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by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent
BRUSSELS/NEW YORK (Worthy News) – Evangelist Franklin Graham said Tuesday he was “encouraged” to learn that American actor, comedian, and bestselling writer Tim Allen has forgiven the man responsible for his father’s death in 1964.
Allen said he had been deeply moved by Erika Kirk’s forgiveness last week of the man who murdered her husband, Charlie Kirk, the born-again Christian conservative activist. Kirk was assassinated on September 10 while speaking at an event on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
“When Erika Kirk spoke the words on the man who killed her husband: ‘That man… that young man… I forgive him.’ That moment deeply affected me,” Allen said. “I have struggled for over 60 years to forgive the man who killed my Dad. I will say those words now as I type: ‘I forgive the man who killed my father.’ Peace be with you all,” Allen added on social media platform X.
Allen’s remarks referred to Erika Kirk’s speech at her husband’s September 21 memorial service in which she publicly forgave the suspected killer in front of tens of thousands of mourners at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
At the service, Erika Kirk delivered an emotional eulogy, saying she forgives the person who killed her husband as she broke down into tears. Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old from Utah, has been charged with murder in the killing of Charlie Kirk.
“ANSWER IS LOVE”
“I forgive him because it was what Christ did, and it is what Charlie would do,” Erika Kirk said at the memorial. “The answer to hate is not hate. The answer we know from the Gospel is love.”
Four days after the speech went viral, Allen posted his message of forgiveness. Earlier this year, he had spoken about his father, Gerald M. Dick, who died in a car crash in November 1964.
“My father was killed by a drunk driver when I was 11 years old,” Allen said. “Luckily, he was the only one killed, but he died in my mother’s lap; my other two brothers were thrown around the car, and a lot of kids were hurt.”
Losing his father still took an emotional toll all these years later. “The pain of it never stopped,” Allen admitted.
Yet Franklin Graham, the son of late Evangelist Billy Graham, praised Allen’s decision to forgive. “Thank you, Erika Kirk,because I’m sure there are many thousands who have struggled with the same issue,” Franklin Graham said.
“HELP UNLOCKING HEARTS”
“And God has used you to help unlock their hearts,” the American preacher added.
In recent days Graham also preached about forgiveness during a massive evangelism campaign in Brussels, Belgium, where his father had preached the Gospel some 50 years earlier.
Allen’s words of forgiveness, sparked by Erika Kirk’s courage, reflect a broader Christian teaching of love triumphing over hate, even in moments of devastating loss.
The post Evangelist Franklin Graham Praises Tim Allen’s Forgiveness Of Father’s Killer After Erika Kirk’s Emotional Tribute appeared first on Worthy Christian News.
