Charlie Kirk — the 31-year-old husband, father, Christ-follower, conservative stalwart, expert debater, and true American patriot — entered the presence of his Savior on Wednesday.

At an event on the campus of Utah Valley University, a yet-unidentified gunman fired a single fatal shot. And while the scum media have predictably blamed Republicans broadly and Kirk himself for the murder, and incredulous Democrats are scratching their heads at a possible motive, we all know why Charlie Kirk really died. He changed people’s minds about the most important issues of the day. He gave Americans, young and old, both language and courage to articulate their beliefs. He was effective. He was important. And he got political results.

Charlie Kirk was assassinated.

President Donald Trump said as much in a video released Wednesday night. The governor of Utah used “assassination” language earlier in the day at a press conference. All decent Americans know it to be true. And it’s right and even necessary to call this assassination what it was, especially considering that Democrats increasingly and intentionally seed the ground for this kind of political terrorism.

But Kirk wasn’t just assassinated. He was also martyred.

Watch any of Kirk’s videos from the past several years. Read his articles. Listen to his speeches and debates. Peruse his tweets. Kirk talked frequently about abortion and euthanasia. He schooled Gen Z on the founding of our great country. He reiterated often that boys are boys, and girls are girls. He opposed the institutional racism of “equity” politics and the violent Black Lives Matter movement. He condemned lawfare and championed law and order. He fought warmongers and censors and propagandists and the swamp. He advocated for secure elections, helped define “America First,” and helped reshape the Republican Party. Democrats hated him for all of this.

But the policy battles Charlie Kirk fought were second-tier issues, and he knew that. He hustled for electoral wins, but the fruit of Kirk’s life showed he was under no delusion that Donald Trump or the GOP was his savior.

No, the core of Kirk’s beliefs, his work, and his identity was and is his unwavering faith in Jesus Christ for the salvation of his soul from the eternal death his sin had wrought. Kirk wasn’t ultimately killed for his second-order political beliefs but for his first-order belief in Jesus, out of which his other beliefs flowed.

There’s been an awful lot of talk online and in real life about where in the world we’re supposed to go from here. It feels like we’ve crossed some invisible line, a cultural Rubicon, from which there’s no going back. And that feeling isn’t confined to the engaged right; bench-sitters are suiting up. Some have likened it to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Others seem primed for some kind of civil war, God — and Kirk — forbid. Now is the time for Congress and the Trump administration to wield their power against the ideology, media, and organizations that enable and encourage domestic terrorism.

There’s undoubtedly some spiritual stirring too. From the knifing of Iryna Zarutska, to the recent shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic school, to the public execution of Charlie Kirk, sin and mortality are staring us straight in the face. The past few weeks have served as a flashing neon sign reminding us that, as long as the Lord tarries, nobody is getting out of here alive. Suffering is guaranteed. Death is imminent.

Let us see God’s mercy in these agonizing moments that remind us life is fleeting. For they’re an invitation to the Giver of eternal life. “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved,” wrote the Apostle Paul. “For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

Don’t just admire Charlie Kirk’s faith from afar. Call out to God, and receive it as your own. If you haven’t yet surrendered to Kirk’s Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, may today be the day of salvation. Repent and believe the gospel. There’s a God, and you’re not Him. You have sin, but He has salvation through Jesus’ perfect life, death, and resurrection. Believe it. Receive it.

Yesterday was Charlie Kirk’s last day on Earth. Today could be yours.

Kylee Griswold is the managing editor of The Federalist and a contributor to IW Features. She previously worked as the copy editor for the Washington Examiner magazine and as an editor and producer at National Geographic. She holds a B.S. in communication arts/speech and an A.S. in criminal justice and writes on topics including feminism and gender issues, religion, and the media. Follow her on Twitter @kyleezempel.