Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Charlie Kirk's Memorial-Sparking Revival & Spreading the Gospel Worldwide
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: Welcome.
- 0:01Speaker 2: It is Verdict with Center Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with
- 0:04Speaker 2: you and Senator Cruz and I. We just returned after
- 0:08Speaker 2: the funeral of Charlie Kirk. Today was I think maybe
- 0:12Speaker 2: one of the most incredible things I've ever witnessed in
- 0:15Speaker 2: my life. And I'm saying that going to memorial service,
- 0:19Speaker 2: but Centata, I think you probably feel the exact same
- 0:21Speaker 2: way that I do that this was a day where
- 0:23Speaker 2: I feel blessed. I feel honored that we were able
- 0:26Speaker 2: to be there to be a part of it. I
- 0:28Speaker 2: feel like I am watching a revival take place that
- 0:31Speaker 2: is so much bigger than politics, and I think what
- 0:35Speaker 2: we've witnessed today was the start of something that could
- 0:39Speaker 2: transform this country. They're now saying over a hundred million
- 0:44Speaker 2: was the number of streams coming out of this event,
- 0:47Speaker 2: and well over two hundred thousand people showed up, the
- 0:50Speaker 2: majority of them without a ticket to go to the
- 0:52Speaker 2: memorial service. It was incredible.
- 0:55Speaker 3: It was extraordinary.
- 0:56Speaker 4: Man.
- 0:57Speaker 3: It is right now, twelve nineteen a Sunday night, early
- 1:01Speaker 3: Monday morning. You and I spent the entire day in
- 1:04Speaker 3: Arizona at the memorial service for Charlie Kirk, and I
- 1:09Speaker 3: got to say, this was a powerful day. It was powerful.
- 1:12Speaker 3: Number one, we were grieving our friend. Both you and
- 1:16Speaker 3: I knew Charlie really well. I talked to him not
- 1:19Speaker 3: many weeks ago. You know, I met him when he
- 1:23Speaker 3: was eighteen years old. And the last two weeks have
- 1:27Speaker 3: been a hard week. You and I both watched our
- 1:29Speaker 3: friend murdered on live video online, and the agony we
- 1:36Speaker 3: felt was felt without ipurbole, by millions of Americans who
- 1:42Speaker 3: Charlie had touched. So there was grief, there was grieving,
- 1:47Speaker 3: But I got to tell you, as much as there
- 1:49Speaker 3: was grief, and then there were certainly tears. There were
- 1:51Speaker 3: tears for Erica, the tears for his two children that
- 1:56Speaker 3: will never know their daddy. But today, the the atmosphere,
- 2:01Speaker 3: more than anything, was one of celebration. It was one
- 2:03Speaker 3: of celebrating a life well lived. It was one of
- 2:07Speaker 3: celebrating a legacy, an example. You know, I got to say,
- 2:12Speaker 3: none of us know when we will go. We don't
- 2:15Speaker 3: know if we'll be here tomorrow. We don't know if
- 2:16Speaker 3: we'll be here in ten years and twenty years, in
- 2:20Speaker 3: fifty years. But I will tell you there's not a
- 2:24Speaker 3: one of us who wouldn't hope to be remembered the
- 2:27Speaker 3: way Charlie was today. Yeah, I mean, what a life
- 2:30Speaker 3: well lived and what a celebration. And you mentioned revival.
- 2:37Speaker 3: That was a term that was used over and over
- 2:40Speaker 3: and over again by speakers today, and there was a
- 2:43Speaker 3: feel of revival. There was a feel, you know. I
- 2:47Speaker 3: saw the Babylon Bee had a story today about the
- 2:50Speaker 3: devil saying, uh oh, I went too far. And I
- 2:54Speaker 3: gotta say it is amazing.
- 3:00Speaker 5: You know.
- 3:01Speaker 3: Earlier today, Charlie Kirk's producer of his podcast sent out
- 3:06Speaker 3: a tweet and the tweet said, I was just told
- 3:11Speaker 3: that we have more press interest in sunday celebration of
- 3:15Speaker 3: Charlie Kirk's life and legacy than there is for the
- 3:20Speaker 3: Super Bowl. The gospel of Jesus Christ is about to
- 3:24Speaker 3: be proclaimed to the largest audience in the history of humanity.
- 3:29Speaker 3: To God be the Glory. And I got to say.
