A Matter of Division?

Introduction: I was studying in Luke 12, the last section. The tension between Jesus and His haters was palpable. It is easy to understand why. Just listen to Jesus’ words:

Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division” (Lk 12:51, ESV).

When’s the last time you heard that verse taught in context?

Odds are you have heard lots of talks on Jesus as our peace, and references to Jesus’ words from John 14 about His peace being given to His people. Folks just love that passage. Why? Well, it’s not offensive. It’s what almost anyone would want, right? Who wouldn’t want peace?

It turns out that lots of people don’t want peace. They want murder; they want hate; they want destruction; they want to cancel any who dare speak up for light and truth. Tyler Robinson is just one of countless examples.

Today, it’s Tyler Robinson, the alleged murderer of Charlie Kirk. But he’s symptomatic of apparently millions of people calling for celebrations of Charlie’s murder. Some TV personalities and entertainers of the sheeple are even losing their jobs now because, finally, it seems, some folks are waking up to the hatred by the Leftists.

Charlie’s constant pattern was one wherein he welcomed open and respectful debate. And he was met with what exactly? A round of .30-06 to the throat. He’s now going down as a martyr for Christian witness and conservatism and open debate in a world that largely hates Christ, Christianity, reason, and open debate. Instead, the mobs resort to violence. Rather than trying to reason with folks via respectful dialogue, they take up arms and murder.

Now we’re being bombarded with coverage of text messages between homosexual young men referring to one another as “furries,” in the same sentences about assassinating Kirk. It is all vomit-inducing.

This is where we are as a culture, where men are being surgically mutilated and denying biology in hopes of altering what cannot be altered, one’s DNA. You can remove parts and/or add parts, but the genes remain. It’s ghastly and tragic what’s happening.

And it reminds me of how Christ spoke to the crowds and taught (very similar to the way Charlie emulated, mind you):

He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?” (Lk 12:54-56, ESV)

Jesus rebuked the people because they did not know how to interpret the times. They were undiscerning. They were recalcitrant. They largely not only rejected Him and His message, but they hated Him, too.

Question: Sound familiar to today’s culture when truth-tellers arise?

Chaplain Daily Touchpoint #313: The Root of Righteousness

Introduction: What does this level of violence reveal about a people? Like many others, I am aghast at the assassination (on video) of Charlie Kirk. He was a model of open debate. He traveled to colleges and universities, supposedly institutions grounded in the free and open exchange of ideas, and welcomed Q & A times with students and faculty. He made a huge cultural impact. The POTUS is even to bestow the nation’s highest honor upon Charlie soon. It’s a posthumous award, of course, but it speaks to Charlie’s testimony as a Christian, husband, dad, and kind warrior for open debate. But I again ask the question: What does this level of violence reveal about a people?

Just weeks ago, a ‘trans’-identifying person (Hale), murdered three children, three adults, and injured scores more at the Covenant School in Nashville, TN. And on 27 August 2025, Robert Westman, another ‘trans’-identifying person, murdered two children and injured twenty-one adults at Annunciation Catholic School, a Roman Catholic school in Minneapolis, MN. And this week, Charlie Kirk bled out on camera for all to see. It was horrifying to watch. He bled out because it appears he was shot by a young man whose shell casings are stamped with Leftist slogans. There’s even video of people cheering the public assassination of Kirk. Regardless of one’s politics, that ought to break our hearts, that folks can be that cold-hearted and blinded by ideology. But Charlie’s legacy will endure because he was an open book. He, contrary to his haters, welcomed open dialogue and debate. In fact, a theme that recurred through his ministry was that if we stop talking to one another, violence is next. And he was proven, yet again, to be correct. He has now been made a cultural martyr for conservatism and open debate and dialogue.

Scripture: Solomon wrote “No one is established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous will never be moved” (Pr 12:3, ESV). Charlie has been murdered by one, it appears for now, anyway, to be yet another bitter Leftist bent upon destruction. I’m sure he’ll be caught soon. But we’ll see how it all plays out. What is clear, however, is that Charlie was right: if and when courteous dialogue and rigorous honest debate are squashed, violence is creeping at the door.

Encouragement: The “root of the righteous will never be moved,” however, just as Scripture teaches. You can murder truth and truth-tellers, but both abideth still.