“Who stands fast? Only the man whose final standard is not his reason, his principles, his conscience, his freedom, or his virtue, but who is ready to sacrifice all this when he is called to obedient and responsible action in faith and in exclusive allegiance to God.” –Deitrich Bonhoeffer

You probably have some idea where I am going with this. I am breaking the chain of blogs I previously planned to write; but this one fits beautifully and appropriately into this year’s theme of serving Christ in 2025.

This one pushed itself into our lives quite unexpectedly with the assassination of Charlie Kirk. In my life, this happened personally at the same time I am rereading the Mataxas’ biography Bonhoeffer, following some articles on Christians in Ukraine, and participating in a Bible study of  Philippians, right now centered on Chapter Two. There are some profound comparisons to be made with all these and so I decided to share my thoughts with you.

I happened to be in Ohio at the time of Charlie’s assassination, visiting my brother and sister-in-law. When I heard my sister-in-law reading the headline appearing on her TV screen in a nearby room, I uttered an exclamation of shock. “Do you know who that is?” she asked me. She and my brother are in their upper 80’s and pretty much homebound. They had not heard of Charlie.

Truth is I wasn’t very familiar with who Charlie Kirk was either. He had first come to my attention when he spoke at the Republican convention. I wasn’t aware that he was a Christian to the extent that he actually was. I mentioned him to a couple of my children who knew more and they told me about his Turning Point USA organization. Yet, it has only been since his death that I realized that everything he said and stood for was based on his faith in Jesus Christ and his desire to serve Him first and foremost in his life.

These past few weeks, I have watched the segments of his conversations on college campuses with anyone who chose to confront him that have sprung up all over social media. What he said has amazed me. The straight-forwardness, the transparency, the honesty, the actual listening to the argument being presented, and the focus on the individual speaking. He brought his faith into all of it, and one can clearly see that his faith in Christ was indeed his motivation for whatever else he said and did. Over and over again, he clearly shared the Gospel with his audiences. 

Since his death, I have seen his critics consistently misrepresent what he said, some angrily lashing out, others sorry for the violence that brought him down but nevertheless disdaining and disgusted by what he stood for. Still others are careful to politely keep silent and ignore the felt grief of those who loved him and what he said that is going on all around them.

This is not unlike the response of the world in the early years of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. As Hitler rose to power in Germany, the rest of the world watched quietly from a distance. Even within Germany, many were hoping Hitler would go away without disturbing their daily life. Even in the Church. The fact that so many seemed to turn their heads the other way or even that some jumped right on his bandwagon, disturbed and activated Bonhoeffer who spent his time networking with Christian leaders inside and outside of Germany, trying to form a coalition to take down the growing evil inside his country. And like Kirk, he trained young people. In his case, they were young ministers who had left the traditional German State Lutheran Church of which Hitler had taken control. This resistant church became known as the Confessing Church, holding fast to Scripture, and eventually severing ties with the national church. 

Bonhoeffer, like Charlie Kirk, debated the concerning issues wherever he was able and quickly became a thorn in the side of the Schutzstaffel, better known as the SS. Sailing to America to avoid being drafted into the German army, he observed that the Church in America seemed surprisingly distant from keeping to scripture, and was proudly moving to a works without Jesus gospel. He marveled that true believers did nothing to stop this movement or even encounter their thinking. To Bonhoeffer’s mind, publicly shrinking away from truth was equal to denying Christ. 

He wrote, “I now often wonder whether it is true that America is the country without a reformation. If reformation means the God-given knowledge of the failure of all ways of building up a kingdom of God on earth, then it is probably true. But is it not also true of England? The voice of Lutheranism is there in America, but it is one among others, it has never been able to confront the other denominations. There hardly ever seem to be ‘encounters’ in this great country, in which the one can avoid the other. But where there is no encounter, where liberty is the only unifying factor, one naturally knows nothing of the community which is created through encounter.” 

Charlie Kirk “encountered” and now the world is beginning to see the community or rather the Kingdom of God that motivated his encountering. He has left to America a legacy of encountering for the sake of truth. For the sake of Jesus Christ. 