- 3:32Speaker 3: A friend of mine who's a pastor, he texted that
- 3:34Speaker 3: to me, and I just said, Amen, God is sovereign
- 3:36Speaker 3: and God is good. And look, none of us know
- 3:41Speaker 3: why God allowed this deranged killer to take Charlie's life,
- 3:47Speaker 3: to take it too early, to take it at just
- 3:48Speaker 3: age thirty. One, but I have to say it is
- 3:53Speaker 3: breath taking number one. I think it is very likely
- 3:57Speaker 3: that in the last two weeks more people have listened
- 4:00Speaker 3: to Charlie Kirk then listened in his entire life. It
- 4:05Speaker 3: has been amazing, the penetration and and and this was
- 4:09Speaker 3: it did It felt like a Billy Graham revival. And
- 4:14Speaker 3: and and the degree to which you know, I'll tell
- 4:17Speaker 3: you Friday night, I was at a youth summit in
- 4:21Speaker 3: Texas and two to three thousand young people came out
- 4:27Speaker 3: to it. The attendance more than doubled what it typically was,
- 4:31Speaker 3: and it ended up being just a remembrance of Charlie Kirk.
- 4:34Speaker 3: And I spoke at it. I'll tell you. At the beginning,
- 4:39Speaker 3: a pastor preached and about two hundred young people gave
- 4:43Speaker 3: their lives to Christ at a gathering.
- 4:46Speaker 1: Incredible.
- 4:47Speaker 3: It's incredible in Texas on a Friday night, and that
- 4:52Speaker 3: it was staggering. This you know, this was in the
- 4:56Speaker 3: football Stadium in Phoenix, Arizona. It's a huge stadium. People
- 5:01Speaker 3: started showing up at four and four thirty in the
- 5:03Speaker 3: morning to line up to get in. And if you
- 5:06Speaker 3: were there, I ran into people who were there by
- 5:08Speaker 3: eight am they didn't get in. The program started at eleven.
- 5:13Speaker 3: If you showed up at eight, you didn't make it in.
- 5:17Speaker 3: And the over one hundred million views is astonishing and
- 5:25Speaker 3: powerful and I think transformational. The Gospel was proclaimed to
- 5:31Speaker 3: millions today, and I think a lot of people in
- 5:35Speaker 3: the United States and across the world are listening to
- 5:40Speaker 3: what is said and are are moved. And you know,
- 5:43Speaker 3: I'm reminded of of Jesus in the New Testament. Gives
- 5:46Speaker 3: the parallel of the parable, and gives the parable of
- 5:49Speaker 3: sowing seeds, and sowing seeds is spreading the gospel. And
- 5:53Speaker 3: some of the seeds fall on rocky soil, some of
- 5:57Speaker 3: the seeds are eaten by birds, but some of the
- 6:00Speaker 3: seeds fall in fertile ground, and and and they take root,
- 6:05Speaker 3: and they bear fruit, and and not everyone who watched
- 6:10Speaker 3: and listened to the service today is going to have
- 6:11Speaker 3: their life transformed, but about I think an astonishing number
- 6:15Speaker 3: are And and I pray and I think you do too,
- 6:18Speaker 3: that that that revival comes from this, that that that
- 6:22Speaker 3: Charlie's death becomes a moment, particularly for young people, for
- 6:26Speaker 3: young people to say, you know what what he had?
- 6:29Speaker 3: I want my life to I want that kind of piece.
- 6:32Speaker 3: I want that satisfaction. I want the joy of getting
- 6:36Speaker 3: married and having kids and having a life where I'm
- 6:39Speaker 3: a husband and a father and and and I know
- 6:43Speaker 3: that that that that God loves me, and and I
- 6:46Speaker 3: have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And I think
- 6:49Speaker 3: Charlie's life was a powerful testament to that. But I
- 6:52Speaker 3: think Charlie's death may have been an even more powerful
- 6:56Speaker 3: testament to.
- 6:57Speaker 1: That, no doubt.
- 6:58Speaker 2: And I want to paint a picture for people that
- 7:00Speaker 2: weren't there, so you understand. Many of you, we know,
- 7:03Speaker 2: I'm sure watched online, as we know from the number
- 7:07Speaker 2: of streams.
- 7:08Speaker 1: It's just incredible.
- 7:09Speaker 2: But from the moment that I left Houston, you and
- 7:12Speaker 2: I flew separately, and I was flying in to when
- 7:17Speaker 2: we touched down in Arizona, amazing grace broke out on
- 7:21Speaker 2: the plane and I was able.
- 7:23Speaker 3: To play that video because that video is beautiful, to
- 7:27Speaker 3: describe it, paint the scene, and then play the video.
- 7:29Speaker 2: Yeah, we landed, and it was a organic moment that
- 7:34Speaker 2: You're a United flight.
