Now What?

 Now What?

It has been almost a week since the murder of Charlie Kirk.  We have heard plenty, both left and right, about what happened and what prompted the shooting.  Now what?

The following in my opinion and that is all but to sum it up: “We will not see a move toward greater unity in our nation”.   Those on the left will praise the attack on someone they see as a threat.  The assassin may be venerated as a heroic character who demonstrates that the ‘injustices’ of the right will no longer be tolerated.  Those on the right will be even more convinced that the left is a culture of death and evil, people with whom reason is useless and  must be dealt with by means of power.  

Historically this might be more akin to the “Raid on Harper’s Ferry” than anything else in our history.  The bloody war from 1861 to 1865 was the cruelest moment in our history.  We killed ourselves in unprecedented numbers and created wounds that still fester today.  That war is popularly dated from the bombardment of Fort Sumter, April 12, 1861.  It might be more accurate to say the war began at Harpers Ferry Oct 16, 1859.  A mad man, to liberate the oppressed, took up arms with the intent to kill.  Sound familiar?  As a result the national division grew deeper and wider, and the opportunity for dialogue diminished.   

In our day neither side will see this as an occasion for restraint or dialing back of the rhetoric.  Instead we will see it as proof that every evil conception we have of the other side is true and actually worse than expected.  Whether it is booing in congress during a moment of silence for the family of Charlie Kirk or one pastor’s quote from Ecclesiastes, "’A time for love and a time for hate; a time for war and a time for peace’. This is not the time for peace but a time for war”.  We are drawn to the dynamic personalities on our side. These personalities are usually on the extreme.  I know a lady who claims faith in Christ, but never refers to the other party as democrats, but always as ‘demon-crats’.  If we can dehumanize the other side we can move from loving them while disagreeing with them, to simply disagreeing with them and avoiding them, to hating them because of the things with which we disagree with them, to ultimately pulling the trigger. 

I think we can expect that both sides will see this as a cash cow that needs to be milked before she goes dry when the news cycle moves on to the next world shaking event.  From the right, “The liberal evil left has taken up arms to oppress us.  We need to act now, subscribe to my podcast, buy my book, support my advertisers, help fund me as I take up the bloody microphone and go to carry on Charlie’s work.”  From the left, “They will make this racial into a martyr and try to ramrod his agenda on you.  Send us money so we can resist, support our candidates with donation volunteering and sharing our feed on your social media page.”  There is an opportunity for expanding your  brand, making big money and becoming a celebrity on one side or the other at this moment, if we can turn it into a crisis.  Even non-political peppers can get on the band wagon, “Chaos is coming so buy my solar panels and 25 years shelf life food.”

While Jesus was on the cross He prayed, “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they are doing”.  If I am to be a follower of Christ I MUST BEGIN BY LOVING.  How can I love Christ whom I have never seen if I hate the republicans or democrats, the LGBTQ+ or NRA members, the slain or the slayer, whom I have seen.  My gut instinct is that it is more like the “Raid at Harper’s Ferry” than any force for good.  It may be the dress rehearsal for a Balkanization kind of war where the battle lines are not clearly defined.

What shall we do?  Let me offer a couple of strategies that ought to be a daily practice.  On the negative side. Don’t believe everything you hear in your echo chamber about the evil of the other side.  Don’t imagine that any political solution could ever solve our problem.  Don’t disconnect with people with whom you disagree, no matter how disagreeable they (or you)  might be.

On the positive side.  Believe everything you see in the Word of God and in the life of Christ, this problem is not too big for Jesus. Spend a moment and look and see how God has changed nations.  Many scholars believe England would have followed the past of the French Revolution had it not been for the influence of the revivals associated with the Wesley brothers.  Engage with people and work to draw them to Christ, not your political position.  Julian the Apostate emperor of Rome left the Christian faith to return to paganism as a hope for reviving Rome’s greatness.  His attacks on the church were brutal, but he could not defeat Christ and His church.  It was reported his last words were, “Thou hast conquered, Galilean”.  

Never forget Jesus wins, let’s make sure we are on His side.