I am not scheduled to preach anywhere today, but if I were I would speak on the price some have paid, and are paying for “speaking the truth in love.” When I was ordained to preach, my father’s ordination sermon was “The Price of Telling the Truth.” He wanted me to know there is a price for telling the truth. Young Charlie Kirk, only 31, found that out when he was assassinated in Utah on September 11 as he was trying to speak the truth in love.

In my July Knowlesletter, I wrote on “Trying to Help Somebody ‘Traveling Wrong'”. I wrote, “I greatly admire people like Charlie Kirk who tries to show young people on college campuses that they are ‘traveling wrong.’ I am appalled at their brazen appearance, arrogant attitude, vile and filthy language, brainwashed ignorance, and their closed minds. It is apparent that Satan, the god of this world, is still blinding the minds of those who don’t (or won’t) believe (2 Cor. 4:4) They seem unable to understand the message of truth. But I am glad there are those who try to “show somebody that they’re traveling wrong.” By the way, my column was based on the great song made famous by Mahalia Jackson whose lyrics read: “If I can help somebody as I pass along, if I can cheer somebody with a word or song, if I can show somebody that they’re traveling wrong, then my living shall not be in vain.”

This is what Charlie was trying to do on college campuses all over America. And now he is dead. But I do not believe his life, though cut short, was in vain.

Jesus was killed for telling the truth. Those who did not want to receive His message plotted and carried out His death. The apostle Paul, a former persecutor of Christians, did all he could to spread the message of Christ once he saw the light. He once said,

“Have I now become your enemy for telling the truth?” He, too, paid the price for telling the truth.

In my July column I wrote: “In dealing with people who are ‘traveling wrong,’ we ‘must be gentle toward all people … in gentleness instructing those in opposition” hoping that “perhaps God will grant them repentance to know the truth” so that “they may escape the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:24-26). John Bunyan said, “Dost thou see a soul with the image of God in him? Love him, love him. Say to thyself, ‘This man and I must go to heaven together some day.'”

Everything I know about Charlie Kirk leads me to believe that he was a man who loved God, loved Christ, loved the truth, loved America, loved God’s plan for marriage and the home. And he was gentle in his instruction, even though he was vilified and demonized by those who do not want to hear the truth. And in the end, assassinated. He paid the ultimate price for telling the truth.

I hope this day that ministers all over America will tell the truth about the things that matter most. I hope they will speak God’s truth in love, even to those who oppose truth and hate the truth. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to God except through Him. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” His way, His truth, and His life is the only thing that will set men and women, boys and girls, free from sin and death and hell. I urge all who profess Christ this day to “set yourself for the defense of the gospel” (Philippians 1:16) like Charlie did, and for all of us to “stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free” (Galatians 5:1).

I also ask you to pray for his dear wife Erika and their two little children who no longer have a daddy to come home at night and play with them. Pray for America. Pray for the world. Pray for the church. Pray for courage to stand for the truth, even though sometimes there is a high price to pay for doing so.

Victor Knowles is a well—known minister of the Word of God. He resides in Joplin, MO. His website is the place to go for all his books, writings, events, and the word of God. See link below.

Website: https://www.poeministries.org/

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/107277915976481/