- 7:36Speaker 1: United.
- 7:36Speaker 2: Yeah, this is not Southwest is the best way I
- 7:38Speaker 2: can describe it. This is a United flight. This is
- 7:41Speaker 2: not normal on a United flight and it just started
- 7:46Speaker 2: and I'm going to play it for you because you're
- 7:48Speaker 2: going to hear the very end of what what what
- 7:51Speaker 2: I was able to witness, which was just incredible, And
- 7:55Speaker 2: I grabbed my phone out because I was I wanted
- 7:58Speaker 2: to just share it. And it was as we landed,
- 8:01Speaker 2: and it was just people singing, amazing grace on a
- 8:03Speaker 2: United flight number one. What a testimony to to everyone.
- 8:09Speaker 2: Incredible testimony from just a standpoint of the flight attendants
- 8:14Speaker 2: and in the in the the there was there was
- 8:16Speaker 2: I think it was pretty clear there was tears in
- 8:18Speaker 2: the eyes of one of the pilots when we were
- 8:19Speaker 2: walking off the plane and the people were singing, and
- 8:23Speaker 2: I want to play it for you, and it went
- 8:25Speaker 2: viral yesterday and then Fox News played it this morning
- 8:28Speaker 2: when I was on. They put it up on Fox
- 8:30Speaker 2: News dot Com and it's hit millions and millions of views,
- 8:33Speaker 2: and that just tells you the power I think of
- 8:35Speaker 2: of Charlie's legacy. But but listen to this on the plane.
- 8:38Speaker 2: It was amazing.
- 8:57Speaker 5: For Charley.
- 9:02Speaker 1: I mean, you can.
- 9:02Speaker 2: Hear it there and it was it was a moment
- 9:06Speaker 2: that I'm thankful I was able to capture on video.
- 9:08Speaker 1: But that was the mood. And I think the other thing.
- 9:12Speaker 2: You got up early this morning and you went to
- 9:16Speaker 2: the stadium to do Maria's show. I got up early
- 9:18Speaker 2: as well and was going to go do Fox beforehand.
- 9:21Speaker 2: The number of people that were at the stadium without
- 9:26Speaker 2: a ticket, that just on blind faith, because they felt
- 9:30Speaker 2: like they just needed to be there.
- 9:33Speaker 1: They just went and they were going.
- 9:36Speaker 3: To get idium at six in the morning, and there
- 9:39Speaker 3: was a line of people. It wasn't one or two,
- 9:42Speaker 3: it was a steady line. And you know what, it
- 9:45Speaker 3: looked like the Super Bowl. It looked like the Final
- 9:47Speaker 3: Four or if you know, any major sporting event, except
- 9:51Speaker 3: this was at six in the morning, and it was
- 9:53Speaker 3: a constant line of people just walking to the stadium.
- 9:57Speaker 3: They wanted to pay their respects to Charlie. They wanted
- 10:00Speaker 3: to honor his legacy. They wanted to give thanks, give
- 10:04Speaker 3: thanks for a life well lived. And and and that
- 10:10Speaker 3: that that was incredibly impactful. And I will say we
- 10:13Speaker 3: heard a lot of really powerful remarks, a lineup of
- 10:16Speaker 3: one after the other after the other. I will say,
- 10:20Speaker 3: by far, the most impactful speech was from Erica Kirk,
- 10:25Speaker 3: Charlie's widow, And and you and I we were sitting
- 10:29Speaker 3: next to each other in the memorial and we both
- 10:33Speaker 3: looked at each other and said the same thing. When
- 10:35Speaker 3: she finished, we just said wow, like it was.
- 10:39Speaker 1: It was.
- 10:42Speaker 3: It actually reminded me of years ago. If you remember
- 10:45Speaker 3: Ben Carson's speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, that he
- 10:48Speaker 3: gave a speech or the Obama presidency and it went
- 10:50Speaker 3: viral nationally and it it launched Ben Carson and it
- 10:54Speaker 3: it made him a national superstar. Erica's speech had had
- 11:00Speaker 3: that power. And I think for a lot of people
- 11:04Speaker 3: who had never seen her before that they were turning
- 11:06Speaker 3: on their TV, they were opening their phone or their computer.
