Welcome to the Christian Publishing Show. We don’t normally cover current events here, but we had some breaking news last week that I think impacts every Christian author. For that reason, in this week’s episode, I’ll be sharing the latest episode of Author Update, our show that covers publishing news. We’ll be talking about Charlie Kirk and what the events surrounding his life and death mean for authors.
Thomas: Welcome back to Author Update. Today we’re going to talk about Charlie Kirk, a Christian author who was shot while giving a speech to his audience.
We also have publishing news: MailerLite is reducing its free plan, Kit is raising prices, and the Wheel of Time rights are reverting.
Charlie Kirk Shot and Killed While Speaking to His Audience
Jonathan: Today we’re going to address the major news event of the week. Charlie Kirk has been shot and killed while speaking to his audience in Utah.
A few months ago we covered conservative books getting kicked out of public libraries. Last week, we covered a conservative in the UK getting arrested for his tweets. Now we’re talking about a podcaster, speaker, and author who has been killed for speaking about what he believes in.
As for Charlie Kirk, here are some quick biographical details. He was a prominent Christian conservative author and co-founder of Turning Point USA, which he started at age 18. He was a young father of two and had recently married. He published several books. He was known for being open and engaging with his audience, allowing anything to be said so it could be heard and addressed from his conservative Christian viewpoint. He gave people verses and Bible. He did not back down from his beliefs no matter how difficult it became.
I have nothing but respect for what he did, what he stood for, and most of the time the way he went about it. Of course, there are differences you might have with a public figure in how they address certain things, but it is hard to armchair general that. He was on the spot. You get to watch the replay.
Thomas, what are some things he did as an author that expanded his ability to speak to his audience?
What Authors Can Learn From Charlie Kirk
Thomas: People are nitpicking every word he ever said, when so much of the recordings are him in a context where people could ask any kind of question, often antagonistically. The fact that there is so little truly bad material is remarkable.
As someone who does open Q and A in a much safer environment, with patrons asking book marketing questions, I can tell you answering live is difficult. Doing that in a hostile environment is remarkable. We have heard a lot about Charlie Kirk for three days.
He was an example of an author doing just about everything right from a book marketing, author, and writing perspective.
Listened to His “Timothy”
Thomas: The most notable thing you could say about Charlie Kirk is that he listened to his Timothy.
Jonathan: His whole brand was built on going to his Timothy and talking to them on camera.
Thomas: People call him a martyr for public speech and the First Amendment. I do not think people realize what that is. When someone goes to a campus to speak, they usually hold the microphone the whole time. That is not what Charlie Kirk did. He spent a huge amount of time allowing his intellectual opponents to talk. He would say, “It’s your turn, we will go back and forth.” It is an ancient principle. By debating and discussing, objective truth can be found.
Listening had a huge impact. To be a good debater, you must be a good listener. You cannot win if all you do is throw isms at the other person. You must understand their arguments. He did, and that informed his writing.
Five of the top six bestselling books on Amazon right now are Charlie Kirk’s. His books were doing well even before he was killed. He had a clear message and a clear audience. He knew who he was communicating to and spent a lot of time listening.
Many clips show him not on a big stage but on a small stage, sitting behind a table, discussing with someone who is often being very mean. He responded with grace, kindness, empathy, warmth, wisdom, and truth.
That is the work of an author. If you do that well in real life, you will write well. Writing that grows from conversation gets better. It is also practice. I did not follow him early, but I have listened to people who did. They talk about how much he improved over time in debating, communicating, organizing, and writing.
Built a Platform
He put a lot of effort into building his platform. He did what I encourage authors to do. He had a podcast. He had an email newsletter. He did public speaking. He used social media strategically. He did not waste time there. He did things in real life that created good content for social media. Many clips were from his speaking, and he engaged with people online.
People are now retweeting posts from months ago. Many were prescient and wise. One practice he had, and I am pondering doing this, was keeping the Sabbath and resting from his phone on Sundays. He traveled, spoke, was on cable news, yet on Sundays, you could not book him or reach him. He put his phone away and was fully with his family. I am not fully there on Sundays. It is a challenging example of using social media well, and he wrote a book called Stop in the Name of God (affiliate link) which comes out in December.
Wrote and Spoke with Courage
He had courage, which we talk about a lot as critical for book marketing. He was willing to talk to people who hated him. Courage is attractive. He understood the times. He knew the zeitgeist, often better than cultural observers. People would say young people are socialists. He would say no, and he had authority to say it because he listened to young people.
