The Week We Couldn’t Unsee

Justice will be satisfied, mercy is still extended, and truth belongs to God alone.

It’s been quite the week. If you’ve felt like the world has gone mad this week, you’re not imagining it.

It started out with the viral video of Iryna Zarutska— brutally murdered on a commuter train in North Carolina— sparking a nationwide discussion on race and violence and the media’s gatekeeping of the news. The video of her murder was released to the public and we all collectively felt unspeakable horror watching something we should not be seeing.

There were calls to hold the media accountable, to hold the judges accountable (who released him to the public), to hold the mental health community accountable— and depending on who you were following— even entire racial and political groups accountable.

We were already on edge and traumatized by the gore and violence we were seeing.

And then… Charlie Kirk— a polarizing conservative personality— was assassinated in broad daylight on a Utah campus in front of thousands. Many of us saw the video purely by accident and now can’t unsee it. It was violent and gory and graphically disturbing.

And then social media unraveled.

1. There were immediately calls for war.

2. People saying these two murders radicalized them.

3. Anger and vitriol coming from every single direction.

4. Before the assassin was captured, both sides were politicizing it.

5. After the assassin was captured, the narrative quickly got rewritten as both sides doubled down on their side.

As of the writing of this post, there are two almost entirely different narratives circulating.

• He was radicalized by the left (Antifa/liberal/woke) and strayed from his conservative Mormon family.

• He was radicalized by the extreme alt right (Groypers/Nick Fuentes followers/white nationalists).

Sliding into the news with not nearly the same virality, we had a school shooting in Denver. We saw Nepal’s government get overthrown in 48 hours and a Prime Minister installed by a vote on Discord. Israelis in Jerusalem waiting at a bus stop were murdered by terrorists and Israel took out a bunch of Hamas leaders in Qatar. Putin continued to threaten NATO by flying drones into Poland’s airspace. And given the focus on Charlie Kirk right now, you may have forgotten or not even seen these headlines.

This is the week we’ve had.

If you’re feeling like your nerves are shot, you feel sad, angry, confused, and restless, you are not alone.

We are in a full-scale information war. There’s no need for tanks to prove it.

And what is at stake?

The truth.

Truth is that which corresponds to reality. In our post modern world, people might argue even that definition. But I believe that there is an objective observable reality and truth that we can all see and understand.

Remember the story about the men and the elephant?

• The Setup: A group of blind men encounters an elephant, and each one touches a different part of its body.

• Their Conclusions:

  • One touches the trunk and insists the elephant is like a long, flexible snake.

  • Another feels a leg and claims it's like a sturdy pillar.

  • Yet another handles the ear and concludes it's like a large fan.

• The Moral: Each man’s perspective is only a fragment of the whole truth. No single view captures the entire reality of the elephant.

But can we all agree that objectively, there is an elephant?

Guess who is the Creator of that elephant? Who sees the entire animal? Who even sees the surroundings that the animal is standing in and the before and after of that animal’s life, the daily activities of the elephant, plus all the generations of elephants that come before and after in all of time and eternity?

God.

He is the source of truth and the only One who can hold it all and understand it fully.

For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
- 1 Corinthians 13:9-12

This is pulled out of one of the most famous chapters in all the Bible… the chapter on love. None of us have the entire story or the full truth, but only God. And Paul is making the case that the greatest thing we can do is love God and love others.

And not the definition of love that society gives us. BIBLICAL LOVE. Extremely important distinction.

Biblical love is rooted in God’s character, defined by sacrifice, bound to the truth, and seeks the other’s ETERNAL good.

God is the only one who knows the beginning and end of every single thing that has happened this week.

And clinging to Him in love and humility is the best defense (and offense) against becoming a casualty of the information war.

Let me ask you a question: And this is for anyone on the left or right. It doesn’t matter:

What do you gain by knowing whether Charlie Kirk’s assassin was the extreme left or extreme right?

In either case, it’s extreme ideology. Does it really matter? Is one extreme acceptable and one not? The only advantage to digging for the truth of this young man’s heart is to simply amplify whatever side you’re fighting for.

And that isn’t something that draws you closer to God or His heart.

• Is God just? Yes.

• Does God care about truth? Yes.

• Do we want to know it? Of course.

• Will we fully know it here? No.

• Is there a way to defend against the information war? Yes.

Press into God and His word. Pray without ceasing. Read the words of Jesus over and over and over. The Kingdom of God is NOT like this world.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you
and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven,
for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Matthew 5:3-12

Jesus came to reconcile Iryna Zarutska to Himself.
Jesus came to reconcile Decarlos Brown Jr. to Himself.
Jesus came to reconcile Charlie Kirk to Himself.
Jesus came to reconcile Tyler Robinson to Himself.

He came to reconcile every broken, fallen, sinful human being to Himself. We all have a choice whether to say yes or no.

We all will suffer different consequences and receive different rewards based on our actions, yes. But never forget, we are all equal at the foot of the cross. His mercy is available to every human who asks for it.

• Justice will be satisfied (in this life or the next).
  AND…

• Mercy is still extended through Christ, even to those we’d never extend it to.

This humility is the doorway to understanding more fully the truth of God and what is really going on in this world today.

We will never see the whole elephant in this life, but we get to see more, the more humility we put on as we draw near to God in our time of need.

May God draw near to every single person that is grieving a heartbreaking loss and experiencing unimaginable pain. May God’s truth break through into hardened and deceived hearts that are oppressed by evil. And may this Sabbath day be filled with the presence and peace of God.

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