- 11:12Speaker 3: The strength it took to give that speech less than
- 11:18Speaker 3: two weeks after you've lost your husband, less than two
- 11:20Speaker 3: weeks after you've lost the father of your kids, it
- 11:25Speaker 3: boggles the mind. And you could see her before she
- 11:28Speaker 3: went up, just stopping and just just praying, God give
- 11:31Speaker 3: me the strength to make it through this, and and
- 11:34Speaker 3: and and she was so openly relying on on on
- 11:37Speaker 3: God's strength. That's that's part of what made it so
- 11:41Speaker 3: unbelievably powerful. I'll tell you at the beginning, she made
- 11:44Speaker 3: a really important point, a point distinguishing what the reaction
- 11:50Speaker 3: was across American across the world to Charlie's murder compared
- 11:55Speaker 3: to something like like George Floyd being killed and and
- 11:58Speaker 3: and the riots and everything that played out. Give a
- 12:01Speaker 3: listen to what Erica Kirk said on this point.
- 12:04Speaker 5: Most of all, God's mercy and God's love have been
- 12:06Speaker 5: real revealed to me these past ten days after Charlie's assassination.
- 12:12Speaker 5: We didn't see violence, we didn't see rioting, we didn't
- 12:32Speaker 5: see revolution. Instead, we saw what my husband always prayed
- 12:39Speaker 5: he would see in this country. We saw revival.
- 12:48Speaker 2: You know when she walked up there, I was choked up. Yeah,
- 12:52Speaker 2: you were, and I think.
- 12:54Speaker 3: Everyone the tears in their eyes.
- 12:56Speaker 2: Yeah, it was how is she going to do this?
- 12:59Speaker 2: You and I had the conversation. I don't know if
- 13:01Speaker 2: I could have done that. And we do this for
- 13:04Speaker 2: a living.
- 13:04Speaker 1: I mean, you and I speak a lot.
- 13:07Speaker 2: Yeah, that's part of I think, just watching God work
- 13:11Speaker 2: in that room. I walked to that room earlier in
- 13:13Speaker 2: the day, you and I. You came back after Maria
- 13:16Speaker 2: and I left early because we knew it was just
- 13:18Speaker 2: there were so many people there. I abandoned the car
- 13:21Speaker 2: and walked a mile and a half just trying to
- 13:23Speaker 2: get into the stadium and seeing all the people that
- 13:25Speaker 2: weren't going to get in, and they were joyful, they
- 13:28Speaker 2: weren't angry, they were praying.
- 13:29Speaker 1: I saw groups holding hand.
- 13:31Speaker 3: There's a whole second stadium filled with people watching it
- 13:33Speaker 3: that we're just watching it on TV.
- 13:35Speaker 1: Yeah, And I walked in.
- 13:37Speaker 2: I finally got inside and was meeting one of the
- 13:40Speaker 2: Fox producers to get down to the risers, and they
- 13:43Speaker 2: were singing the worship music that you and I hear
- 13:45Speaker 2: at church when we go on Sundays before the pastor speaks.
- 13:49Speaker 2: I literally on Fox, and I'm not a crier, but
- 13:54Speaker 2: like talking about now it's even because this has been
- 13:56Speaker 2: an incredible and a sad but amazing day. I told
- 14:01Speaker 2: them on air. I was like, I've never felt in
- 14:04Speaker 2: my life the Holy Spirit's presence and the way that
- 14:07Speaker 2: I felt it today. Ever, and I'm forty three and
- 14:11Speaker 2: I've been to some pretty cool, amazing Christian events, promise
- 14:16Speaker 2: keepers and different things that you've been to. It was
- 14:20Speaker 2: a feeling I will never forget. And it was very
- 14:24Speaker 2: clear that God's presence were there. And if you were
- 14:26Speaker 2: in that room, and I hope if you were watching
- 14:28Speaker 2: it on TV, you felt it too, because what she
- 14:31Speaker 2: was able to do was by the grace of God,
- 14:34Speaker 2: who gave her the power and the strength to do it,
- 14:36Speaker 2: because on your own no one could do that.
- 14:38Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely that There was one portion of her speech
- 14:44Speaker 3: that I think will go down as the most memorable,
- 14:47Speaker 3: the most consequential, and the most profound. And I want
- 14:51Speaker 3: you to just just to listen to it, because, to
- 14:53Speaker 3: be honest, if you heard nothing else that happened today
- 14:58Speaker 3: at Charlie Kirk's memorial, Sir at her service, hear these
- 15:02Speaker 3: two minutes, because this was the entirety of the service
- 15:05Speaker 3: boiled down in two minutes.
- 15:11Speaker 5: My husband, Charlie, he wanted to save young men just
- 15:22Speaker 5: like the one who took his life, that young man.
- 15:45Speaker 1: That young man on the cross.
