Evil and the Death of Charlie Kirk

Posted on September 10, 2025 by Scott Dunford

I was sitting at my desk pondering the application of Proverbs 2 when the news that Charlie Kirk had been shot came across my phone. There are things I agreed with Charlie on and things that I didn’t, but I always appreciated that he was out there having the conversations with people whom he disagreed. He treated the people he debated with dignity and respect.

Just four days ago he posted this on X, “Jesus defeated death so you can live.”  It is a simple gospel maxim that says so much. Death comes from sin. Sin is evil. Evil destroys and kills what God loves. God loves us so that the eternal Son of God came into the world to kill death and sin, by dying himself. It is mind blowing what God did seeing that we were the ones who caused this problem through our rebellion in the first place. Billy Joel was wrong. We did start the fire. 

There are people who do evil and there are systems that perpetuate evil. We must not be naïve about the world that we live in. The call of Wisdom is the call to reject the ways of evil men and reject the “dark ways,” the evil systems, that wickedness creates. 

“Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, who have left the straight paths to walk in dark ways, who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways” Proverbs 2:12-15.

When society rejects God’s Law as too narrow, too old fashioned, or too judgmental we are exchanging life for death. Obedience is safety. Obedience is blessing. Obedience is life. The Ten Commandments aren’t just a list of Christian dos and don’ts; they summarize God’s attitude towards the things that destroy us.  Evil is real and evil is deadly. 

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” Isaiah 5:20.

When we accept the lie that some evil is actually good (some covetousness, some infidelity, some theft, some deceit, some killing, some idolatry) or when we play theological gymnastics to justify sinful behavior and attitudes (did God actually say…?), we are sowing the seeds of destruction in our own lives and in our society. The solution to what ails us is not politics. Good politics is downstream from good theology. Replacing “Blue” sins for “Red” sins is simply exchanging one form of death with another. What we need is to submit ourselves to the gospel of Jeus Christ. One pastor friend (Darren Carlson) posted this on Facebook in the moments after the shooting:

“The best reason not to murder those we reckon our political enemies has always been the fear of God and the sober awareness that every person bears his image. God is holy; people are sacred; vengeance belongs to the Lord (Rom. 12:19). Remove the fear of God, and the weight of human life grows light. If politics is ultimate, then enemies are not neighbors to be persuaded but obstacles to be crushed. We must practice the slow habits that put ballast in the soul: telling the truth, refusing contempt, blessing those who curse, guarding our tongues, praying for leaders we didn’t vote for, and breaking bread with neighbors we don’t agree with.”

As Christians we mourn the death of a famous man like Charlie Kirk and the less famous men and women, boys and girls, who suffer and die from the oppression of sin in our world. We do not mourn however as those who have no hope. We who know the Way, the Truth, and the Life must get up, dust ourselves off and get busy introducing a dying world to the one who died to give life. 

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Why So Downcast?

Posted on July 10, 2025 by Scott Dunford

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Psalm 42:11

I am often amazed by the feebleness of my own heart. When I’m thinking straight, I have great faith. I have been a Christian for well over 40 years. I have not only seen the fruits of great faith in my mother, father, and grandmother, but have seen God be faithful to me and my family as well. I have seen God answer prayers both big and small. I’ve seen God lead and guide us through dark valleys and onto distant continents. Never once, has God been anything but faithful to me. Like the song says, “All my life you have been faithful. All my life you have been so, so, good…”

All of this is objectively true. So why do I find my faith so easily turned on its head? Somedays it seems like the smallest hint of potentially disappointing news is enough to put me into a spiritual tailspin. In those moments I find the Psalms to be especially encouraging. I see in the very words of Scripture not only the reassurance that my feelings are not utterly bizarre, but that there is hope for the easily downcast. 

The Psalmist calls out his temporary lack of faith, “Why so downcast?” The question itself shines a light on the preposterousness of it all. The question of “Why?” forces us to look straight into the eyes of doubt. When I stop and evaluate why I’m downcast, the answer is often silly. Why? Because I heard something that might indicate that this less-than-ideal imaginary outcome may come to pass. Most of the time I’m downcast over something that is trivial. But the question holds true even in the face of a truly devastating scenario. A diagnosis of cancer or the death of a family member is anything but trivial, but regardless of the answer to our “Why” the response is always the same—“put your hope in God.” 

