Stephen and Charlie

Oct 8

Many in the Christian community keenly felt the loss of Charlie Kirk when he was shot to death suddenly and unexpectedly on September 10, 2025. Some people were somewhat relieved, even jubilant that he was murdered. Others of us were in tears. Over 100,000 people attended the 5-hour memorial service in Glendale, Arizona, and many others watched the service online. It was a major event with many Christian musicians performing and famous people speaking. Charlie’s wife, Erika Kirk, emotionally affirmed to the entire assembly that she forgave the man who murdered her young husband.

In the New Testament we read about the first Christian martyr, Stephen. I picture him as a young man, very articulate, and very bold. He was, according to the book of Acts, “full of God’s grace and power” (Acts 6:8). He was, however, slandered (Acts 6:12-14) by the religious leaders in Jerusalem who falsely accused him of speaking against the temple and the Torah. The lies told against Stephen resulted in his death at the hands of the infuriated religious leaders, whom he forgave. The story of Stephen is instructive and worth reading (Acts 6:6-7:60).

My point is this: those who so keenly felt the loss of Charlie Kirk, a young, articulate, and bold speaker like Stephen, have an opportunity to understand a bit the loss and devastation the fledgling Christian community in Jerusalem must have felt at the loss of their hero, Stephen.

Subscribe to receive an email notice when I post a new blog article.

Please leave a comment on the original post.

Edward Wolfe

Edward Wolfe has been a fan of Christian apologetics since his teenage years, when he began seriously to question the truth of the Bible and the reality of Jesus. About twenty years ago, he started noticing that Christian evidences roughly fell into five categories, the five featured on this website.
Although much of his professional life has been in Christian circles (12 years on the faculties of Pacific Christian College, now a part of Hope International University, and Manhattan Christian College and also 12 years at First Christian Church of Tempe), much of his professional life has been in public institutions (4 years at the University of Colorado and 19 years at Tempe Preparatory Academy).
His formal academic preparation has been in the field of music. His bachelor degree was in Church Music with a minor in Bible where he studied with Roger Koerner, Sue Magnusson, Russel Squire, and John Rowe; his master’s was in Choral Conducting where he studied with Howard Swan, Gordon Paine, and Roger Ardrey; and his doctorate was in Piano Performance, Pedagogy, and Literature, where he also studied group dynamics, humanistic psychology, and Gestalt theory with Guy Duckworth.
He and his wife Louise have four grown children and six grandchildren.

https://WolfeMusicEd.com

Stephen and Charlie

Chopin’s G Minor Ballade

Edward Wolfe