- 15:48Speaker 5: Our Savior said, Father, forgive them, for they not know
- 15:57Speaker 5: what they do.
- 16:01Speaker 4: That man, that young man, I forgive him.
- 16:57Speaker 5: I forgive him because it was what Christ did and
- 17:02Speaker 5: is what Charlie would do. The answer to hate is
- 17:08Speaker 5: not hate. The answer we know from the Gospel is
- 17:12Speaker 5: love and always love, love for our enemies, and love
- 17:19Speaker 5: for those who persecute us.
- 17:24Speaker 2: You and I were there on the second row watching
- 17:27Speaker 2: those words, and you and I talked about it afterwards.
- 17:31Speaker 2: I don't know if I could have done that that quickly.
- 17:34Speaker 2: I know God says that we're supposed to forgive those
- 17:38Speaker 2: who have wronged us. But you want to talk about
- 17:42Speaker 2: a ministry to the world in that moment. If you
- 17:48Speaker 2: are not a Christian, you have to be asking yourself
- 17:51Speaker 2: a question. What is it that she has that I
- 17:54Speaker 2: don't How could she forgive in this moment? And why
- 17:58Speaker 2: would Charlie want her to forgive? Give after what happened
- 18:02Speaker 2: to Charlie. It doesn't mean that we don't want justice,
- 18:05Speaker 2: but wow, look.
- 18:07Speaker 3: When when she said that I had tears in my eyes,
- 18:10Speaker 3: you had tears in your eyes. Every one of us
- 18:13Speaker 3: one hundred thousand people had tears in her eyes. And
- 18:18Speaker 3: when she started on that, when she referenced Jesus on
- 18:21Speaker 3: the Cross, I d I knew where it was going,
- 18:23Speaker 3: and I knew what she was planning to say, and
- 18:26Speaker 3: I act she was holding my breath for because look, you
- 18:30Speaker 3: just you and I both had this conversation spontaneously walking out.
- 18:34Speaker 3: I I I to be honest, I don't think I
- 18:36Speaker 3: could say that I I I would want to, it
- 18:39Speaker 3: would be the right thing to do to do. I like,
- 18:42Speaker 3: I cannot imagine being in the situation she is in
- 18:48Speaker 3: and getting those words out, not just breaking down, not
- 18:52Speaker 3: breaking down with rage, breaking down with tears and in
- 18:55Speaker 3: it was. It was the Holy Spirit that helped her
- 18:57Speaker 3: get that out, because there's no there is not a
- 19:02Speaker 3: human strength that can say that. And one of the
- 19:06Speaker 3: amazing things. I mean, we talked a minute ago about
- 19:08Speaker 3: this being one of, if not the largest presentation of
- 19:12Speaker 3: the Gospel in history. What you just said, you and
- 19:16Speaker 3: I talked about there are millions of people who watch
- 19:18Speaker 3: this who are not Christians who have to have said,
- 19:22Speaker 3: where did that come from? I don't understand why would
- 19:26Speaker 3: you forgive someone who murdered your husband? Yeah, and that
- 19:31Speaker 3: I hope and pray and believe that it caused many
- 19:35Speaker 3: people to say, you know, maybe I should ask a
- 19:38Speaker 3: few more questions about about Jesus. Maybe I should go
- 19:41Speaker 3: read the Bible. Maybe did Jesus really say on the cross, Father,
- 19:46Speaker 3: forgive them for they know not what they do? Why
- 19:48Speaker 3: would he say that when they were murdering him? That's
- 19:51Speaker 3: what Jesus said, is he was nailed to the cross
- 19:53Speaker 3: as he was hanging there dying. Yeah, Jesus asked God
- 19:59Speaker 3: to forgive the people who killed him, and it was
- 20:04Speaker 3: you know, I'll tell you. I saw on Twitter a
- 20:08Speaker 3: tweet from a woman named Sanna Ibrahemi, and I don't
- 20:13Speaker 3: don't know her, but this, this tweet struck struck me.
- 20:16Speaker 3: I'm just gonna read it to you. I retweeted it.