The Psalmist calls us to look our problems in the face and then look immediately into the face of our Lord and Savior. What a difference this makes! I am not a victim of chance. I am not overwhelmed by circumstances outside of anyone’s control. I am not the passive recipient of someone else’s reckless or even intentionally harmful actions. Instead, everything in my life is completely in the hands of my all powerful and loving heavenly Father. 

When I put my hope in God, my perspective is completely changed. That disappointing news is simply God not giving me what would not be good for me. That unwanted trial is God’s planned purpose to grow me in my conformity to Christ.  Even that evil that I may be dealing with may be meant to harm me by my enemies, but it is going to be turned to my good by my God. What discourages you? Let us put our hope in God for we will yet praise him, our Savior and our God!

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Serve with Courage

Posted on May 21, 2025 by Scott Dunford

2 Timothy 1:6-7 “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

Have you ever felt incapable of doing what God has called you to do? Maybe reading that sentence you wonder if it was ever even God who called you to do that ministry assignment in the first place. Ministry is not for the faint of heart. Whether you are greeting visitors, preparing a meal, working in the tech booth, leading worship, or doing a public reading you will find challenges and opposition to the work you are called to do. 

I can easily recall several humiliating failures early in my attempts to serve the Lord. In college I was becoming more and more confident in my preaching ability, so I readily said yes when the opportunity came to give a message at our local homeless shelter. I studied and studied but with hours before the sermon was to be given, I still had nothing. With shame I went to my pastor (who happened to be my father) and had to tell him that I could not preach that day. In our moments of humiliation and failure it is tempting to walk away from serving all together. Maybe we don’t stop serving per se but only avoid those areas of ministry where we are likely to fail publicly. Either way we serve or don’t serve out of fear. 

In Paul’s final words to his protégé Timothy, he urges him not to give in to fear in serving Jesus. He reminds him that serving is a gift from God and that the fear we feel is not from God. The word here translated timid in the NIV and fear in the ESV is a word that means cowardice. Ministry is not for cowards. Like John Wayne said, “Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.”

Instead of timidity, fear, and cowardice, God’s Spirit gives us three essential ingredients for the task ahead: power, love, and self-discipline. God’s power gives us the strength to do what we cannot do in our own flesh and the effectiveness to fulfill our calling with fruitfulness. Love motivates us to go beyond what we would naturally do for the glory of God and the good of others. Like power, love is a quality that God gives us. God’s love motivates our ministry and ensures that we resemble Christ in our service. Self-discipline is the gift that causes us to apply wisdom to the ministry situations we face. The word literally means “wise head.” When we serve the Lord, it is inevitable that the attacks of the enemy will also come. Distractions, failures, and accidents are thrown our way when we seek to engage in ministry. We need a wise head that keeps control and resounds not with the panic or anger of the flesh, but with cool head and the warm heart that only the Spirit can produce in us. 

Ministry is scary, but only when we try to do in our own flesh. Be courageous, saddle up, live out the calling that our Savior has given to you. Remember that the glory goes to him and the enabling comes from him, so serve with confidence and grace. 

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Don’t Despise the Little Things

Posted on May 14, 2025 by Scott Dunford
“It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth.” Mark 4:31  

America is the land of the Big Gulp, the Big Mac, and the Big Leagues. We are programed to believe that bigger is better. This philosophy carries over into the church. The teacher with the big platform must be better, the church with the big building must be doing something right, and the pastor with the big congregation must be holier. 

Of course there is nothing about being small that makes something more noble either. I’ve been in more than one pastors gathering where the small church pastors criticized the growth of another ministry with the complaint that “we would be that big too if we just compromised the gospel like that church.” 

The point of Christ’s parable is not that big is bad and small is good, but rather that appearances can be deceiving. God is the one who grows his Kingdom. What begins as something small will grow in ways that we don’t expect or look for. God’s values and principles of success don’t match the values and principles of this world. 

 Compare the growth of weeds to the growth of oak trees. With minimal effort weeds will take over your yard in weeks. Weeds as high as your waist with shallow root systems grow up quickly and easily. Oak trees on the other hand take years to grow from a seed to a foot in hight. Over time however the oak takes root, its trunk gets thicker and its branches stretch to the sky. 

In 10 years the oak will stand tall–10-15 feet tall. It will give shade from the sun, food for the animals, and a perch for the birds. But what about the weeds? By the end of at the summer they are scorched and dead. We pull them up by their roots and throw them in the compost bin or the fire. 

