Don Crawford delivers a powerful call to courage in a time when being both Christian and conservative invites real persecution—even here in America. Drawing deep parallels between the Apostle Paul and Charlie Kirk, Crawford lays out how both men endured suffering for their faith and convictions, ultimately laying down their lives. From Paul’s shipwrecks, beatings, and imprisonment to Charlie Kirk’s assassination, this Stand asks: are we prepared to face the cost of discipleship? Crawford reminds listeners that vengeance belongs to God, and that the greatest weapon against hate is radical love. This is not just a history lesson—it’s a
The Crawford Stand with the president of Crawford Broadcasting Company, Don Crawford.
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To be a Christian, especially today, entails a considerable risk of life and limb. It really does. That is so the world over, and now it begins in a real way in our very own America. To be a Christian, or a conservative, or both, invites persecution. ridicule, rejection, and to be ostracized from society in so many ways, and even the world at large. A great theologian said that to come to Christ is to come to die. Well, maybe he was right. Maybe. But we who believe knew that before we committed. At least we should have. We should have known. It’s in the scripture everywhere. And before we became one with Him, He made the great sacrifice and the great suffering and endured the great persecution for us. It then became our lot in life to die to self and to sin and the world like He did. We knew what He did. We knew the horrendous story of the crucifixion, the persecution of Calvary, We saw no greater love than his, as he laid down his life for his friends, for us, for all mankind, for all humankind. We knew that to live for him, to accept him, would be to lay our all on the altar, including our bodies, willing to make them a living sacrifice. Charlie Kirk knew that. Charlie Kirk lived that. And he died for that and more at the hands of an assassin’s bullet. And so did the Apostle Paul. Paul hated Christians, hated them, and Christianity. And it was his mission to persecute and kill the followers of Jesus Christ. No one hated or persecuted Christians more than Saul of Tarsus. Saul was a Roman citizen, a Pharisee of the Jews, a bloodthirsty killer and persecutor of Christians and Christianity. Saul was a master of persecution. So many early Christians died at his hand or were jailed or persecuted in physical ways and lost virtually everything they had. But then came the Damascus Brood where Saul met Jesus Christ And Saul became Paul. And he was never the same. Paul turned from persecution to preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. His conversion was instant, dramatic, and dynamic. Change at work from head to toe. The Christ of glory knew what Saul had done. his horrible persecutions, and he said that he would show Paul the sufferings that he dished out to him himself. The considerable sufferings and persecutions he himself would endure, and boy, they were something. No Christian could forget the question the Lord asked him. Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Why? Why? Why, said the Christ of glory, why do you do this? And why do you kill those who love and believe in me? But there was no answer, but only the beginning of a total commitment to his newfound Lord and Savior, as Saul became Paul. And he never knew the extent of the promise of Jesus Christ. He didn’t know what he meant when our Lord said to him, I will show this man how much he must suffer for my name. I will show this man how much he must suffer for my name. Sounds like a little bit of payback to me. What do you think? And suffer Paul did big time. Paul described those sufferings in his own words in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. And he said, I have labored extensively for Christ. Hear this now. This is really important. The extent of his sufferings. Paul wrote, I have labored extensively for Christ. I have been imprisoned many times. I have endured beatings without number. I am always in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews forty lashes, less one. I was stoned three times. I was shipwrecked a night and a day, out there on the sea. I have been in danger from rivers, from robbers, from my own countrymen, from the Gentiles, from dangers in cities and desolate places. Oh, my soul. I have lived in danger from false brothers. We do as well, do we not? I have endured many sleepless nights. I have endured starvation and thirst, and I am often hungry and cold, cold and without enough clothing. I am under constant pressure of concern and persecution for all the churches of Jesus Christ I have established. You know, that may have been the worst possible persecution and suffering he could have endured. So my fellow Christian, compared to those Pauline sufferings, so many of us