Writing is a way for your ideas to live on after you. Charlie is not with us anymore, but his books are. I would not be surprised if he occupies top spots on the New York Times list when it’s released on Tuesday.
Author Reactions and the Stephen King Misquote
Jonathan: There has been a lot of impact on authors in the past couple of days, mostly on social media. Everyone feels like they have to throw out their position. It is already happening in the comments of this video.
Stephen King is probably the best example. He posted on X a quote he pulled out of context. He said that Charlie Kirk had said gays should be stoned. Turns out that was taken out of context. Charlie Kirk had been talking about how not to use the Bible, saying that claiming gays should be stoned because the Bible says so is not the right way to use the Bible.
Stephen King apologized and took it down.
Thomas: This connects back to listening and going to your Timothy. Part of listening well is understanding your opponent’s position. Charlie would often quote, very articulately, the opponent’s position, then critique it. It’s an ancient debate technique where you demonstrate you understand your opponent’s position and then demonstrate how it is wrong.
If you expand the timeline slightly on many of the quotes that are circulating, you hear him giving an articulate critique of the thing he supposedly said. Pulling quotes out of context is a very disingenuous way to engage, and long term, it does not work.
Jonathan: Stephen King amplified a supposed quote from Charlie that he saw on X. He deleted it, backtracked, and apologized, but then everyone started dogpiling on him.
Stephen King getting canceled is a big deal, though to be clear, he wasn’t truly cancelled.
Authors must consider the following questions in cultural moments like these:
- What can authors learn?
- What can an author say or not say in a charged moment?
- How should you govern your speech?
- How you are viewed?
- What dangers are present to authors and their brands?
Stephen King has made his money. Even if he gets canceled, he will be fine personally.
Thomas: He is not canceled for any actual meaning of that word, but he is receiving ire. People are grieving, and anger is looking for an outlet. He is a prominent target, and he has not been charitable in his language.
How Authors Should Speak When Emotions Run Hot
Jonathan: As an author establishing a brand, how should you speak? There is a free speech argument and a best-practices argument. What are your thoughts?
Thomas: Pick your battles. Be circumspect. Be mindful of your brand. When emotions are high, being quiet is often wise.
When this first happened, emotions were extreme on X. Elon Musk took a break from X for half a day. He went completely dark, which is uncharacteristic for him, especially during breaking news. I think he was aware of his own emotions and afraid of saying things that would cause society to spin out of control.
There is a sense that we are trying to have a chess match, but if the other person punches me in the face, can we still have a chess match? Is learning chess going to help?
There is a sense on the left that if you say bad things, you deserve to get killed, and you see it in comments. People imply Charlie brought it on himself. Some say it explicitly. That is evil and un-American.
Evil is real. We are fighting spiritual forces of evil, which influence ideas. People can be rescued from evil ideas. We all hear things we do not like. If that justifies violence, we cannot be a people.
Fear, Courage, and the Cost of Speaking
Thomas: It is very scary to be threatened. My oldest heard that an author and podcaster was shot. The night after the shooting, she woke up crying and asked if they were going to kill Daddy next.
Her opinion of me is elevated, but we never thought they would go after people with no power. It is not like Charlie Kirk was a government official. People have shot at the president, gone to a Supreme Court justice’s house, and the speaker of the house was shot. But they would not shoot a commentator, would they?
Then they did.
In some ways, it is easier to target an obscure commentator. Charlie Kirk has security. Ben Shapiro has security. Elon Musk has security. Security is very expensive.
Alexander McCree wrote a great article about campus events. When Antifa started violence, insurance shot up. They had to pay about $400,000 in insurance and $30,000 a month for security. Even then, colleges would cancel events because of the other side’s violence. It has a chilling effect.
Friends are asking if it is safe to go to the grocery store. We are training our daughters for situational awareness. This is not the only violent thing that happened this week.
When I was a kid, my dad, an accountant, came across organized crime. He was scared, and for 24 hours there was fear in our house, but then I watched him decide not to be afraid. He would not let it control his life or keep him from doing his job.
Grief, Discipline, and Not Letting Anger Rule
Jonathan: There is a concept among combat troops that the guy next to you is going to get hit, and that can be worse than getting hit yourself. Survivor’s guilt is real. Many veterans think, “I wish I had gone out with my boy.”
There is a misunderstanding around Cash Patel. He said, “See you in Valhalla,” which is a saying from the military and law enforcement world. “I will see you in Valhalla,” is what warriors say when another warrior has died.
