Mormonism Research Ministry

Charlie Kirk: Ambassador for Christ (1993-2025)

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Zach Metzger

I was at the Charlie Kirk event at Utah Valley University on September 10th, 2025.

To be honest, I didn’t know a whole lot about Charlie before that day other than the fact that he was a conservative political commentator. I had maybe seen a couple brief clips of him before. I attended the event because I work for a campus ministry at UVU called Ratio Christi, and I heard he was coming to campus and wanted to see what he was about. What I witnessed in Charlie that day was not a mere political message, but a distinctly Christian message.

I have yet to see a full clip of it come out, but the first student who asked Charlie a question that morning was a Mormon who asked Charlie what evidence he had for Christianity over against the Latter-day Saint faith. Charlie prefaced his answer with a reminder to the audience that he loves the Mormon community and that what he was about to say was not intended to upset them, but he went on to challenge the Mormon student on Mormonism. “Where is the archaeological evidence for the Book of Mormon?” “Where are the Golden Plates?” I remember Charlie asking the student questions like these.

Charlie then went on to contrast the evidence for Mormonism with that of Christianity. He explained how the Bible contains real people and real places that we have archaeological evidence for. He then went on to explain that there is real evidence for Christ’s empty tomb. He specifically talked about the 500 witnesses mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:6 and the fact that it was women who discovered the empty tomb, which the Gospel writers would not have made up. He cited Scripture after Scripture.

But Charlie didn’t just stop with facts supporting the Gospel, he proclaimed the Gospel itself to the crowd of about 3,000 people. “Jesus Christ was a real person. He lived a perfect life, He was crucified, died, and rose on the third day, and He is Lord and God over all,” Charlie said to a mostly cheering crowd.

I was amazed. Charlie had strong convictions about his faith and knew how to communicate and defend the Gospel in an extremely clear manner in front of thousands of people with passion. I realized at that moment that he wasn’t merely a political commentator, he was an ambassador for Christ. He had a fully developed worldview where his political message stemmed from a foundation built on Jesus Christ and the revelation of the one true God we find in the Bible. Charlie didn’t see his politics as disconnected from his faith in Christ.

He didn’t just want people to be conservative, he wanted them to be saved. You could tell it in the passion of his voice when he shared the Gospel. While those who hated him hated him for his political views, there is no doubt that underneath all of that was a hatred for the Christian worldview and the proclamation that Jesus is “Lord and God over all.” Because of that, I think Charlie was a martyr not just for politics, but for Christ. His last message to the world was that of Christ’s deity, death, resurrection, and supremacy over all things.

Shortly after Charlie finished with his Gospel presentation, another student went up to the microphone and asked Charlie about recent mass shootings in the U.S., and at about that moment Charlie was shot and killed and went to be with our Lord. Amidst all the chaos, I can’t help but remember the stand for the Gospel that Charlie took that day. I kept asking myself how we as Christians can continue on his legacy. Charlie had a recent post on X that said, “Tell someone about Jesus this weekend.”

This is what Charlie would want us to do. Let’s “tell someone about Jesus” this weekend and every weekend. Let’s carry on Charlie’s legacy of bold proclamation of the Gospel in the public square. Rest in peace, Charlie.

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Zach Metzger holds a Master of Divinity from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and serves with Ratio Christi, a campus-based Christian apologetics ministry, at Utah Valley University.

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