There are two ways to build our lives. We can build our lives on the world’s philosophy of self improvement, pleasure, self reliance or we can build our lives on obedience to Christ, denial of self, and Spirit empowered love. Jesus compared following him to taking up a cross. It seems contradictory to to think that the way to life is to take up the instrument of sacrificial death, but that is exactly what Jesus calls us to. “He that would gain his life must lose it.”

There are two ways to build a church. Either God builds it, or we do. We can preach what people want to hear, sings songs they want to listen to, create activities that they want to engage in and if you do all that with creativity and skill you can grow a church pretty fast. God’s way is both harder and easier. It is harder because it involves preaching and teaching his Word even when it’s out of fashion or offensive. It means we think about what is pleasing and honoring to God in our worship, not simply what we enjoy, and it involves the faithful adherence to what God calls us to, not on what fits our appetite in the moment. But it is also so much easier. It is easier because it is on God to bring the fruit and not on you and me. It is on God to use his Word to transform lives. It is on God to take the faithful proclamation of the gospel and save sinners. It is on God do the hard work of sanctification in our lives as we grow holier and more conformed to the likeness of Christ. God grows the church and God gets the glory. 

Fads come and go. What was all the rage yesterday makes the youth of today cringe. “The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of the Lord endures forever.” Let’s build something to last. 
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How Are We Saved?

Posted on March 19, 2025 by Scott Dunford

Romans 3:21-28

21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, m through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

History is filled with examples of many suffering because of the failures of the one. In 1968 the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl melted down and while the total death toll from the fallout is still unknown, the fatalities from radiation related cancers could be as high as 200,000 people. The decisions of a small handful of engineers and plant operators changed the lives of thousands. What was true of this disaster is also true of nations, and even of our entire human race. 

We are born sinners by nature, but we also sin because we choose to sin. A brief look at the 10 Commandments is enough to point our failure to keep God’s Law. We stood condemned for our sin. The beauty of the gospel is that Jesus came into the world and became a true human. He became like us in everything essential to our humanity but lacking the one thing that led to our condemnation—sin.  He was the true heir of the promises of God. He was a son of Adam, he was a son of Abraham, he was a son of the promised tribe of Judah, and he was even the rightful heir to the throne of David. He lived the perfect life we could not live and kept the Law that we all have broken. He willingly offered himself as a sacrifice for our sins and made atonement (at one ment) between humanity and God. 

But how does that apply to us? How does Christ’s sacrifice save me and how does his righteousness get applied to me so that I can be justified before God? The answer is in Romans 3:28, “[He] justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” 

That’s it? Yes, that is it. Our works could not save us before Christ, and they cannot save us after Christ. Salvation is only found by placing one’s trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Imagine you racked up a large debt and your bank account was one million in the red. Now by some miracle I was able to Venmo you ten billion dollars. You would have way more than you need to pay your debt, but until you transfer that money into your bank account your debt still remains. Faith is recognizing you have a debt and accepting what I have already supplied via Venmo. There are many reasons why some may not accept the payment. Perhaps they are ignorant, perhaps they don’t believe, or maybe their pride keeps them from accepting the gift, but until they accept what has been freely given, they will remain in their debt. How do we accept Christ’s payment, by calling on him in prayer to save us from our sins and committing to following him as the Lord of our lives. Baptism is the public act that declares our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. 

So why do we who are already forgiven still worship Christ? It is not so that we can be saved—that has already been accomplished. We continue to worship, serve, and give because now we are Christ’s. We love him and are thankful for what he has done. We want to learn more about how we can grow in him and follow him more closely. We have been saved by faith and now we strive to live by faith. 

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The Mission

Posted on January 15, 2025 by Scott Dunford

The mission of the church is not complicated. Jesus made it clear in the Great Commission: 

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” Matthew 28:19-20.

Because the King of Kings has been given all authority from the Father over both heaven and earth, we have the mandate to make disciples of all the nations. The word translated “disciple” means to become a follower or a devoted pupil of a master teacher. Following Christ as Lord and Savior means in part to commit to learn and follow the teachings of Christ. “Making disciples” is the main verb of the sentence and the two nominative participles that accompany it explain how this is done. We make disciples by baptizing new believers in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit, and we teach them to obey the master—Jesus Christ. 

