she stuns the world with incredible christian witness after her husband was assassinated
By Joseph M. Hanneman Blaze Media || Sept. 21, 2025
The newly widowed Erika Kirk looked up to Heaven, steeled herself against the lectern with both hands and spoke one of the most haunting, beautiful and memorable tributes ever delivered—forgiving the deranged man who ended her husband’s life in Utah on Sept. 10.
Standing before 100,000 people at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, Erika Kirk poured out her heart, shared her indescribable grief and—following the example of Christ himself—uttered words of forgiveness.
“Father forgive them, for they know not what they do,” she said, repeating Christ’s prayer in Luke 23:34 from the Cross at Calvary.
Biting her lip and speaking in a barely audible whisper, she said, “That man. That young man.”
After a few agonizing seconds, she continued, “I forgive him.”
She was overcome with emotion as the crowd let out a collective gasp and quickly stood to applaud. Eyes were filled with tears, including those of the men. One man mouthed his reaction, “Wow.”
‘Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.’
She dabbed her eyes with a tissue. Her gaze remained Heavenward.
The packed stadium and the millions watching online witnessed history, a moment of remarkable grace, and an act of mercy that every Christian should emulate.
Bishop Robert Barron of Word on Fire described Erika’s forgiveness as “a breathtaking moment of the Gospel on full display.”
On Sept. 10, Charlie Kirk suffered a red martyrdom at the hands of an evil man with a Mauser rifle and a soul full of hatred.
For the 11 days since, and during the hours-long memorial service for the slain conservative Christian political activist, it became clear that Erika Kirk is enduring her own white martyrdom.
The word martyr means “witness.” Charlie was a witness to his faith with practically every utterance during his much too short adult life.
He gave the full measure of witness to the Lord when a .30-06 bullet tore through his neck and his life’s blood gushed forth to the horror of the crowd at Utah Valley University in Orem.
You could feel Erika Kirk’s agony as she spoke eternal words of mercy. I forgive him. An act from the depths of her soul. It was without a doubt one of the most remarkable moments in broadcast history.
‘The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.’
It was so stirring that those few moments alone will change thousands or even millions of lives.
Her talk was part love story, with touching anecdotes from their family life. Charlie often asked her, “What else can I do to serve you and be a better husband?” It was a celebration of the societal good of Christian marriage and the complementary roles that husbands and wives are given by God in the domestic church.
In an interview with the New York Times published the same day as the memorial, she described their bond as by God’s design, an Ephesians 5 marriage:
“Let women be subject to their husbands, as to the Lord. Because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church. He is the savior of his body. Therefore as the church is subject to Christ, so also let the wives be to their husbands in all things. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the church, and delivered himself up for it.”
“The more I learned about him I thought, ‘This guy’s a modern-day St. Paul.’”
She pledged to take her husband’s lifelong work with Turning Point USA and grow it tenfold or more. Reaching millions with an antidote to the marxist indoctrination so many of them face daily on college campuses. In just 11 days, Turning Point racked up requests from 62,000 people wanting to start new high school and college chapters.
Listening to a long lineup of speakers, it became clear that this event was no mere memorial or celebration of life. Something much bigger and deeper is going on across the country since Charlie Kirk was so violently cut down at age 31.
It’s not just righteous anger that motivated the hundreds of candlelight vigils held across America. God is working directly in the world. People have lost the fear of sharing their faith in Jesus Christ. Vice President JD Vance confessed he has spoken publicly about Christ more in the past two weeks than in his entire life.
The evil hordes and ghouls who celebrated Charlie Kirk’s murder—and the political movement that radicalized them—can’t possibly know what has been unleashed in the world since Sept. 10. Their cursing, spitting and howling at the moon is being met with prayer, worship and commitments to live bold Christian witness.
God is working through Charlie Kirk in ways no one could have imagined.
The murder of Charlie Kirk is much more than it appeared in the confusing, hazy hours after he was shot. It started as a shocking crime, most certainly. But 11 days have made it clear that his assassination heralds a resurrection, a resurgence of faith and a belief in human goodness.
Charlie Kirk was a great man. A visionary who drew millions of young people into the 2024 election. His work staved off a truly dystopian future had Kamala Harris somehow won the presidential election.
But through the shock, grief and pain of losing a beloved public figure, a new truth has emerged. Charlie has a much bigger role than anyone could have known before he was murdered. His public testimony for Christ and his love for people are driving people to church, opening Scriptures to atheists and agnostics in ways not seen in a very long time.
We can see now that Charlie Kirk was a prophet. His death has unleashed a tsunami of courage and determination. God is working through Charlie Kirk in ways no one could have imagined. How could we have missed it? Only his violent death has opened minds to the reality that we didn’t even know what we had in Charlie Kirk.
New York Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan knew next to nothing about Charlie, but set out to study the young man after seeing news of his assassination. He said he felt “this overwhelming sense of sorrow and kind of renewal and I thought, ‘I’ve got to learn about this guy.’
“The more I learned about him I thought, ‘This guy’s a modern-day St. Paul.’ He’s a missionary. He’s an evangelist. He’s a hero.”
Through her tears and unfathomable grief, Erika Kirk knows these things. You could see it on her face after her speech as she looked out over a sea of humanity that loves her and her late husband. This is amazing, incredible. Words fail. This is simply God at work in ways most have never seen.
Charlie Kirk was clearly on the path to becoming a Catholic before the assassin cut his life short. His Christian witness moved Protestants and Catholics alike. Cardinal Gerhard Müller described him as a martyr for Jesus Christ.
His death and its impact are fittingly described by the name of his organization, a turning point. Maybe it was Divine Providence at work the day Charlie named his creation, foreseeing the martyr’s role he would play at age 31. A turning point, indeed.
(Turning Point USA)
Tertullian famously said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” We are seeing that seed already bearing fruit from the life and death of Charlie Kirk. Watch in awe as the force for good planted in Charlie Kirk by God spreads across the globe.
Perhaps Dr. Ben Carson had the same thought. His short reflection on his relationship with Charlie was stunning. He said Charlie was shot at 12:24 p.m. on Sept. 10. He pulled out his phone and began to read from John’s Gospel, chapter 12 verse 24:
“Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” •