It seems that blood lust has always filled the hearts and minds of people who reject God. Something in the heart of man hates anything that is not like him; not familiar to him. Unchecked, this can quickly turn into Saul hunting and murdering Christians 2000 years ago and people hunting and murdering Christians today. The most common way this plays out is in the world of political power. Militant Islamic groups attack Christian villages and churches almost daily all across Africa and the Middle East. The hatred that is bred there is almost palpable. Extremist Hindus, pushing for a government more closely tied to the religion, kill almost as many Christians as Muslims do. Communist governments are famous for their treatment of Christians. Believers in Russia, China, North Korea, Vietnam and other communist
run countries are constantly under attack. Thousands of stories rise up each year as the spouses, children, friends and family of those killed share. Sadly, American Christians don’t hear a lot of those stories. Even sadder, when we do hear them, we file them in the same category as a natural disaster or a terrorist bombing. “Oh, that’s so sad!” and we move on.

Charlie Kirk was a young, Christian preacher whose audience was most often the students of a secular university. Turning Point USA, the organization he helped found, stages apologetic style debates at universities all across the nation, challenging attenders to “Prove Me (the speaker) Wrong.” Charlie had an incredibly quick wit giving him the ability to challenge even the most vile questions and threats. He was a staunch supporter of President Trump and had a deep love for his country. This led to a lot a politically motivated questions at debates. Like most patriots, Charlie was extremely passionate. He was a red-blooded American and didn’t mind saying so. Under normal conditions, this combination of Christian patriot is fine. But our world today isn’t normal. People like Iryna Zarutska are killed while bystanders offer only to video the attack. (This happens often.) Instead of decorum, many took to social media after Charlie’s death to celebrate. Normalcy is something we left behind like land line phones.
The unspoken mantra “Adapt or be forgotten,” is what we’ve mostly all adopted. We don’t realize how terrible things are until someone like us is killed. I’m not the first one to say this by a long shot. I can’t be the last. Something must be done, but what? How do we fix a problem we can’t name? Who’s to blame?

Our country has developed what’s been called an elimination culture. This is not a new invention. For us, it grew out of what we called “cancel culture.” Cancel culture sought to silence it’s opponents by belittling them, demonizing them or just simply forgetting them (in the case of the removal of statues or rewriting history). The idea of making history what I want it to be became so popular, someone thought,

“It’d sure be a lot easier to just kill those propagating the ideas I disagree with.” And so begins the elimination. This is happening right now in Nigeria, where almost 4,000 Christians were killed by Muslim Boko Haram militants. Did you hear that? Nearly 4,000 people made in the image of God wiped off the earth because of what they believe. How does that make you feel? Are you as incensed about that as you are Charlie’s shooting? This kind of toxicity is destroying nations all over the earth. Are we willing to let it destroy us, too?

The only way elimination culture can be battled is with the genuine character of Christ. We don’t fight this battle with bullets or in court or on social media. We take this battle to the streets, schools, businesses and neighborhoods. We love the people who know and see nothing but hatred. We serve them and care for them and let them see Jesus in us. Obviously, you must first know Jesus to do this. Nigerians regularly choose to forgive their Muslim killers. How can this be? They understand Jesus’ death wasn’t martyrdom. He willingly chose to go to the cross. His killers didn’t surprise Him on a train or while He was speaking. He voluntarily laid down His life. Nigerian Christians understand this. It’s called grace. Until we can set aside our hatred, a culture of grace will not be known here. I’m not suggesting we demolish our political parties or anything else that divides us. I’m suggesting, in our incredible diversity, we choose another option than death to get our way. The only good option is grace.