I remember vividly the day Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. Thirty years ago, I was a child in Tel Aviv. I recall the shock, the grief, and the overwhelming sense that something irreversible had occurred. The ideological war in Israel was at its height. It was different from the climate surrounding Kirk’s murder—ours was charged with religion—but both moments testified to something dark and destructive: as if an evil spirit had been sent with one mission, to polarize the nation and turn us against one another.

That same spirit is alive and well within Christianity. Once, it fueled Protestants and Catholics to slaughter each other by the millions in Europe’s Wars of Religion. Even today, the divisions remain—Christians still fight bitterly over which denomination you must belong to in order to be “saved” from eternal torment in hellfire. The result? A fractured Christianity, deeply divided within itself.

A Church Divided Cannot Stand

The greatest strategist who ever lived — a brilliant Jewish rabbi — warned His disciples that division itself could destroy them:

Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand (Matthew 12:25).

Division begins when you stop believing your brother is truly your brother and instead turn against him.

I’m not sure Israel has ever learned that lesson, but Israel isn’t following her Messiah — at least not yet (Romans 11:15; Zechariah 12:10). Christians in America, however, claim they do follow Him.

A kingdom divided cannot stand. And Christ, in His wisdom, even used the divisions and hate within Judaism’s groups to draw people to Himself. The fractures of Second Temple Judaism made it easier for Him to gather those longing for something greater. But it also serves as a warning: the more Christian groups boycott, excommunicate, and anathematize one another over inner-theological disputes, the more people will walk away looking for something else.

Christianity’s Modern Threats

I agree with Kirk about the two major enemies currently working to destroy Christianity: Marxism and Islam — both from within and without. One of these enemies just murdered Charlie Kirk.

You, Americans, know the corrosive power of Marxism better than I do. But as an Israeli, let me warn you: you are only beginning to taste what Islam intends to bring. Its doctrines are far more dangerous than Protestant-Catholic disputes about salvation. The Israel–Hamas/Iran war gave the world only a glimpse of Islam’s ultimate goals and methods: torture, rape, and murder against non-Muslims. Charlie Kirk seemed to understand this better than most Americans.

For decades, Hamas — funded by international Islamic networks — has indoctrinated Palestinian children. I’ve seen their textbooks and TV shows, and so can you.¹ From childhood, they are taught that the greatest honor is to die for Allah and enter paradise with seventy virgins.

Their god demands sacrifice. All false gods do. But our God gave His Son so that we would never think we had to earn His love through sacrificing our children. Islam is not like Christianity. In Islam, paradise must be earned—or else eternal torment awaits. So if sacrificing your life in jihad secures eternal bliss, why wouldn’t you kill Jews or Christians? This is the devil’s tactic through Islam. That is why so many see it as not only false, but demonic.

Are You Ready to Fight?

So I ask you, dear Christians: how will you “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12) against these two demons — Marxism and Islam — if you are still rejecting one another over theological differences?

What matters more: winning an argument with your “Catholic enemy,” or surviving the real wars at your doorstep? Both enemies are coming for you. Unless you stand together, you will not stand at all.

But there is another lesson in Kirk’s life, just as there is in his death. To fight our enemies means also to seek their good, walking in the way of Jesus — not in the fanaticism of zealots:

You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:43–45).

Christ taught us to hunger for righteousness (Matthew 5:6), and to balance truth and justice with compassion and mercy. That is how we love our enemies.

Charlie Kirk lived this well. He fought for truth, but he did it with respect. There was much I agreed with him on, and much I didn’t. But I always admired the way he treated those who hated and despised him — firmly, but without contempt. That was Christ-like.

Conclusion

There is both a lesson and a warning for America’s Christians in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s appalling murder (which also shattered the lives of his parents, wife, and children).

1. The Warning: If Christianity is to “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12), it must repent and heed Christ’s call to unity. But this cannot happen so long as Christians persist in treating one another — especially in the deep enmity between Protestants and Catholics — as though they were enemies.
2. The Lesson: Fight as Kirk fought — intelligently, boldly, yet with kindness, compassion, and respect, even toward those who hated him. Even toward those who eventually killed him. And pray as Christ prayed: “Father, forgive them.”

That is my counsel to you — not as your rabbi, but as a fellow disciple of the Rabbi who alone can heal a divided Church.

May God bless and comfort the family of the American martyr.

Feel free to share.

1. If you are interested in learning the shocking reality of how children in Gaza are brainwashed by Islamic jihadist ideology, you can pre-order my book “The Elephant in the Middle East: The Spiritual Battle Christians Often Miss Behind the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.” And if you want to learn more about Islam’s dangerous plans for the West, you can pre-order my other book, “Trojan Religion: The Western Fallacy of Tolerating Religious Intolerance” ↩︎