Transcription
Well, hey everyone. Um, I was not planning on posting anything uh regarding the tragic death of our brother, uh, Charlie Kirk, but um, you know, I woke up this morning with I don't know, something strong on my heart that I just feel compelled to share. And normally I don't always try to take the opportunity when someone passes away to to make a video, but when when something just remains on my heart, I I feel like I have to say it. So, I want to share with you a few things that I I just think we can all learn from this as as um I've had a couple days to reflect. I purposely did not post anything yesterday just to try to be the first YouTuber out with, you know, a video so I could maximize the views and stuff. That's not me. I wanted to take some time to think through my thoughts and reflect. Uh, and so in order to do that, um, I want to take you back to an experience that I actually had with Charlie Kirk back in 2019 that will provide some context for, uh, this video.
So, in 2019, um, I received an email from someone from, uh, Charlie's organization inviting both me and my wife along with a ton a ton of other online influencers, there must have been like a hundred of other online influencers to come together at this event at Liberty University. And obviously I was really excited at the time like wow somebody wants little old me to come and and be a part of this. And it was supposed to be the the inaugural opening of a new center there at Liberty University called the Fallerk Center which was basically a union between Jerry Fwell Jr. and Charlie Kirk. Well due to the moral failures of Jerry Fwell Jr. needless to say that that center never really got too far off the ground. Um, so you know, needless to say, my wife and I, we were excited to go. We were looking forward to meeting all these other like-minded Christian influencers and learn about this new center. Well, when we got there, what we experienced was something very, very different and I'm not going to lie, at the time very disappointing.
So, um, it turns out that the focus of the entire weekend was to persuade us as influencers to use our online platforms to promote Donald Trump's bid for reelection. And I'm not going to lie to you guys. At at this point where I was in my politics and where I was in my view of Donald Trump, needless to say, I'm just going to be honest with you, I was completely turned off and so was my wife. Like we left that weekend feeling deceived and I felt like, man, you know, like literally I was brought up here from Dallas um just so that somebody could use my platform. They wanted me to post all this stuff and use my platform, excuse me, to to promote, you know, this person and help them get reelected or whatever. And I'm not going to lie, I left that weekend feeling like I don't want to have anything to do with this guy, Charlie Kirk. Like, if I'm honest, didn't want to have anything to do with him. I felt he was arrogant, cocky. Um, I'm just being honest. That's what I felt at the time. And so this continued for some years and I was turned off by him. Turned off by Charlie Kirk. Like more than likely probably like many of you watching this video right now where you are.
That is until I actually took some time to listen to him. I started listening to his podcasts, started listening to his uh YouTube debates and things of that nature. I started watching him debate uh college kids and atheists and different things on college campuses. And while I'm not co-signing every single thing that this man has ever said in his life, like I wouldn't want you to cosign everything I've ever said in my life. And I don't think we should cosign anything anyone and everything that they've ever said in their entire life as if they've never had a slip of the tongue, never made a mistake, never said anything that maybe they regretted. But I started to realize that as a Christian, as a Biblebelieving Christian, it was very hard for me to disagree with what he was saying on certain issues. So like him or not, Charlie took a stance on a baby's right to life. If you're a Christian, I'm not sure how you can disagree with that. Really and truly. I mean, when you look at his his his debates and things like that, and he's debating college students on a baby's right to have a life, I'm not sure as a Christian how you can disagree with that. Charlie took a hard stance on the traditional view of marriage being between one man and one woman. Once again, as a Christian, I'm not so sure how you can disagree with that from a biblical perspective. Charlie took a hard stance on issues on gender. If you were born a male or a female, that was God's design. You can't change that. His whole saying was two sexes, no genders, infinite personalities. Right? This idea of gender is something that was made up. It's a social construct. Right? So, I'm not so sure once again as a Christian how you can't agree with that. Haka, you can biblically disagree with the idea of gender and sexuality. Charlie took a hard stance on wanting to ban adult entertainment websites or corn as we call it today. You know what I'm talking about. I'm not so sure why and and hard why we'd want to disagree biblically as a Christian. He took a hard stance on sexual purity. Once again, as a Christian, I'm not sure how we can disagree with those things. He took a hard stance against a progressive agenda being pushed in schools like kids being able to share bathrooms together if they feel like they're a boy one day if feel like a girl one day they can go into the whatever bathroom they want or trans athletes being able to compete simply because they feel like they were you know they I don't know they they went through some sort of uh uh change or whatever or some sort of transformation and so therefore I should be able to compete. Once again, as a Christian, I'm not sure how you can disagree with that.
So, here's my first point that I really want to challenge you with as I think about this. Like me, like me for many years, often times we have a perception about people or maybe we hear a sound bite that they said or we have a negative experience with them. Whether it's a co-orker, whether it's somebody online, a YouTube p personality that you follow, whether it's your friends, your colleagues, I don't know. Or maybe, just maybe, we catch them at a weak moment. At a moment that even perhaps they would say if they could do it all over again, they would. And you caught them at their lowest point. And we write them off. But I would challenge you, whether someone online or someone in your sphere, to take some time to actually listen to people. Put down your own agendas. Put down your own ideas for just a moment. Put down those sacred positions that you've held near and dear. I'm not changing. This is who I am. This is what I believe. This is what Just put it down for a second. Just be willing to relinquish it for just a minute and take some time to come with an open mind and listen to other people. Put down your pre your preconceived notions aside for just a moment and just be willing to come with an open mind, an open heart with no agenda and listen to people and ask them questions and figure out how they came to their own conclusions. And you might just find if you have an open mind that maybe just maybe some of your positions might change. You might be willing to budge on certain things that maybe you held near and dear for so long. And I'm not care I don't care which side of the political landscape you find. So for those of you who think this is a political thing, it's not. I'm talking about on both sides. If you just take a moment and just say, you know what, I'm going to come to this conversation from a right wing or left, I'm going to come and I'm going to listen and I'm going to figure out how this person came to the conclusions that they had. And you might just find that yours might change.