This is the essence of the mission of the Church. One of the main jobs of the pastors then is equip the church to do this very task. Ephesians 4:11 mentions the task of a pastor-teacher is to equip the believers for the work of the ministry. This is mainly done through modeling and teaching. In 1 Timothy 1 Paul challenges Timothy, his personal disciple and young missionary pastor, command false teachers to stop and instead promote sound doctrine. In 1 Timothy 4:11 he charges him to “command and teach,” in 5:17 he commends the pastor who works at preaching and teaching as worthy of double honor, in 6:2 he again challenges him to “teach and insist on” the instruction of Jesus Christ and to godly teaching. The point of all this teaching is not for the pastor to gain followers, but rather that glory of Christ himself would increase. 

If one is going to follow Christ, he or she needs to know what Christ expects. To know God rightly, one needs to know what God has revealed about himself in his Word. As we grow in in our knowledge and obedience of God we have the privilege of sharing that knowledge with others. That is the mission of the church. That is the mission of each believer: Learn, obey, and share. The great commission ends with this encouragement “surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” We don’t do this alone. We do this with the very help and presence of our Savior. 

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The Assembly

Posted on January 8, 2025 by Scott Dunford

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:23-25

There is a tendency to view “going to church” as a spectator event. It is easy to fall into the trap of going to church on Sunday with the same mentality as a consumer. If we only go to church to receive, then it doesn’t matter much if we attend in person or watch from the comfort of our bed or living room. On any given Sunday I can watch any numbers of Bible teachers on YouTube with teaching and rhetorical skills that far surpass my own. I can listen to worship music led by professional singers and instrumentalists and I can do all this while having to give nothing of myself.

Of course this mentality has nothing to do with Biblical Christianity. The word translated into English as “church” literally means “the assembly.” The church then is the assembly of believers and implies that God’s people actually, well, assemble. The recipients of the Epistle to the Hebrews were already feeling the temptation to not meet. This is a human problem not a specifically 21st century one. There are always reasons not to get together, but when we gather, something goes on that can’t be replicated by even the best technology. We can encourage each other, bless each other, serve each other, and provoke each other in discipleship. I think we understand this concept as it relates to our other relationships. For instance, I love talking to my granddaughter Mary on FaceTime, but it is no replacement for being with her in person. Each time I see her online just makes me long to be with her in person.

Being with each other in gathered worship allows us to encourage each other to be faithful in the love and good works that Christ has called us to do. You see we need encouragement. We were made to need each other in our pursuit of Christ. I am not the Body of Christ, you are not the Body of Christ, but together within the local church we become the Body of Christ. Each of us has gifts that the other one needs. No part is insignificant.

So let us heed the words of Scripture and endeavor to pursue Christ together. The Day of the Lord is approaching. Lean into our time together while we can. I need it. You need it. We need it.

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The Advent Wait

Posted on November 27, 2024 by Scott Dunford

I hate waiting. I don’t like waiting for dinner, I don’t like waiting in traffic, I don’t like waiting for my doctor’s appointment, and I really don’t like waiting to open Christmas presents. Ok, actually as I get older I think I get a little better about waiting, but waiting is still not something many of us prefer. We live in a society that seems built around instant gratification. We want it now, but God usually makes us wait. God’s promises typically take time. Think about the great stories in the Bible. Think about the covenants that God made. They all required waiting. Abraham had to wait. Moses had to wait. David had to wait. In the New Testament Elizabeth, Simon, and Anna all had to wait, but everyone who waited on the Lord found their faith was justified. 

In the waiting God is doing something. God is not idle nor does he play with our emotions, but instead, God uses our waiting to conform us to the image of Christ. James 1:2-4 encourages us to consider it joy when we undergo trials that make us wait, “2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” Maturity comes from waiting on God and letting God do his work in us. 

Advent is a time of waiting. We set aside time in our spiritual lives and in our church calendar to focus on what it meant and means to wait on God. The Old Testament people of God believed God’s promises and waited expectantly for the Messiah to come into the world and free them from the bondage of sin. Songs like “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” lyrically and melodically remind us of the longing and expectation that preceded Christ’s coming into the world. But it also reminds us and prepares us for the Second Advent when Christ will return to earth as a reigning King and rescue us his New Testament (Covenant) people. So let us enter the Advent season with a heart to wait on God—to be patient to let him work, while waiting with confidence that we know how the story will end. 

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The Light to See

Posted on October 30, 2024 by Scott Dunford

C.S. famously wrote, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” Christianity is not a blind faith. While it does take faith to trust the invisible God, Christianity tells a story that we know and experience to be true. There are things in the Biblical story that may be difficult to believe because we have not seen things like that personally, but the world the Bible describes corresponds to a reality that we experience every single day. The Bible not only explains the world as it is, but also gives as an answer for why it is as it is. 

