Few mentioned the shooter in the five hours of Charlie Kirk’s memorial. Those who did speak of the murderer called him a monster, a coward, and the embodiment of evil. The focus of nearly everyone who spoke–saved and unsaved alike–was on Charlie Kirk’s testimony as a Christian.

Supernatural Forgiveness

But when Erika Kirk spoke of her husband’s killer, her words echoed her Savior:

“My husband, Charlie. He wanted to save young men, just like the one who took his life. That young man. That young man on the cross. Our Savior said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they not know what they do.’ That man. That young man. I forgive him. I forgive him because it was what Christ did and what Charlie would do. The answer to hate is not hate. The answer we know from the gospel is love and always love. Love for our enemies and love for those who persecute us.”

This is the power of the gospel. This is Scripture lived out before us in the most heart-rending of circumstances. Erika spoke with grace and strength not her own.

A Natural Contrast

Contrast her words with those of the president of the United States:

“In that private moment, on his dying day, we find everything we need to know about who Charlie Kirk truly was. He was a missionary with a noble spirit and a great, great purpose. He did not hate his opponents. He wanted the best for them. That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent and I don’t want the best for them. I’m sorry. I am sorry, Erika. But now Erika can talk to me and the whole group and maybe they can convince me that that’s not right. But I can’t stand my opponent.”

President Trump’s response is, perhaps, more understandable than Erika’s words of forgiveness. Erika’s decision to forgive only makes sense through the lens of the gospel. Only those who have experienced God’s forgiveness and rely on Him for strength to forgive can extend that forgiveness to others.

Profound Yet Not the First

Erika’s forgiveness mirrors that of countless believers who have suffered throughout the centuries since the death of Christ:

  • Stephen (while being stoned): “Lord, do not charge them with this sin” (Acts 7:60).
  • William Tyndale (at the stake for translating the Bible in 1536): “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.”1
  • John Bradford (at the stake for his faith in 1555): “I am quiet: God forgive you this, Master Sheriff.”
  • Corrie Ten Boom (in Nazi concentration camp in 1944): “Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness.”2 God strengthened her to forgive those who murdered her sister.
  • Elisabeth Elliot (after her husband was martyred in Ecuador in 1956): “Forgiveness is not a feeling; it is a choice to obey Christ. . . We prayed for those who had killed our loved ones, desiring their salvation and reconciliation. . . I returned to the Ecuadorian rain forest to live with the very people who had killed my husband. God’s love compelled me to forgive and seek reconciliation.”3
  • Darrell Scott (whose daughter died in the Columbine school shooting in 1999): “Our family forgives the boys who killed our daughter. We forgive because we believe in Christ’s command to love our enemies.”4
  • Gracia Burnham (after suffering kidnapping in the Philippines and the death of her husband in 2001): “My hatred was replaced with concern and even love for them. . . . Contentment began to grow in my heart as I learned to keep putting the situation I was in back into God’s hands because it was too great a situation for me to fix.”5
  • Gary Witherall (after the martyrdom of his wife in Lebanon in 2002): “I was convulsed with everything in me as I said, ‘Lord, I forgive them.” It was the message I had been preaching everywhere during our time in Lebanon. It was a message I believed–I knew I have been forgiven of all the garbage in my life. And here and now, with God’s help, I realized that I could show a forgiveness that was way beyond me.”6
  • Nadine Collier (after the murder of her daughter in 2015): “I forgive you. You took something really precious away from me. I will never talk to her ever again. I will never be able to hold her again. But I forgive you and have mercy on your soul. It hurts me, it hurts a lot of people but God forgive you and I forgive you.”7
  • Cara Northington (after the murder of her daughter in 2025): “Jesus has allowed me to forgive you for murdering my daughter without you even being sorry or asking for this.”8

In each instance, God empowered those who suffered immense loss or even martyrdom to forgive those who injured them. This spirit of forgiveness embodies the gospel message and amplifies its power in a way that defies the natural human response to injustice and harm.

Conclusion: Extending Christ’s Forgiveness

As Erika Kirk affirmed, the Christian response to suffering “is love and always love.” Erika referenced not only the words of Christ on the cross (Luke 23:34) but also His teaching on persecution: “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).

She took to heart the Bible’s counter-intuitive instruction about responding to evil: “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men… Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. . . . Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:17–21).

Finally, in the midst of her own grief, Erika looked beyond herself to the bigger picture of God’s work in this world, seeing a lost soul in the one who took her husband’s life. In so doing, she embraced Jesus’ mission “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

Only God can give such grace. Only He can produce such unthinkable forgiveness.

  1. John Foxe, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. ↩︎
  2. Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place (Grand Rapids, MI: Chosen Books, 2006), 234. ↩︎
  3. Elisabeth Elliot, Through Gates of Splendor (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1981), 274. ↩︎
  4. CNN. “Columbine: Remembering Rachel Scott.” CNN, April 20, 2000. https://www.cnn.com/2000/US/04/20/columbine.scott/index.html See also the book, Rachel’s Tears, 1999. ↩︎
  5. Bethany Pico, “Missionary Tells Story of Being Kidnapped, Held Hostage,” Liberty News, September 23, 2011, https://www.liberty.edu/news/2011/09/23/missionary-tells-story-of-being-kidnapped-held-hostage/ Read also Burnham’s book, In the Presence of My Enemies. ↩︎
  6. Gary Witherall, Total Abandon (Waynesboro, GA: Authentic Publishing, 2012), 93. The story of Bonnie WItherall’s martyrdom is also highlighted in my missions devotional, Daring Decision. ↩︎
  7. Oliver Laughland, Paul Lewis, and Raya Jalabi, “‘I Forgive You’: Charleston Church Victims’ Families Confront Suspect,” The Guardian, June 19, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/19/i-forgive-you-charleston-church-victims-families-confront-suspect ↩︎
  8. Hicks, Mitti. “Idaho Victim’s Mother to Killer: ‘Jesus Has Helped Me Forgive You.’” Premier Christian News, July 25, 2025. https://premierchristian.news/en/news/article/idaho-murder-victim-mom-forgives-killer ↩︎

Discover more from Rooted Thinking

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.