The War of Words with the Word

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The Epoch of Foolishness and Wisdom

By J. Jeff Toler for Shenandoah Christian Alliance j.toler@sca4christ.org

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

This is the famous opening line from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. He wrote this classic novel to establish the theme of extreme contradictions within the era of the story, set in 1775, on the brink of the French Revolution.

I was reminded of this very line just this past weekend as I watched and listened to the memorial for Charlie Kirk. In my lifetime, I cannot recall anything quite like what I saw and heard. For that matter, I find little, if any, historical precedent.

Kirk’s assassination was horrifying for countless reasons, not the least of which was its immediate broadcasting. Almost instantly, the video was online for the world to see. Nothing can prevent this murder from becoming the defining event of this era—this age of rage, as I called it last week. If we already felt dizzy from the churn of news and events, this tragedy has left us reeling.

His death has catalyzed a political paradigm now ripe for change, much like the French Revolution ushered in the end of monarchies. Those monarchies were almost immediately replaced by populist uprisings and revolutions. Historically, as it turned out, France got the wrong end of the stick. The overthrow ushered in tremendous violence and upheaval. By any account, the First Republic of France was a disaster:

“It was formed on September 22, 1792, by the newly made National Convention. The First Republic lasted only until the First French Empire in 1804 under Napoleon I. It is characterized by the fall of the monarchy, the formation of the National Convention, the infamous Reign of Terror, [and] the Thermidorian Reaction—the period between the ousting of Maximilien Robespierre on July 27, 1794, and the inauguration of the French Directory on November 2, 1795.” [https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_First_Republic]

The Thermidorian Reaction, named after the month in which the coup took place, marked the latter part of the National Convention’s rule. It was followed by the Consulate and Napoleon’s rise to power. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermidorian_Reaction]

These historical events are exemplars of how political power changes will often go. Social and civil pressure, upheaval, uprising by mercenaries and iconoclasts, chaos and bloodshed, and then the paradigm shift.

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We are preparing to enter such a period like this once more. I’m praying there will not be the same violence as five years ago.

The reason I can say this is will be found in the man, Charlie Kirk, and his message of political liberty and his faith in his savior, Jesus Christ. Charlie was assassinated for his speech, and his faith in Jesus. It’s as simple as that. Yet, the outpouring of shock and grief of death has not been followed by rioting, more bloodshed, burning cities and riots. Instead, it’s been followed by strong, yet impassioned messages of resolute determination to honor him with prayer vigils, courageous testimonials, and a refusal to be cowed by threats.

The reason, I believe, is found in the man himself, Charlie Kirk, in his message of political liberty and his faith in his Savior, Jesus Christ. Charlie was assassinated for his speech and his faith in Jesus—it is as simple as that. Yet the outpouring of grief has not been followed by rioting, arson, or looting. Instead, it has produced prayer vigils, courageous testimonies, and a refusal to be cowed by threats.

In other words, people are honoring Charlie by being Charlie. As Doug Wilson said, “We are all Kirkers now.”

On September 21, 2025, the memorial service for Charlie at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, drew over 90,000 people. Left-leaning pundits and influencers were, for the most part, baffled by what they saw. Many admitted genuine amazement. I believe they were also alarmed.

Matt Walsh commented on one such reaction:

“Thomas Chatterton Williams is supposedly very well-read and well-traveled. He’s an intellectual who educates young people. And here’s how he responded to Kirk’s memorial: ‘I’ve spent half of my adult life living in one foreign country after another, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt so estranged from the surrounding culture as I am from the aesthetics and sensibilities of this movement. I feel more at home in spots where I can’t read the road signs than here.’”
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSjNOQ-XqvI]

Williams, an American cultural critic and staff writer at The Atlantic, seems to mean here in America. This is the paradigm we now inhabit. Two worlds stand in stark contrast, fiercely contending for dominance.

Jimmy Kimmel evidently didn’t understand what was happening either, though he knew enough to lie about it. His absurd stunt ignored the facts, which were already available. In one world, his lie is received as truth. In the other, we are dismayed at how many believe it.

Megan Basham

Megan Basham, author of Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda, reminded us of how more than a few denominational leaders once predicted the demise of the “Christian Right.”

“In 2016, Russell Moore, then head of the political lobbying arm of the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, wrote in The Washington Post that Donald Trump had ‘snuffed out’ the ‘Religious Right.’”
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/10/09/if-donald-trump-has-done-anything-he-has-snuffed-out-the-religious-right/]

She quotes Moore: “The James Dobsons and Jerry Falwells… they are not replicating themselves in the next generation… the evangelical next generation rejects their way.”

Basham then observed:

“As Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles put it at Kirk’s memorial on Sunday, ‘His life, his words, his courage to speak the truth about God, family, and country built the most powerful youth movement in our time.’ That movement is not only unequivocally conservative, but also unequivocally Christian.”

Personally, I am not so much surprised as overjoyed at this new paradigm, this “vibe shift.” I have long been frustrated that Christians—more than anyone—ought to exercise the right and the responsibility to speak into our culture politically, using Scripture as the basis for their reasoning. But until now, I saw little hope they would anytime soon. Now, I see that young men and women are ready to step into the battle.