By: Gašper Blažič
The murder of the young conservative influencer Charlie Kirk is an event that shook the entire world. The killing did not happen in secret, but in a public space. It was carried out by a professional who aimed precisely at the carotid artery. The goal was to intimidate everyone present: if you are like Kirk, you too will be eliminated.
Charlie Kirk was not just anyone, he was a man who publicly opposed the LGBT and woke agenda, and who challenged the lies about Gaza spread by Hamas. Because of this, Kirk was seen as a modern-day John the Baptist – steadfast, incorruptible, and a bold prophet who did not bow before the powerful of this world. Much like the first martyr, the deacon St. Stephen, who also stood firm. And as the Acts of the Apostles recount, the young Saul, later St. Paul, approved of Stephen’s execution. Just as today, even some Christians approve of Kirk’s murder. Including in Slovenia.
“And he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:17) These words foretold the birth of John the Baptist to his father Zechariah. John appeared with the same zeal as the prophet Elijah, whom we read about in the Old Testament, how he confronted the sinful king Ahab and his even more wicked and influential wife Jezebel. “John was sent in the spirit of Elijah, for like Elijah he called for repentance and a return to God,” wrote St. Augustine, a giant among early Western theologians. As Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) noted, John was sent in the spirit and power of Elijah “to prepare Israel definitively for the revelation of the Messiah.” “His mission was not only to proclaim, but to embody, through his presence and life, that the Kingdom of God was near.”
How would Elijah and John the Baptist act in today’s world, where the West is saturated with a secular messianic ideology of wokeness, one that outwardly fights for noble causes but in reality turns values upside down? They would likely, through the Holy Spirit, first discern the deception hidden in this ideology and then expose it publicly. Without evasion, and above all without opportunism, but with love and truth. This spirit is sorely lacking among many of today’s Christian leaders, whether bishops or laypeople active in politics. French postwar leader Charles de Gaulle used to say that a true statesman is one who is willing to take risks. And Kirk was just such a man: he spoke the truth and risked everything, even his own life. Because his arguments resonated with younger generations – the very demographic targeted by the LGBTQ+ agenda.
Here in Slovenia, we currently lack an influential voice of that profile. And that is a problem. Even the Church has changed so much in the past two decades that bishops are almost embarrassed to speak clearly, fearing conflict or even schism, an unfortunate consequence of the rise of social media. When our Prime Minister was “parading” at Brezje among sick children robbed of their youth, apparently no one asked him about his respect for life. And no leader stepped forward to set the record straight and make clear that being Christian does not mean being naïve, or using religious arguments to justify everything the leftist agenda tries to indoctrinate us with today, whether it is support for LGBTQ+ or falling for claims of genocide in Gaza.
And such Christians – naïve, foolish, and “gutless” – are increasingly common in our homeland. And they are ready to repeat their poor decision from April 2022: to give their vote to the current autocratic clique, which is draining our country and our nation in a profoundly un-Christian way.