The gunshot that killed Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University Sept. 10 changed everything.
The conservative activist’s assassination tornadoed through America’s Christian nationalist movement, which reeled at the loss of one of its greatest warriors in a battle for the soul of America.
Kirk evolved from a secular conservative activist when he founded Turning Point USA into a theological architect of Christian dominance, embracing the New Apostolic Reformation’s Seven Mountain Mandate, which demands Christians control seven spheres of society: government, education, religion, family, business, media, and entertainment. Kirk built his growing empire along those lines.
Turning Point Action seized electoral battlegrounds across the country. Churches nationwide welcomed Turning Point Faith’s expanding presence. Turning Point Academy worked to reshape education to conform to Christian values. The organization’s media arms — including the news outlet Frontlines — pumped content across every available platform.
“Grief has been transformed into a call to holy war.”
At the grassroots level, local TPUSA chapters trained ambitious young Christians, purporting to mold them into the next generation of business leaders through programs focused on leadership principles and financial responsibility. Each division served a specific conquest target.
Kirk’s murder is now a rallying point for the network of Christian nationalist supporters he’d cultivated over those years. Sean Feucht, the controversial Christian nationalist worship leader, tried to seize control of the narrative. Lance Wallnau, the intellectual architect whose Seven Mountain theology provided Kirk’s framework, lent weight to emerging martyrdom claims. Rob McCoy, the California megachurch pastor who partnered with Kirk to build TPUSA Faith, brought institutional credibility. Andrew Wommack, whose Colorado-based televangelism empire generates $100 million annually, offered one of the movement’s largest platforms at the Truth and Liberty Conference held the day after Kirk’s death, and where Kirk had been scheduled to speak.
The circumstances surrounding Kirk’s murder are tragic, yet in Christian nationalist circles, mourning has become mobilization, and grief has been transformed into a call to holy war.
Here are excerpts from leading figures in the Christian Nationalist movement reacting to Kirk’s murder.
Pulpits as war rooms
Doug Wilson
“The preacher in Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a time for love and a time for hate, a time for war and a time for peace. This is not the time for love and peace.”
— Christian nationalist Pastor Doug Wilson, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s spiritual mentor, September 11, 2025
“Today, we need to realize that these people, no matter where they are, are all the same. They are opponents of order, emissaries of violence, but most of all, they are enemies of the true cross, and we need to be clear: their escalation in violence is not because their influence is increasing or because their power is growing.”
— Catholic integralist and president of the Heritage Foundation, Kevin Roberts, September 15, 2025
Sean Feucht
“The only hope to defeat this demonic evil spreading like a cancer across America. It’s time for all of us to take these campuses back to Jesus.”
— Sean Feucht, referring to the gospel, September 12, 2025
“The attack on Charlie Kirk was much deeper than a political attack on the First Amendment. The attack on Charlie was spiritual in nature and an attack on the very institution of the church.”
— Christian nationalist and founder of Pastors for Trump, Pastor Jackson Lahmeyer, Sheridan Church, Oklahoma, September 15, 2025
“It’s not liberal versus conservative. It’s moral versus immoral is what it is. … This is the condemnation that light has come into the world. And men love darkness more than they loved light, because the light exposed their deeds as evil. And everyone that was of the darkness hates the light.”
— Andrew Wommack, Truth & Liberty Conference, September 11, 2025
Arming the crusade
Joel Webbon
“Communists, Immigrants, Muslims, Jews, and Transgenders have all declared war on our country. And the Kosher Right continues to shoot anyone who says something about it in the back. Enough is enough.”
— Racist podcaster and Christian nationalist Joel Webbon, September 11, 2025
“Our fight is not against people, but against the darkness behind ideas that destroy. Charlie stood boldly on the education and government mountains, mobilizing a generation to see clearly.”
— New Apostolic Reformation apostle Lance Wallnau, September 15, 2025
Andrew Wommack
“They love not their lives unto the death. And that’s the way we overcome the devil. … We need to be prepared and be willing to sacrifice anything, whether it’s our life or whatever, in order to keep the gospel going.”
— Andrew Wommack, Truth & Liberty Conference, September 11, 2025
“What’s the worst you can do, Devil? You’re gonna send me to heaven early. OK. Bring it on.”
— Richard Harris, Truth & Liberty organization head and conference moderator, September 11, 2025
“If it is time to fight, and our duty to fight, as it is, then we must fight with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. All of Christ for all of the war.”
— Doug Wilson, September 11, 2025
“When you have a cancerous ideology that is completely disassociated with humanity, the only possible answer to that is to cut out the cancer.”
