As anyone who has not been living on a deserted island somewhere, we’re all painfully aware of the increasing incidences of violence and hate in our country and around the world. While these occurrences are obviously nothing new, everyone has their own opinions and thoughts as to the reasons these random (and also planned) acts of assaults, violence and homicides are happening and all you have to do is doom scroll on any social media platform to hear the so called talking head “pundits” or political blowhards espouse their beliefs as to the reasons why. Personally, I’m not on face book but have been made aware that even people I’m personally acquainted with are posting vile and vicious things supporting the very things I’m speaking of here. These things have had me thinking long and hard about my future relationships with these people, but that for another time as personal boundaries are a wonderful thing.

I could write a list a mile long as to what any one of these specific reasons may or may not be and I certainly yield the right of anyone to give their own opinions on what they believe these reasons again, may or may not be. But, I’m not going to do that here. I will however, join in the discussion and give my take on what I believe is the actual root cause is of what is actually occurring. I may provide an example or two to give credence to my thoughts so you get the total picture.

Let’s take for instance the absolutely tragic and abhorrent murder of the young Ukrainian woman (whose name is Iryna Zarutska) on the rail line a few weeks ago in Charlotte, NC. This was a woman sitting in a bus seat, minding her own business when a man sitting behind her decided to stand up, open a folding knife and plunge it several times into the right side her throat causing her to immediately bleed out. She looked up at him in horror, then slumped onto the bus floor in a horrible death. There were and are actual people in places of power defending this monster saying that he had obvious mental health issues and should have been given the help he needed, but nothing about the victim. But, a recent court proceeding deemed that unnecessary, and released him from jail a few months earlier, while those defending him cited failures in the criminal justice system for this occurrence. “Failures in the criminal justice system”…my goodness, how many times have we heard that phrase over and over in the past 100 years? He’ll certainly (we hope) spend the rest of his miserable existence in prison, but who knows…it wouldn’t surprise me if he is freed at some point in the future. My heart goes out to Iryna’s family and friends, who will never, ever see her again.

Now, there is the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk, a popular conservative political activist and author who spent many, many hours and days at various venues, mostly colleges and universities debating hotbed issues with students and adults trying to espouse reason in an unreasonable world. Charlie knew the risks, as some saw it as hate speech, but his spiritual and personal beliefs overrode those risks and he did it anyway believing the end result could be the opening of eyes and the possibility of helping others see things through a different lens. He was criticized, cursed at, reviled, vilified, spat on, assaulted, accosted, and threatened with death which ultimately happened and it cost him his life with a bullet through his neck. He left a wife without a husband and two young daughters without their father. While I did not personally know Charlie, the utter sadness of this murder still has me a bit shaken, but that is not the point of this blog post.

What “is” the point of this blog post are the reasons behind the viciousness of these attacks and the people committing them and those supporting them. For me, the reasons aren’t about trans issues or “gender” inequality, climate change and environmental justice, mental health issues, human rights, healthcare costs, homelessness, or the dozens of other social topics I could list here. While they may be relevant in their own spheres, these are just off shoots or symptoms of the real reason, and are not the actual root cause.

What is the root cause? It is pure, unadulterated demonic evil fomenting and born by and from a palpable and visible separation from God. While all of my friends who know me (and love me) for my spiritual beliefs and my fervent relationship with Jesus Christ, I may certainly lose other “friends” who just know me as Larry and are loosely acquainted with me and my personal and professional background. And, if I do lose those people in my world because they may not agree with me or wish not to understand my purposes for this reasoning…I wish you well and will always think of you fondly. It has been a pleasure to have known you.

Evil has many, many definitions, just ask google. But, the real reason for evil as I have mentioned is a total separation from a Higher Power. One Who knows all, sees all and has a complete understanding of the purposes and intents of evil doing and the evil people who are perpetrating these heinous acts. Through His Son, He has given free will to all and people have and will continue to act on it. And, through this, evildoers delight in their actions and the demonic celebrates it. I certainly believe that these actions grieve God, and some may ask “where was He when this or that happened?” My answer is that I do not know, as His reasonings are greater than we could ever understand. And, I won’t know any of these answers until I stand before Him.

Charlie Kirk knew this and accepted it. And, he placed himself in harms way hundreds and hundreds of times just to try and change one mind, one way of thinking…which he successfully did many, many times. While I may not have agreed with Charlie on all his societal beliefs, I fully understood why he was doing what he did, and THAT was the one thing I did fervently agree with him on. Charlie stands with the Lord now and has received his ultimate reward, and that is to walk in heaven forever with the Father.

I do know one other thing…

What happened to Charlie Kirk has changed the world. And, while some may horrifyingly celebrate and laughingly commemorate what happened to him, what they don’t know is that it created literally thousands and thousands of other Charlie Kirks. The demonic entity has overplayed his hand…and he knows it.

And, I am Charlie Kirk.