in America have had it easy, don’t you think? Perhaps too easy. Paul eventually endured the ultimate sufferings. the ultimate suffering, the ultimate persecution. He was murdered. He was beheaded for Jesus Christ. Such a brutal way to die. Paul lost his life in a split second at the cut of a guillotine. Charlie Kirk, the Christian and conservative, lost his life in a second from the bullet of an assassin’s rifle. Parallel in some ways, don’t you think? Paul gave his life for the Lord he loved and in whom he firmly believed with all his heart and all his soul and all his strength and all his mind. So did Charlie Kirk. My fellow Christians, violence and vengeance seem to be on the rise in America now more than ever. In many quarters, it is dangerous to be a Christian and a conservative. And if one is both Christian and conservative, oh my soul, the danger is doubled. Charlie Kirk was both, and the bullet of an assassin, a young irrational killer. Fame-seeking and revenge-minded ended Charlie Kirk’s life. He died for his country, and he died for his Lord and Savior. The Apostle Paul died for his Lord Jesus Christ, and he died as a Roman citizen. They were great men. martyrs, heroes, missionaries, courageous, loving, an example to all of us who followed in so many ways. These two men, in their own way, showed the world that there was no greater love than that of a man, each of them laying down his life for his friends, like Jesus did. The Christ of glory died young, 33 years old. Charlie Kirk died young, 31 years old. Paul lived longer, but suffered more, suffered more persecution, and all three died brutal deaths. The Lord of glory, the most brutal by far, and the most violent, and the most painful, and suffered the longest of any of the three. But he did so for you. I hope you appreciate that every day of your life, Christian. He did so for you, for me, for all of us. And no greater love was ever shown to mankind than that of Jesus Christ at Calvary. We should be so very thankful and appreciative of that great act of love for us. We often wish for vengeance. I know I do. I wish I didn’t, but I admit I do. And retribution and justice, which in so many ways we never get. But our Lord commands us to love our enemies. Boy, that’s one of the hardest Christian commandments of all for me. How about you? Can you love your enemy? I mean, really love your enemy? I think it’s one of the most difficult things in all of Christian life. He tells us that the vengeance is none of your business. It’s not my business, but it’s his. And when and how he wishes, he will be the instrument of vengeance, not us. I really do my very best to accept that. And he requires us, again, to turn the other cheek. Do you do that? And he promises he will make things right. He will. Not you. Not me. Violence really only begets more violence. Love, on the other hand, real love, never stops producing miracles. Never. You could say that love in the face of violence and evil is the greatest weapon of all. I believe that. I really do believe that, do you? The greatest vengeance, the greatest get-even, is to pray for your enemy, to do good for him or her, and show the love of Jesus Christ in every way, in you, in your life, in the way you live. Show that. The greatest vengeance for the greatest good even is to pray for your enemy and to do good for him or her and to show the love of Jesus Christ in every way. I want to repeat that. Do you do that? Can you do that? I don’t think you can without the love and the strength of Jesus Christ. He’s the only one that can give you the courage to do that. I know that’s true in my life. And the only way you and I can do that is with the power, the courage, and the strength of our Lord, if we ask for that, if we believe in that, if we know that he will give us that, so that we can be the kind of ambassador for him and his love that he would have us be. And like the Apostle Paul, Charlie Kirk knew that. He knew that. Kirk believed that. And he died for that. I wonder, are you willing to die for the love of Jesus Christ? Are you? Am I? I challenge myself every day, especially now as I grow older and America grows more anti-Christian. Am I willing to die as the ultimate persecution for the Lord I love and in whom I believe? And are you?
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How’s your heart after recent events? Mr. Crawford would love to know. And he’s here to encourage you on the Crawford Stand. Talk to him in your email at stand at CrawfordMediaGroup.net. When you write to Mr. Crawford, be sure to tell him on what station you hear the stand. His address again is stand at CrawfordMediaGroup.net. and he’d love to hear from you this week. When you want to review what you hear, go to our website, CrawfordMediaGroup.net. The Crawford Stand is a public affairs presentation of Crawford Broadcasting Company and this station, serving God and country. I’m Bill McCormick.