- 20:19Speaker 3: I listened to Erica Kirk's full speech at the memorial,
- 20:22Speaker 3: and I want to share a few thoughts that came
- 20:24Speaker 3: to me while live streaming the event. This is not political. First,
- 20:29Speaker 3: I should say that I grew up as a Muslim
- 20:31Speaker 3: in a Muslim country. I don't know enough about Christianity
- 20:34Speaker 3: to say if what I witnessed is rooted in faith
- 20:37Speaker 3: or culture. But what struck me most is how, even
- 20:43Speaker 3: though death is heavy and this was by nature a
- 20:45Speaker 3: sad occasion, the entire event carried a celebratory spirit that
- 20:50Speaker 3: honored life. That contrast hit me deeply. In Islam, even
- 20:55Speaker 3: though we believe that good people go to heaven, the
- 20:58Speaker 3: relationship with God is taught through fear. Funerals are overwhelmingly sad,
- 21:03Speaker 3: often filled with warnings of the terrifying first night in
- 21:06Speaker 3: the grave. Growing up hearing that and then witnessing people's
- 21:10Speaker 3: celebrate life, speak of God's love and remember some one
- 21:16Speaker 3: through the impact he had on others, it felt so
- 21:19Speaker 3: refreshing and positive. Second, I was profoundly moved by Erica
- 21:24Speaker 3: Kirk's words. I cannot fathom the strength it takes to
- 21:28Speaker 3: stand and deliver such a meaningful speech after losing the
- 21:31Speaker 3: love of your life, but even more than that, the
- 21:35Speaker 3: grace it takes to forgive the very person who destroyed
- 21:39Speaker 3: your world. I cannot imagine myself standing on a stage
- 21:43Speaker 3: sending love to those who cheered your husband's murder, or
- 21:49Speaker 3: inviting others to spread God's love in response, because, as
- 21:54Speaker 3: she said, we do not respond to hate with hate.
- 22:00Speaker 3: That is powerful beyond words. Again, I am ignorant when
- 22:06Speaker 3: it comes to Christianity, but if this is what it
- 22:09Speaker 3: truly embodies, then I'm envious of those who get to
- 22:13Speaker 3: experience that feeling. I think this young lady is not alone,
- 22:19Speaker 3: and I think that message touched millions, and I got
- 22:23Speaker 3: to say it was an incredible privilege to be there
- 22:26Speaker 3: and witness it firsthand and be part of I think,
- 22:30Speaker 3: what is a significant moment in the history of America
- 22:34Speaker 3: and maybe the history of the world.
- 22:36Speaker 2: One of the things I think that is so cool
- 22:38Speaker 2: that came out of this that is just something that
- 22:44Speaker 2: no one could have planned, is how many people are
- 22:48Speaker 2: now sharing their own faith and sharing the gospel. You
- 22:52Speaker 2: and I have talked more about our faith on this
- 22:56Speaker 2: podcast in the last two weeks than we have ever before.
- 22:59Speaker 2: And it's not that we're to talk about our faith,
- 23:01Speaker 2: but we talk a lot about what's happening in the
- 23:03Speaker 2: world in politics.
- 23:05Speaker 1: JD Vance said.
- 23:06Speaker 3: Yea, and that was something really profound. JD said as
- 23:09Speaker 3: he said that he often felt uncomfortable talking about faith,
- 23:13Speaker 3: and he made the same comment that he's talked more
- 23:15Speaker 3: about faith in the last two weeks than he has
- 23:18Speaker 3: probably in his entire life.
- 23:19Speaker 1: And I mean even this morning.
- 23:22Speaker 2: I had two times I was on Fox this morning
- 23:25Speaker 2: before the before it started, and the entire conversation was
- 23:29Speaker 2: not about politics.
- 23:30Speaker 1: The entire conversation was about faith.
- 23:32Speaker 2: Yeah, that his life being taken has given the opportunity
- 23:37Speaker 2: for all of us to share faith, and I think
- 23:39Speaker 2: in a more bold way, in a more proud way,
- 23:41Speaker 2: and a more I'm not afraid to share my faith.
- 23:44Speaker 2: I think sometimes I think I'm in the world of politics,
- 23:46Speaker 2: and that's maybe not my place to be doing that
- 23:48Speaker 2: as much. I'm going to change my mentality on that,
- 23:51Speaker 2: I think forever moving forward.
- 23:53Speaker 3: And I can think of a very few sentiments that
- 23:55Speaker 3: would make Charlie happier than that.
- 23:57Speaker 1: Yeah, and it was the whole time. It was about faith.
- 24:00Speaker 2: If you look at today, I also think one of
- 24:02Speaker 2: the most incredible things was you and I were sitting
- 24:04Speaker 2: there with the most powerful people in the world, certainly
- 24:07Speaker 2: in the conservative movement where we're all in the political world,
- 24:12Speaker 2: and the entire thing was about God. I've never seen
- 24:16Speaker 2: that before. I've never been a part.
- 24:17Speaker 1: Of that before.
- 24:20Speaker 6: No, And.
