Dear Editor,

Yesterday I turned on one of the church channels and watched the memorial to Charlie Kirk.

They played everything straight through without the interruption of the talking heads and commercials on regular cable networks.

It was incredible. Even though it was Charlie’s memorial, it felt like I sat in a 5 to 6 hour church service that glorified Jesus. Speaker after speaker arose and not only gave praise to Charlie Kirk but gave honor and glory to the one who had created Charlie and the reason for his life and death. Everybody in that arena understood one thing. Jesus was the reason for all of us and our purpose in life.

A lot of young people learned yesterday that heroes don’t burn down cities in the dark of night. They don’t hide behind masks. They don’t spit on those they disagree with. And they don’t murder innocent people with a different opinion.

Yesterday the entire world learned that heroes stand up in the daylight and confront evil. They speak softly and debate differences. They pray and love others enough that they would die for them.

What a contrast with those that are controlled by Satan.

Those that hate use false accusations against their enemies routinely and without conscience. They accuse others of being Nazis, fascists, or Hitler, even though they share far more in common with these villains than do those they accuse. They rail against those of us on the right because we love God’s moral law, to agitate those who stand for the opposite. They accuse conservatives of ‘violence’ or ‘violent rhetoric,’ because it tends to mute condemnation against them when they inevitably engage in vicious behavior. They justify and pardon murder and other wicked behavior while harshly punishing their political opponents. They claim that the victims of their violence brought it on themselves and got what they deserved (Brian Thompson, Charlie Kirk, Iryna Zarutska). They violently attack and shout down any conservative who attempts to speak publicly to deny them freedom of speech.

But I see change coming. I always tell people that as evil rises in our nation that revival rises as well. People, young and old, are beginning to wake up from their slumber and say … I will no longer sit in these church pews and be silent but I will be courageous and glorify the One who created me. They are filled with the Holy Spirit realizing that Jesus is the end all be all of their existence. Through the suffering of these courageous Christians , faith and character will develop. Great leaders will arise … not born … but made … and precisely at the time their country needs them, not before. And one day they will hear the same words Charlie Kirk heard upon the doorstep of heaven.

“Well done good and faithful servant.”

Randy Marple

Shadyside