Charlie Kirk’s assassination and the evil that seems to permeate our age can cause us to despair, but we must never forget that the day is coming when King Jesus will forever cast the Shadow of death and sorrow into utter darkness and His light will blaze forth in unquenchable glory.
During a key plot point in the series The Lord of the Rings, hobbit and hero Samwise Gamgee teetered on the edge of despair.
Deep inside the evil stronghold of Mordor, his best friend Frodo weakening with every step, Sam was overwhelmed by the seemingly futile nature of their mission to destroy the malevolent One Ring created by the dark lord Sauron.
As Frodo rested, Sam stood guard over his charge. He rose from his hiding place to stay awake and looked up into the night sky. Author J.R.R. Tolkien describes it this way:
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tower high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
Amid the darkness, the apparently unstoppable evil and the utter hopelessness that threatened to consume him, Sam was struck by an inviolate, unassailable beauty that he knew would endure, regardless of the success of Sauron’s wicked schemes.
That passage reminded me of the age we now live in, especially after events of the past week. The evil in the world is sometimes suffocating. Those who care about what is good and decent recoil in horror at the gruesome murder of an innocent man.
Meanwhile, those who have willfully given themselves over to a thorough Sauronic brainwashing feel no sense of shame about publicly endorsing the brutal killing of someone they simply don’t like. They were not content even to remain silent. Instead, they were willing to throw away their careers and their livelihood because they couldn’t resist spouting their jubilation at Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
The demonic cheering by so many orc-like leftists at the public murder of a law-abiding citizen, a devoted husband, a loving father, and a godly man should cause anyone with an ounce of humanity to shudder.
Thankfully, by God’s grace, the power of radical leftism is waning, at least for now. Does anyone honestly think that under a Biden or Harris administration, so many firings of those who took to social media to insist that the killing was somehow justified — especially at public universities — would have taken place? Of course not.
The hundreds of terminations are encouraging, and they are a good and just response to the deranged rantings of those who have sold their soul to the dark side.
But still, even with what may be a temporary gaining of ground, the evil that has thoroughly permeated our society will not rest quietly. It is far too ingrained in the hearts of those with whom we share citizenship, but who are far from being our countrymen. And when we are tempted to despair, when we are vexed by the volume of Satanic hatred on display, when we fear that the Shadow will consume us, we can take heart by remembering Sam’s twinkling star.
Though we may not always see it, that star is ever present. It may only twinkle at times, but the day is coming when it will radiate with majestic brightness — when the coming King Jesus will forever cast the Shadow of death and sorrow into utter darkness and when His light will blaze forth in unquenchable glory.
After all, in the words of Rev. Maltbie B. Babcock’s famous hymn, “This is my Father’s world. Oh let me ne’er forget, that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.”
This was Charlie Kirk’s hope. We can honor him — and remember him — by making it ours as well.
If you like this article and other content that helps you apply a biblical worldview to today’s politics and culture, consider making a donation here.
