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The unprovoked murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska and the horrific attack on Annunciation Catholic School that killed two children were still bleeding wounds when the news of Charlie Kirk’s death hit like a tidal wave. The martyring of our fellow conservative warrior and brother in Christ was like acid poured into those gashes.
We’re not just grieving — we’re angry and salivating for justice.
But as we move toward worldly justice, like sentences for the criminals and policy reforms, we need to keep one thing in mind.
“You cannot address spiritual issues and solve spiritual problems with secular, worldly solutions,” says Rick Burgess, BlazeTV host of “Strange Encounters.”
The gruesome attacks on innocent people that have dominated the news of late are at their core spiritual issues, which means they must be fought with spiritual weapons.
That doesn’t mean that worldly justice isn’t important; it just means that the harshest of consequences for the alleged murderers, enhanced security at political events, and regulations for online extremism won’t do a thing to counter the demonic forces at the root of these heinous attacks.
But what does it look like for Christians to fight back spiritually against the spreading evil in our nation?
First, it demands we understand the difference between demonic possession and mental illness.
“The brain is part of our body. Just like you would have problems with your heart, your kidneys, sometimes our brain is sick. Sometimes it has issues. We see this in Alzheimer’s and dementia,” Rick says.
But people our culture euphemistically dubs “mentally ill” who are clearly out to “kill, steal, and destroy” are in a category of their own. Their brains aren’t sick; their spirits are sick with demonic possession.
Dacarlos Brown Jr., who’s been officially charged with murdering Iryna Zarutska, “is possessed of a demon,” Rick says, “and we can put him in jail as many times as we want to. … But until the demonic possession of this man is addressed in the holy name of Jesus, he is always going to be dangerous.”
Tyler Robinson, Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin, as well as Robin (formerly Robert) Westman, the transgender-identifying biological male who shot and killed the two children at Annunciation Catholic School, are in the same category as Brown, Rick says. They’re dealing not primarily with mental illness and political radicalization but with demons.
Like vultures to a rotting carcass, demons will go where sin flourishes, and we have fostered a culture of death in this country, Rick explains. Whether it’s violent video games, abortion, or the transgender movement that butchers healthy bodies and inverts God’s design, we have forgotten “how valuable human life is.”
These atrocities that society has whitewashed or even called good are equivalent to “handing out an invitation for demons to come into our lives,” he says. The horrific violence that took Charlie Kirk, Iryna Zarutska, and the Catholic children’s lives is evidence of this.
“Until we stop the things that keep giving them an invitation, the darkness will only grow,” Rick warns.
This truth is something “we’ve got to apply to today’s headlines.”
But secular society that’s heavily driving our culture of death isn’t just going to wake up suddenly and reverse course. Christians must be willing to wade into the darkness with the truth of the gospel.
“Those of us that are redeemed, we’re going to have to stop being so apathetic. The only hope for this society is the church — the salt and the light,” Rick says, “but sitting around doing our programs and turning the church into a spiritual social club, that’s not going to battle.”
“We’re going to have to get back to where we take the holiness of God serious. We’re going to have to get back to where we take Jesus Christ’s commandment to go and teach the world all that He’s commanded — to go be disciples and make disciples — [serious].”
“Until the church starts bringing the salt and light into the darkness, nothing’s going to change.”
To hear more of Rick’s commentary, watch the full episode above.
Want more from Rick Burgess?
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