The second thing that I want to say regarding Charlie Kirk's death, and this breaks my heart, is that we as a people, and definitely as Christians, we need to get to the place where we can disagree with people without disrespecting them. When I look online and I see some of the posts and different things that people are making right now or even look, I've been in online ministry for 10 years now. And I've seen the way people disagree with me. I've seen comments of how people disagree with other people that I respect on YouTube. I've seen how people post Christians, how they post things online. Maybe they're on the right or on the left and they disagree with some sort of political person or some sort of polit political figure. Disagree all you want, but when we get to the place where our disagreement is borderline disrespect, where we are literally aggressive, combative, rude, arrogant. My brother or sister, might I remind you that none of those things that I just mentioned reflect the character, the heart, and the nature of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the one who we say we follow. It really reflects a low level of maturity and spiritual maturity. When you can't disagree with someone without disrespecting them or without losing respect for them, you should be able to to have a disagreement with someone and to be able to say, you know what, I don't I don't agree, but you know what? There are some things that this person says or stands for that I do agree with. And for that, I respect them. I disagree with them, but I really do respect them. And because I respect them, I'm going to tame my tongue. I'm going to watch what I post online. Listen, if you can't post something positive, then don't post anything at all. Just keep your mouth shut. What's the purpose of the negative post? There's no purpose. It's not helping anyone. It's not edifi. Look, the Bible says we are supposed to edify the body of Christ. So when you post things, ask yourself the question, is what I'm posting, does it really edify anyone? Does it edify the body of Christ? If not, you might be guilty of disrespecting instead of just merely disagreeing. And one more thing that I I thought about, when you disagree with someone, get in the habit of clearly articulating why. Because when you just say, "Well, I disagree. I don't like Charlie Kirk. I don't agree with him. I don't agree with this. With art really without really articulating why, guys, I don't mean to be offensive or rude or anything, but it comes off as if you're ignorant and unprepared. And quite frankly, it shows that you haven't taken the time to clearly think through your views and why you believe what you believe, even if it's different from the person you disagree with. I see this all the time on my YouTube channel. Well, I don't agree, G. Brother Parr, you're wrong. This video is a waste of time. Yeah, but why? Have you even Have you even thought through your own positions? And are you able to clearly articulate those? And if you can, then by all means, most sane people will be like, you know what, okay, we disagree. We we see things differently, right? We agree, disagree.
Here's the third and final thought that I have. Whether you like, dislike, agree, or disagree with Charlie Kirk, one thing that no one can dispute is that he was a man who stood firm on his beliefs and was willing to be bold, outspoken, and public about them. So as we consider his life, I would like for you and I, I would like to invite us to consider whether we have the same courage as a Christian to take a true stand for what we say we believe in, even if it might cost you something. Sadly for Charlie, it cost him his life. But for you, it might cost you friends. It might cost you respect. It might cost you a promotion at at your job. It might even cost you your career. I don't know what it might cost you. But Charlie was on the front lines of of of the battle taking a stand for what he truly believed was right. And whether you agree with him or not, the question is, are you willing to take a stand instead of criticizing him and and and and taking a time? I don't know. I don't even want to deal with the negative, too. Instead of doing that, maybe it's time for us all to to re-evaluate our own hearts to say, "Am I willing to be bold? Am I willing to be outspoken for my beliefs? Am I willing to risk possibly public scrutiny? Am I willing to risk respect? Am I willing to risk friendships? Am I willing to risk my job? Am I willing to speak the truth in love? And whether we agree or disagree with Charlie Kirk, we can say that he was. And I think unequivocally we can agree that we are all called to do the same. And I think if he were here today, he would say he wouldn't have changed a thing. He would do it all over again. And when you and I leave this earth, we want to be able to say that we stood for something, that our lives counted, that our lives made a difference.
So those are my thoughts. Um, I don't know what your thoughts are. Um, I would love for you to share. And and finally, instead of trying to find clips online of things he said it might prove your position or anything like that, I would just invite you to take a different approach and consider taking some time to show empathy. Uh, thinking about if you were his family members, if you were his staff members, what they may be going through today. The Bible says that we are to weep with those who weep and to mourn with those who mourn. Today his wife is weeping because she has to explain to her two children that they'll never see their father again while she herself is grieving. His staff is grieving. So the question is how are we going to spend our time today as a body of Christ? Are we going to um be negative or are we going to do what the Bible says to weep with those who weep and to grieve with those who grieve and to mourn with those who mourn. Many in our country are weeping and mourning. Let's weep and mourn together with them. Thank you guys. That's all I got today. All right, let's keep praying. Bye for now.