The culture of modern America can be described as post-Christian which simply means it is a culture in full rebellion against God. Our culture is like a temper tantrum throwing toddler contradicting every commonsense assertion of its father simply because the father said it. No matter how violent the contradiction, the reality still holds. The Bible describes a world of order and intentional design. Creation reflects incredible detail and design in everything from the protein enzymes in DNA replication to the golden ratio of the Fibonacci sequence found in pinecones, fruits, and vegetation. The world we live in is not a random chaotic Darwinian fever dream, but a world that shows the touch of the Artist from the smallest organism to the largest galaxy. It is a world of scientific order, but also a world of beauty, creativity and mystery. 

The Bible describes a humanity whose value and worth is found in their created identity not in their utilitarian performance. Man and woman were created in the image of God. They were given intelligence, dignity, and agency. Our world defines value based on arbitrary standards of usefulness or desirability, but our visceral heartbreak when hear of an expectant mother who lost her baby or the gentle joy on the face of a boy or girl with Downs Syndrome reminds us of the value and worth of every person. 

Even the broken parts of our world speak to the truth of the Bible’s story. Why is there such rampant cruelty? Why are some people born with deformity or disabilities? Why do we struggle to get along? Why is life so very hard? Why don’t my intentions always line up with my actions? The Bible speaks to all these questions as well. The rebellion of humanity, the selfish desire to rule one’s own life, and the discord and blame within families, all find their explanation in the Biblical story. 

God’s Word even explains our hope. We are drawn to hope like moths to a flame. Why do we root for the underdog? Why do love a happy ending? Why do we relish a tale of second chances? Because we serve a God of hope. We have a God who gave us a second chance. The Bible tells the story of the unexpected underdog who comes back to slay the dragon, get the girl and sets everything right again. We believe these things not because they are fairy tales, but because they are true. Christianity is true. 

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Who Will be King?

Posted on October 9, 2024 by Scott Dunford

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” Romans 8:22-25

When Napoleon Bonaparte was being crowned Emperor of France, he famously snatched the crown from the Pope and placed it on his own head. In one impudent gesture he broke with tradition and made the claim that God had not made him Emperor, but that he had made himself Emperor.

One of the fundamental questions we ask ourselves as human is, who gets to be King? From the earliest pages in Scripture, God vests humanity with incredible honor and responsibility. Every single thing on earth (with one exception) is for his enjoyment and nourishment. Every single creature is under his responsibility and care. God gave humanity freedom and latitude, but in restricting them from one thing, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, God asserted his rights as the Sovereign Lord. Our first ancestors decided they wouldn’t live under God’s authority. They sought the crown for themselves, and every generation of human has followed suit. We all want to be the Kings and Queens of our own lives.

This desire to rule our own lives shows itself in ways both big and small. When we ignore God’s Laws and intentionally go against God’s good design because we know better or because we don’t want to go against our society’s norms, we declare ourselves to be king. When we choose to be ignorant of God’s Word out of laziness, we declare ourselves king. When we give blind allegiance to nations, organizations, or parties over our allegiance to Christ and his kingdom, we declare ourselves king. Even in our religion we can subtly seek to dethrone God as the Sovereign Lord of our lives. The Corinthian church was guilty of finding their identity in even good and godly men instead of in Christ.

The chaos around us speaks to folly of seizing the crown and placing it on our own heads. Broken marriages, broken identities, broken society, and even a broken environment cry out against the injustice of our self-rule. A world of 8 billion gods and goddesses vying for individual supremacy is a scary world indeed. Romans 8:22 says that Creation itself is groaning under the strain of sin and longs for the restoration of all things.

As followers of King Jesus we long for the day when Christ will make all things new, when Christ’s rule and reign promised in his death, resurrection, and ascension, will find its culmination in his return. But until that day we wait in hope. We live and serve as we were intended to live, as ambassadors of the High King of Heaven, and spread the message of Christ’s victory over the tyrannical rule of sin and death.

So live subversively in this present world. Push back against the darkness by pursuing the light. Allow the Holy Spirit of God to sanctify and renew you day by day. Learn of his ways through his Word and live in gospel community with others who have also bowed their knee to the true King. We do not have the power to change everything at once, but we have been given the Power to be witnesses of the One who is making all things new.

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