— Catholic integralist and far-right influencer Jack Posobiec, September 15, 2025
“There’s no question that we’re clearly facing asymmetric civil warfare. One of the key aspects of that is political assassinations. … The idea that we’re going to a classic civil war scenario, I hope and pray that doesn’t happen.”
— Jack Posobiec, CNN, September 12, 2025
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene
“There is nothing left to talk about with the left. They hate us. They assassinated our nice guy who actually talked to them peacefully debating ideas. Then millions on the left celebrated and made clear they want all of us dead. To be honest, I want a peaceful national divorce. Our country is too far gone and too far divided, and it’s no longer safe for any of us. What will come from Charlie Kirk being martyred is already happening. It is a spiritual revival building the kingdom for Christ. But it will happen on the outside, not within the halls of our government. Democrats are hardened in their beliefs and will flip the switch back as soon as they have power. And, if you are expecting Republicans to fight against evil, with the power they currently possess, and end this once and for all, you are going to be extremely disappointed.”
— Christian nationalist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, September 15, 2025
“They shot him. If the Left thinks he was Hitler, they will surely revile what comes next. In death, the Overton Window has shifted. Alea iacta est (the die is cast).”
— Christian nationalist website Evangelical Dark Web, September 10, 2025
Martyrdom proclamations
“Charlie is a martyr. He was murdered because of his relationship with God and the wisdom that flowed from it — just as Stephen was. Like Stephen, Charlie carried a gift of wisdom that no one could answer. It was more than the power of persuasion — it was the Spirit of truth speaking through him.”
— Sean Feucht, NAR worship leader and failed congressional candidate, September 10, 2025
“This is a Christian martyr. Amen. This was as much of a martyr as when Stephen was stoned to death. … And that’s exactly what happened with Charlie Kirk. I believe that the moment that Charlie left his body here on earth, that he entered into the very presence of God and saw Jesus, and who knows countless number of believers standing in honor of him and the fact that he was willing to lay his life down.”
— Andrew Wommack, televangelist and founder, Truth & Liberty Conference, September 11, 2025
“Charlie Kirk is the first martyr in the modern Christian conservative movement in America.”
“I really believe that Charlie Kirk is the first martyr in the modern Christian conservative movement in America. And I don’t believe he’s gonna be the last.” — Bishop E.W. Jackson, Truth & Liberty Conference board member, September 11, 2025
“He’s truly died a martyr’s death. And, and I honor him as such and just give, just thanks to God for his life and for the glory that Charlie brought to the Lord through his life and his death.”
— Lucas Miles, senior director of Turning Point USA Faith, Truth & Liberty Conference, September 11, 2025
“Today, we celebrate the life of Charlie Kirk, a 31-year-old God-fearing Christian man, a husband, father of two, a patriot, a civil rights activist, and now a Christian martyr.”
— New Apostolic Reformation pastor, TPUSA co-founder and Charlie Kirk’s spiritual mentor Rob McCoy, Godspeak Calvary Chapel, California, September 15, 2025
Co-opting a denigrated dream
Christian nationalist speakers drew connections between Kirk and Martin Luther King Jr., creating stark contrasts with Kirk’s documented hostility toward the civil rights leader and his legacy. During his lifetime, Kirk had called Martin Luther King Jr. “awful … not a good person,” and condemned the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as “a huge mistake.”
He questioned the skills of Black pilots and claimed that “Black women like Joy Reid, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Sheila Jackson Lee and Michelle Obama … used affirmative action because they do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously. So they had to steal a white person’s slot.”
In December 2023, Kirk labeled King “a serial adulterer, an alleged rapist, a reparations proponent, and a race Marxist.”
Regardless, his Christian nationalist allies have portrayed Kirk, who clearly was no fan of modern civil rights, as a modern day MLK.
“Dr. King’s assassination caused legislation to be passed. And I believe that through Charlie Kirk’s death, that legislation is going to pass … just like Dr. King caused the Voting Rights Act to pass, but the Voting Rights Act is only connected to race. … I believe what we’re calling the Charlie Kirk Act one day (will be) paper ballot IDs.”
— Detroit pastor Lorenzo Sewell, who delivered Trump’s 2025 inauguration prayer and spoke at the 2024 RNC, Truth & Liberty Conference, September 11, 2025
“How similar is it to Dr. King’s assassination? Because they’re both believers, they’re both fighting for truth.”
— Christian nationalist minister Richard Harris, Truth & Liberty Conference, September 11, 2025
This piece was originally published by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism and is republished here with permission.
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