Let God change the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you. What you should post, what you should not post, which is good and pleasing and perfect. So when you look on social media, the world is going to respond one way. This verse says, don't copy them. Let the scriptures guide you in how to respond and react to everything, whether online or offline. And finally, always remember before you judge others to judge yourself first with the same standard you use to judge other people.
Guys, I had a completely other video scheduled for today. I'm like four videos out. I've got other videos that I want to put out. But I felt the need to continue to speak into this because as I look on social media, it's getting toxic. It's like 2020 all over again. And this is going to continue every single time something like this happens until we as Christians decide to be different. Look, we can't control how non-Christians respond to things and what they post. But what we can do as Christians decide that we're not going to be like the world and we are going to be different. We whether we like it or not and whether our flesh wants to abide or not, we're going to let the scriptures guide our every decision.
So, what are your thoughts, guys? Let me know in the comments section below. And uh keep it civil and let's talk about it. All right, I'll see you in the next video. Bye for now.