When one of your own falls, you pick up his weapon, take his tags, and keep going. The mission still has to be accomplished. Otherwise, what did he die for?
Civilians, particularly in America, struggle with this because they do not often lose someone they were in the fight with. Moral outrage is an appropriate response to murder.
But what do you do with the anger? You do not get to gun down a whole village because they killed one of your boys. You must know who to go after. That requires intelligence, which was my job in the Marine Corps. Keep yourself disciplined.
Justice, Restraint, and What To Do Now
Thomas: We need the strong men who will make good times. Charlie Kirk was that kind of man. We are in the season where we are recovering from bad times that weak men made. Women are not safe on trains. Speakers are not safe on campuses.
Strong men must do difficult things. One of those things is being meek, controlling strength and violence.
Justice is a blindfolded woman, blind to color and class, bearing a naked blade and holding scales. The standard is an eye for an eye and a life for a life. The temptation is to be harsher or lighter than that. Weak men have been unwilling to punish evil. They are unwilling to allow Lady Justice to wield the naked blade.
The time for that is ending. We must follow the ancient paths. Fair trials. Jury of your peers. Swift executions and punishments. That is what fixes society. Resist the temptation to take justice into your own hands.
Jonathan: Legitimacy is part of how punishment works. In the Bible, Cain kills Abel. Cain’s concern was that everyone would want to kill him, so God marked him so that would not happen. Later, the law of self-defense appears. After the flood, God gives the command, “whosoever sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” That passes punishment to government. Governments will answer for how they wield it. Self-defense is different and still stands, but tracking down and punishing is governmental. He holds the sword for a reason.
Thomas: It is right and good for a Christian to forgive the evildoer. It is also right and good for a judge to say, you are guilty, and tomorrow at noon you will be hanged by the neck until dead. Those are not in conflict.
Harboring unforgiveness is poisonous. Jesus calls us to forgive as individuals. Turning the other cheek does not mean that murderers suffer no consequences. We have forgotten what justice is. We have put words in front of the word justice for so long we have forgotten justice itself.
Our ancestors gave us the picture. A blindfolded woman, bearing a naked blade, with scales to bring balance. We can have that again. The wheel turns ever onward. We are in a fourth turning. Things fall apart, then are rebuilt. You can advocate for justice in your stories and nonfiction.
Last night I met with dads about training our daughters to protect themselves. One dad is training his daughter to carry, and to have a guardian mindset. We need to do this, but we should not normalize it. Society must change. Women should be able to sit on a bus without fear. That means justice needs to wield the naked blade. More importantly, we must repent of our sins. We have lied, stolen, coveted, taken God’s name in vain. We need to trust Jesus and go back to church.
If you want to honor Charlie Kirk’s legacy, go back to church. There is one in your area. They would be happy to have you.
Number one, repent, trust in Jesus, pray for our nation. Number two, reject calls for vigilant violence and civil war.
Jonathan: I lived in a country that had civil war. You do not want that. A lot of people on social media are almost gleeful that their time has come.
If something is trying to make you angry online, look and see why. Controlling people through anger is easy, especially if they think they are being moral. Foreign actors value destabilizing the US. Now is a great time for them to try.
As for real people who are excited for civil war, they have no idea what they are talking about. You have never lived your life looking at trash and wondering if it is a bomb. Do not ask for a world you would find unbearable.
Thomas: The first American Civil War had more casualties than any other war we have fought, and we had a fraction of today’s population. It would be unfathomably terrible and unnecessary. Our ancestors already gave us the solution, which is true justice through the courts.
A Personal Challenge From Charlie’s Example
Jonathan: We have covered the majority of what we need to cover regarding Charlie Kirk. I am both inspired by his impact and shamed by the impact I have not had. I have not worked as hard as he did. The man was a workaholic. He was friendly to everyone, extroverted, always talking to everyone. He sent personal messages to anyone who needed it, not only to people who could benefit him.
I am inspired by his life and example and shamed by what I have not even aspired to. I would stay in my office and write a book every three years.
Thomas: Meanwhile, he was podcasting every day, still writing a book a year, and traveling and speaking.
Jonathan: Take a look at your own ministry and mission. Adjust if you need to. Push on. Do not despair. Quote Lord of the Rings to yourself if you have to. Be like Theoden, who said, “Now I shall not be ashamed to stand in my ancestors’ mighty company.” That is what we are going for.
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