It's been 15 days now since Charlie Kirk was murdered. I'm still having trouble coming to terms with it. My oldest son listened to him everyday and was greatly moved by his death. He called me and said, "Dad, when the attempted assassination of President Trump occurred, God caused him to move his head a few centimeters, thus saving his life. Why didn't God do the same for Charlie?"
Good question. I simply answered, "Romans 8:28 tells us 'And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.' That means ALL things - good and bad. It was with Russ' question still reverberating in my brain that I got an email that Dr. Frank Turek would be appearing at McNeese State University to give a talk entitled "If God, Why Evil?" This was providential because he was going to address Russ' question. The talk was scheduled prior to Charlie Kirk's assassination and Russ and I were going to be there.
Dr. Frank Turek is a Christian apologist and author and was Charlie's friend, assisting him with "hard" questions that people ask about Christianity. Dr. Turek was mere feet away from Charlie when he died and spoke at Charlie Kirk's memorial service in Arizona which was viewed by millions. It was amazing that only two days later, he was in Lake Charles, Louisiana speaking to us.
We arrived 30 minutes early, and it is a good thing we did. There was a line stretching outside the ballroom with people wanting to get in. In fact with 15 minutes left to go, the Fire Marshal ruled that the room was filled to capacity and only 49 more people would be allowed in. Russ was #47, I was #48, and the guy behind me was #49! We made it in and actually sat in the front row. I strongly feel God wanted Russ up front and center to hear the talk. Here is a photo showing the ballroom filled to capacity. We learned that as many people that made it in, that many were turned away. Fortunately, they had another building in which those folks that didn't make it in, could watch the talk being livestreamed.
The evening started with a 1 hour talk immediately followed by a Q&A session that had to be stopped an hour later due to time limitations. I'm going to try to do my best to repeat some of what was said, as I think it was important. Below you'll see on the screen one of the last photos of Charlie. Dr. Turek is in the white shirt behind him.
Dr. Turek started off talking about Good versus Evil. How does God fit in with that? It was explained that since the fall of Man in Genesis Chapter 3 evil has been with us. Evil actually is evidence of God in much the same way that you cannot have a shadow without the sun. Evil is interesting in that when we think about it, we always think of the evil that OTHER people do. We don't like to think about our own shortcomings, sin, and iniquity. What if you woke up and went to the bathroom in the morning and there was an LED sign on your forehead that broadcast in flashing lights, your every thought for everyone to see? Well, I know I'd never leave the bathroom. We've all fallen short, right?
So why did God allow this to happen? He quoted Romans 8:28 and expounded upon it. He explained that God most certainly, since He is all powerful, could have stopped the bullet. But He didn't. Why? Because God causes ALL things to work for good. We are limited by time and space. God is not. God sees the end result. God can take bad things and turn them around for good. There are ripple effects from every circumstance that we cannot see, but God does. One thing happens that leads to other circumstances, and others and others, like the ripple across a pond when a pebble is tossed into it. To illustrate, we all know the story of Joseph, sold by his brothers into slavery. He has the favor of God and rises to the rank of the second most powerful man in Egypt. In the middle of a famine, he has the wisdom from God to stockpile grain in advance of the famine.
People from other lands come to purchase grain to avoid starvation. His brothers were some of those people! When they saw him, they were afraid. In Genesis 50:17 his brothers ask for forgiveness. It's the first time in the Bible the word forgiveness is mentioned. Joseph answers in verse 20, "And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive."
Dr. Turek told a moving story about a campus event at Michigan State University where an atheist student stood up and said, "There is no God. If there's a God, why does He allow bad things to happen to good people? Why didn't He stop Hitler? Why does He allow innocent babies to die?" Dr. Turek answered his questions and then a man in the audience not far from the atheist student stood up and said:
"Several decades ago there was a woman who was brutally raped. The event was devastating to the young woman. She was crushed. To make matters worse, she was pregnant from the rape. She refused to allow the baby to be punished for the man's sin, so she carried the baby to term. The baby boy grew up, heard the Gospel message and was saved. He went on to become a pastor and led many people to Christ! The man turned to the atheist and said, 'That baby was ME!" Good things can come about from even the most terrible of circumstances. The ripple effect.
Dr. Turek posted a profound quote on the screen that I captured and have been thinking about quite a lot lately:
So this fallen world and all the events we experience are shaping us, molding us, refining us, preparing us. But God didn't create us as robots. He gave us free will. He is omniscient. He knows what will happen, but Him knowing what will happen doesn't equal causation. We have free will. We can accept Him or reject Him. We can make wise decisions or foolish ones or even evil ones. We are not exempt from the consequences of our decisions.
The Q&A session was uplifting with students asking hard questions and even students asking what can they do to be a better evangelist or witness for Christ to unbelieving friends. Young people are energized. There is a revival taking place. Russ and I left uplifted, inspired and motivated. Russ got his questions answered. Charlie Kirk was murdered, but his life wasn't lived in vain. People all across the world have had an opportunity to hear the Gospel, to see Christianity lived out, to see Erika Kirk forgive the murderer of her husband! We left there with a renewed commitment to live our lives for Christ and to shine His Light, giving Him all the glory.
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