Live To Preach, Die To Defend
A tribute to Charlie Kirk
10 September 2025.
No one expected it. No one was ready to see him go. No one was prepared for the shock.
A year ago, yesterday, a thirty-one year old man named Charlie Kirk was assassinated on a university campus in Utah, USA.
He was talking. Talking about protecting the weak. Talking about defending the defenceless. About speaking the truth in love, instead of resorting to violence. For this, he was killed.
Charlie Kirk was a philosopher, in the true sense of the word. He was a lover of wisdom and seeker of the truth. He lived philosophically, on college campuses under the harsh sun, in a white "freedom" t-shirt. Cheered onto stages and booed off them. Answering questions and asking his own. Making a point, granting a point.
Even as people who hated Charlie celebrated his murder, the memorial was seen by millions around the world as we gave thanks for Charlie's life and mourned his death. The students with whom he debated, their elders who saw it all online, the lost boys who became men by his example, the souls he pointed to Christ - all praised God for what He accomplished through the short years of His servant.
This poem is in honour of the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk, and the great God who is the reason Charlie lived and still lives.
Live To Preach, Die To Defend
Live to preach
The young are listening
There’s truth above the noise
Die to defend
We heard the shot
That made all Hell rejoice
Live to preach
Of death that’s given
Of life that’s ours to take
Die to defend
The name of Yahweh
Whose Son has crushed the snake
Live to preach
To seas of students
Young men who turned the tide
Die to defend
Those freedom ballots
An army by your side
Live to preach
To sad-eyed women
Ensnared in deathly games
Die to defend
The souls defenceless
Infants who never had names
Live to preach
The Holy Scriptures
And truth spoken in love
Die to defend
The Sabbath rest
A gift from God above
Live to preach
To your little children
Laughing with you on the phone
Die to defend
The love of your life
Who’s waiting for you to come home
Live to defend
Share the arrows
“Keep slugging” you’d tell your friends
Die to preach
The Gospel lives
Good news; this is not the end
B.T. (10 Sept 2026)
Thank you for this, Beth. The loss of Charlie was a loss of a voice that spoke reason and truth in the public space. It is good to remember him and to be encouraged by his example. So many of us benefitted from his life and were shocked by his death. But he is home and enjoying Truth that never ends.
Oh Beth. This is just beautiful. My brother was one of those “lost boys” whose lives were changed. Thank you, Lord, for Charlie Kirk.
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