- 24:22Speaker 3: At the very end, President Trump spoke and he gave
- 24:26Speaker 3: I think, very good remarks. But I want you to
- 24:28Speaker 3: listen to what he said, in particular about Erica and
- 24:31Speaker 3: her testimony. Here here, give a listen.
- 24:33Speaker 6: Did Charlie's incredible and beautiful widow, Erica. We know the
- 24:40Speaker 6: weight of this monumental loss is almost unbearable, But even
- 24:45Speaker 6: in the midst of heartache, pain too great to even fathom,
- 24:51Speaker 6: you have somehow found the strength and deep faith to
- 24:54Speaker 6: be a comfort to millions and millions of people. And
- 24:59Speaker 6: thank you very much, Erica, Thank you very much.
- 25:07Speaker 2: You and I have seen Donald Trump give a lot
- 25:09Speaker 2: of speeches. This was one of the most I think, somber,
- 25:14Speaker 2: sincere and one of the most incredible speeches I think
- 25:18Speaker 2: by Donald Trump that had nothing to really do with him.
- 25:21Speaker 3: Well, and President Trump knew Charlie, Well, Charlie has spent
- 25:24Speaker 3: a lot lot He's rattled by it. Charlie, Charlie in
- 25:30Speaker 3: the twenty sixteen campaign was Don Junior's body man. He
- 25:35Speaker 3: traveled with Don Junior all over the country. And Charlie
- 25:39Speaker 3: helped mobilize young people for the twenty sixteen election. He
- 25:43Speaker 3: helped mobilize young people for the twenty twenty election. He
- 25:46Speaker 3: played a really, really integral part in the victory in
- 25:49Speaker 3: twenty twenty four. And President Trump has spent a lot
- 25:52Speaker 3: of time with Charlie Kirk. Just about everyone in the
- 25:56Speaker 3: White House has. I mean, it was one of the
- 25:58Speaker 3: things the entire White House has shaken. This is not
- 26:00Speaker 3: some distant person they don't know. This touched almost everyone
- 26:09Speaker 3: who works in the Trump administration had connections to Charlie,
- 26:15Speaker 3: had personal connections, and they were shaken by it. And
- 26:18Speaker 3: you know, one of the bits of news that broke
- 26:21Speaker 3: this week that I thought it was a small snippet,
- 26:24Speaker 3: but it encapsulated who Charlie was well, and Van Jones,
- 26:30Speaker 3: you and I both know well he's very much a
- 26:33Speaker 3: man of the left, maybe even far left. He's not
- 26:37Speaker 3: someone who you would typically envision saying nice things about
- 26:40Speaker 3: Charlie Kirk. But I want you to listen to what
- 26:43Speaker 3: he said in the last few days about his last
- 26:46Speaker 3: interaction with Charlie Kirk.
- 26:48Speaker 7: Charlie Kirk and I were not friends at all. In fact,
- 26:52Speaker 7: the last week of his life, we were beef and hard,
- 26:55Speaker 7: beefing online, beefing on air. But the day before he died,
- 26:59Speaker 7: he did so and that shocked me. He sent me
- 27:02Speaker 7: a personal message calling for personal dialogue, wanted me to
- 27:05Speaker 7: come on the show. He said we can be a
- 27:07Speaker 7: gentlemen together. He said we could deal with our disagreements agreeably.
- 27:14Speaker 7: And in the past week and a half, just watching
- 27:17Speaker 7: people talk about civil wars and censorship and all this
- 27:19Speaker 7: stuff coming out of his death, I just thought it
- 27:22Speaker 7: was important to let people know don't put that on
- 27:26Speaker 7: Charlie Kirk, because the last day of his life he
- 27:29Speaker 7: was reaching out to have not more censorship, more conversation,
- 27:34Speaker 7: more dialogue with somebody who honestly was one of his adversaries.
- 27:38Speaker 7: Me and I just wanted to share that with the world,
- 27:43Speaker 7: and I hope that maybe it might help somebody on
- 27:48Speaker 7: both sides deal with issues more like he did.
- 27:53Speaker 2: Then putting that out there immediately brought me to today.
- 27:57Speaker 2: You and I were sitting there and we looked over
- 28:00Speaker 2: to the right of us, and you leaned over and
- 28:03Speaker 2: you said, there's Elon. And several weeks or months ago,
- 28:07Speaker 2: Charlie had said that he wanted Donald Trump and Elon
- 28:11Speaker 2: to make up. We then a few minutes later see
- 28:14Speaker 2: Elon in the box with President Trump. They hugged the President,
- 28:18Speaker 2: patted him on the chest, and he tweeted out a
- 28:21Speaker 2: picture Elon did of them talking, and all it said
- 28:25Speaker 2: was for Charlie, I mean, you want to talk about
- 28:30Speaker 2: bringing people back together.
