Yesterday a person with warped and murderous beliefs assassinated conservative influencer Charlie Kirk at a live event being held at the Utah Valley University campus in front of thousands of people. No matter what side of the political aisle you may be on, murder of an individual over political beliefs should never be acceptable. Yet within a few hours of his death, I was witnessing celebration and cheering from liberal leaning individuals. And they were not a small minority either. One person posted, “Well, guess he lost the debate”. The post received 120,000 likes in only a couple hours.

As tragic and grotesque as that post is, it is also completely wrong. Only someone who has lost the debate attempts to silence their opponent. Charlie Kirk won in death the same way he won in life, through trusting in and following Jesus. That same day, in an interview with Megyn Kelly a woman who knew him well (perhaps a co-worker, if I remember correctly) mentioned that he was growing in a spiritual sense by leaps and bounds and particularly over the last few months. I’ve no idea why she noticed his spiritual growth to be so pronounced so recently, but it does indicate that Charlie Kirk made his relationship with a God a priority. All Jesus-followers, politically left or right, should be able to respect that.

The shooter in this case obviously did not respect Kirk’s faith or journey and performed like the devil he is, for Satan has been sinning from the beginning (1 John 3.7-10). How do we curb the evil in our society? (I say “curb” because only Jesus can end all evil.) There are many strategies that would help, but I’d like to suggest a couple my fellow Christians may not have considered.

First, we need better Christians. Those mature in the faith, the one’s who eat theological meat at every meal, will understand (Hebrews 5.12-.14). If you are offended by the comment, or are worried that I’m misplacing blame from the assassin onto the good guys, then you are the person I’m talking about. Do better. Become a mature believer and never stop growing in Christ. How do you do this? I’m not going to provide you with the common Sunday school answers only; we all know daily prayer, reading the Bible, and memorizing Scripture are the foundation of spiritual growth. Do these things and more. Peter gives us other ways to develop a strong and mature faith in the first chapter of his second letter, stating:

“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith excellence, to excellence, knowledge; to knowledge, self-control; to self-control, perseverance; to perseverance, godliness; to godliness, brotherly affection; to brotherly affection, unselfish love.” (2 Peter 1.5-.7)

And Paul does similarly in Galatians 5.22-.23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” When is the last time you took an inventory of your godliness? Of these godly traits Peter and Paul list, how many do you excel in? Be honest, then get to work. The world’s evils shrink in direct relation to the number of mature believers in the world. To put it another way, the more people within a given population that have God’s Word as their source of truth, the less prone people are to commit acts of evil.

The second strategy I have for curbing evil in society also requires work on our part: present the gospel to every liberal you meet. I’m not saying evil lives only in the camp of the political left, but the acts of violence, murder and outright denial of good come more from liberals than conservatives and it’s not even close. If you need evidence of this I can provide it, but this is one of those truths that should be self-evident. From removing God from their political platform and claiming prayer doesn’t work, to murdering babies in the womb and destroying children through sexual mutilation and drug “therapies”, the political left in the USA has far more servants of evil among their ranks than any other group. Share the gospel with them. They may never speak to you again, but if they do tell them about Jesus again. And again. Maybe at some point the message will get through but even if it doesn’t you are doing the right work and growing in faith.

In conclusion, please note that I am not blaming believers in Jesus for the assassination of Charlie Kirk. The only one responsible for that is the shooter. One may make a case that others bear some responsibility for actions they took or didn’t take, but ultimately the blame squarely rests on the shoulders of the one who pulled the trigger. What I am stating is that such great evil cannot be met with frustration only. By becoming the man or woman God intends for you to be and focusing on your relationship with Jesus we are better equipped to make the changes our communities need most.