Believers around the world where liberty and freedom of speech are absent struggle with different kinds of encounters. The global church at large experiences persecution and even martyrdom on a daily basis. It might even be said that struggling believers in these places are actually thriving where the obstacles confound them the most. It is a great reminder that Jesus is the ultimate victor in every situation. 

In Ukraine, for example, the country has been ripped apart by communism. Viktoria and Vasyl Agarkov (World magazine, September 2025, Steal, Kill, Destroy, William  Fleeson) fled a Russian occupied part of Ukraine to Lviv, where Vasyl continues his training to pastor and also serves in various ways those affected by the war. Most recently the couple adopted four boys, orphaned by war. “Vasyl calls the war ‘unprovoked’ and ‘satanic.’ And he considers Russia’s persecution of Christians pure evil. . . .He confirmed reports of Protestant pastors and other believers killed or abused for their faith. . . .’[The Russians] are fighting not only Ukrainians but also with Christianity, with God,’ Vasyl said.”

Media doesn’t tell us the full truth. Certain narratives that promote Jesus Christ that may be spoken in public places are reported as counter culture concepts—propaganda groups whose views should not be tolerated. It is the easy beliefs of these lies that feed into Satan’s schemes to defeat Christianity. And in Ukraine, Russian and communist propaganda often colors how the media portrays the war. What is happening to Christians is often neglected in their reporting. 

In February Mission Euroasia, a religious freedom initiative, published an Analysis of the Religious Situation in Ukraine, titled Faith Under Russian Terror. A host of situations are described and this document reports that at least 47 religious leaders have been executed since the start of the war in 2022. Churches buildings have been destroyed or are being reused by the Russian government. (I would be happy to share this document with you. Just message me at the end of the blog.) 

The Apostle Paul warned many times in his letters to the early Christian congregations to be discerning. And certainly to speak up against evil voices who misrepresent truth (Eph. 5:10-11, 6:12; Phil. 1:27-29; Jude 3). So many in the early church, including 10 of the original disciples, gave their lives for the sake of the gospel. Yet in doing so, new believers were brought into the church by the thousands. 

Those who die for the sake of Christ are an inspiring group. Martyrdom is an inspirational calling. Their courage should lead each of us to forsake all for the case of Christ. As Charlie believed, “to be more concerned about what God wants of me than what I want from God.” This willingness of hearts focused solely on Christ, lends itself to the moving of the Spirit of God among us. A kingdom of light shining brightly amid a dark, “a crooked and twisted” culture (Phil. 2:13) that will never overtake it. 

To be a part of this kingdom is the most exciting thing I can think of. That this was the ultimate will of God and that He provided a way for us to be brought into it—is so gloriously incomprehensible to me right now. As another Ukrainian pastor (World Magazine) put it: “Wherever we are today, [in America or Europe, Asia, Africa—anywhere] we are still the church.”

We have so much of Charlie’s words on video. The Apostle Paul wrote letters to pastors and churches. Bonhoeffer also wrote letters and books, leaving his thoughts behind for us. These are all ways that they served God during their lives that God continues to use in His Church today.

Bonhoeffer wrote: “So too one day we shall see quite clearly into the depths of the divine heart and there we shall then be able to read, no, to see, a name Jesus Christ. . . .One day we shall know and see what today we believe, one day we shall hold a service together in eternity.”

Stephen, just before he was stoned to death by an angry crowd, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God. “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” Moments later he would forgive those killing him and in spirit be united with his Lord Jesus (Acts 7:54-60).

A guard who watched the execution of Bonhoeffer said that he walked “bravely and composed” to the scaffold where he would hang. 

Frank Turek, a mentor of Charlie Kirk who was with him as he spoke at Utah Valley University, said that Charlie, unresponsive, was looking beyond all his friends and supporters, into the face of eternity as they drove him to the hospital. His appearance was peaceful and calm. His work here was done. 

It is ours to continue.