- 28:32Speaker 1: That's incredible.
- 28:33Speaker 3: I will say I respect Van Jones for putting that out.
- 28:36Speaker 3: You know Van better than I do. But he didn't
- 28:39Speaker 3: have to put that out. He didn't have to say that.
- 28:41Speaker 3: And I do think it reflects who Charlie was, and
- 28:46Speaker 3: I think the entire memorial today reflected. It was a
- 28:54Speaker 3: celebration of his life, and it was a proclamation of
- 28:58Speaker 3: the gospel and that I'm really grateful to have been
- 29:03Speaker 3: friends with Charlie. I'm really grateful to have a chance
- 29:07Speaker 3: to be there for the celebration because I think it
- 29:10Speaker 3: is going to have really profound impacts on our country.
- 29:15Speaker 2: I think we're gonna end up finding out down the
- 29:17Speaker 2: road that today was one of the biggest days, not
- 29:20Speaker 2: in politics with the biggest people in politics in a room,
- 29:23Speaker 2: but one of the biggest days for young men and
- 29:25Speaker 2: women accepting Christ and learning about the Lord from this
- 29:30Speaker 2: horrific moment in our history. And I think you look
- 29:34Speaker 2: at that bring all these people together, the way that
- 29:37Speaker 2: he was doing it. I think it's going to change
- 29:39Speaker 2: the way we have dialogue and conversation. I think my
- 29:42Speaker 2: demeanor's probably gonna be different. I'm still going to fight
- 29:45Speaker 2: the good fight, and I'm still gonna fight hard, but
- 29:48Speaker 2: I want to have better conversations while doing it. I
- 29:51Speaker 2: think everybody's temperature is going to change a little bit,
- 29:53Speaker 2: and how we interact the way that.
- 29:55Speaker 1: Charlie did it.
- 29:56Speaker 2: And I left there today and I don't no, I
- 30:00Speaker 2: want to ask you this as we wrap. I left
- 30:03Speaker 2: there today more hopeful for the future of this country, Yes,
- 30:08Speaker 2: than I have been in decades, and more hopeful for
- 30:12Speaker 2: the younger generation in this country that they're going to
- 30:17Speaker 2: see the light, because I have been very worried for
- 30:20Speaker 2: quite some time. It's part of the reason why I do
- 30:22Speaker 2: this is that we have lost an entire generation to
- 30:26Speaker 2: the radical left. I think we are seeing a very
- 30:29Speaker 2: quick pendulum shift that only God could create and put
- 30:34Speaker 2: people in a place to do it.
- 30:38Speaker 3: Absolutely. You know, I'm reminded of the Scripture Second Chronicles
- 30:43Speaker 3: seven fourteen. If my people who are called by my
- 30:48Speaker 3: name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face,
- 30:52Speaker 3: and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear
- 30:56Speaker 3: from heaven, and I will forgive their sins, and I
- 31:00Speaker 3: will heal their land. That has been my prayer for
- 31:07Speaker 3: a long time, and I think today was in a
- 31:13Speaker 3: very real sense a great many people in America calling
- 31:18Speaker 3: out for God to hear our prayer and to heal
- 31:23Speaker 3: our land. And I pray that that is the outcome
- 31:27Speaker 3: the path we are on, that we see revival. Our
- 31:31Speaker 3: country needs it.
- 31:33Speaker 1: Amen to that.
- 31:34Speaker 2: For all you guys that listen, I say it sincerely,
- 31:36Speaker 2: thank you guys for what you do, Thank you for
- 31:38Speaker 2: supporting us.
- 31:40Speaker 1: We hope that we help you guys as well.
- 31:42Speaker 2: We never ever take you guys for granted, and just
- 31:45Speaker 2: thank you for supporting us in this show and sharing
- 31:48Speaker 2: it where you do. And everybody we saw today that
- 31:51Speaker 2: was giving thumbs up and taking pictures and saying thank
- 31:54Speaker 2: you to you Cinner for what you do. It's encouraging,
- 31:58Speaker 2: I think now more than ever. And I just wanted
- 32:00Speaker 2: to say to everyone that listens to Verdict, you guys
- 32:02Speaker 2: are incredible and we really appreciate Without you guys, this
- 32:07Speaker 2: show wouldn't exist and we wouldn't do it. So thank
- 32:09Speaker 2: you and we'll see you back here on Wednesday morning.