Freedom of speech

By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist

My wife, Laura, gets all of her news from the “Babylon Bee.” She became tired of the news sources and says the “Babylon Bee” covers all the main stories and does it succinctly with their brilliant satire.

On Friday, Sept. 19, the Bee ran with the headline, “People Okay With Murder Outraged By TV Show Cancellation.”  

This is a perfect encapsulation of the events since Sept. 10 when Charlie Kirk was assassinated. 

The Left, in particular, has been gravely harrumphing about any attempts to silence people making nasty comments about the murder of Charlie Kirk. In the name of free speech and the First Amendment you can’t silence them, they say.  

I ask, please tell me the difference between silencing them and murdering Charlie Kirk. Wasn’t that an effort to permanently silence Charlie Kirk? Besides murder, wasn’t that a violation of the First Amendment?

The odds of this shot being successful were about the same as the odds of the shooter that clipped President Trump’s ear last year, but with an entirely different outcome. Hitting someone in the carotid artery as was done to Charlie Kirk is highly improbable but is very deadly. There are two carotid arteries transporting blood to the brain and if nicked or severed, it is nearly impossible to staunch the flow of blood.

Since the Left has already stopped reading, now I will kick into full blown Christian speculation.

Charlie Kirk was about as Christian as they come. Read his material, it comes through everywhere.

The Bible tells us God has a plan for every one of us. Because these are God’s plans, lots of times we can’t figure them out; after all, we are mere mortals.  

But by us experiencing Charlie’s martyrdom, there just may be a turning of America, and many other parts of the world, to Christ. After all, Turning Point USA, Charlie’s work, has reported 37,000 new requests for starting new chapters since Charlie was killed. How long would this have taken as things were going?

Personally, I am quite encouraged by this outpouring of interest. The non-believer will be unimpressed, and that is OK. If you want to read about martyrs in the past, read "Foxe’s Book of Martyrs," first published in 1563. There have been many martyrs since Christ.

If you go back to the time of Jesus, you will observe there were all sorts of learned and famous people who thought Jesus was a fraud. In the 2000 years since then, many, including me, have attributed many miracles to Jesus.

Charlie Kirk is not a substitute for Jesus. There is only one Jesus. Yet, Charlie Kirk is an instrument of God, sent at the perfect time to be the perfect servant we need today.  

If you have a problem with Charlie Kirk, carefully examine the source of your angst. I am very sorry Charlie is gone, but there is room in my thinking to see it as part of God’s perfect plan.

Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press.