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You're misrepresenting what Kirk was about. Just because he was friends with Trump, doesn't
I saw a documentary on Kirk where one of his donors was speaking in it and described giving Charlie money to get him stated. He did not ask for it. It was offered to continue his work.
It has been gaining steam. It is said to start with Bill Bright (Campus Crusade for Christ) and Loren Cunningham (Youth with a Mission). Some attribute it to a prophetic word from both of them. Francis Schaeffer (L' Abri, a great author too) is on record as having knowledge of this. All of them in the early 1970s if I recall) no one really heard about it though till probably the 2000s or so. Then it kind of morphed into something more extreme to an extent with a subset of charismatics that have a dominionist theology of the end times and the prosperity gospel. It crossed over enough to mainstream evangelical thought as even the Southern Baptist Convention about 6 years ago preached and prayed for some of the same things. Now it is getting put to the test, as there are serious changes that some espouse and the culture conflict is now even more front and center. I have myself read some of the early books promoting the seven mountain mandate. I like the idea of Christian influence but I think it has its limits until you get people saved and on board with it. This review of an upcoming book that even outlines the role of Kirk, I think is worth reading as it gives a more broad historical picture of Christian influence in politics even though it is decidely against some of the things that Trump is trying to do. Though I am not 7th Day Adventist, this article is from one of their publications. God bless you too! The Seven Mountains Mandate: Christian Dominionism's Playbook - Spectrum MagazineThanks for the clarification re this 'seven Mountain mandate'. It seems, optimistic. Is it widely held in America? I have not encountered it here. God Bless
He was both a martyr and an activist. He always spread Christianity but also explained his faith basically informed his politics. The out of context quotes, etc. flying about have no effect on the majority and it’s not an excuse as if he deserved what happened to him.The death of Charlie Kirk shocked Americans and also people further afield across the world. He was a devout Christian out there sharing his faith. He was killed for his view that transsexuality is mentally delusional and a symptom of very unbiblical notions of what gender is. So since he was opposed to a culture of lies and wearing the mantle of faith when he was shot, does this make him a martyr? The question has to be considered from a more global perspective than just an American one as there is much wrong with the American culture.
How Should Pastors Respond to Charlie Kirk’s Assassination? - Christianity Today
After the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk, how do pastors lead well in a fractured, reactive age? Here are five pastoral questions for this moment.www.christianitytoday.com
The case for him being a martyr is that much of what he said reflects the deepest Christian teaching:
1. Jesus Christ is His Lord and Savior
2. A woman is what God made her; killing one's babies contradicts motherhood.
3. It is wrong to assert one's sexuality over one's relationship with God
4. Transsexuality is a symptom of a culture of lies and delusions about gender and identity.
5. The seven mountain vision of bringing Christianity into the center of society was a good and healthy one.
6. He spoke about a restoration of masculinity in an age that would prefer to emasculate men
7. What he said about the triumph of excellence and merit over quotas to remedy inequality
8. His bible based support of Israel alongside his opposition to the anti-Christian agenda of cultural Marxism
More controversial viewpoints:
1. He put a religious filter on immigration, saying people of false religions should not be allowed into the country. But he inconsistently applied this to Hispanic catholics, even though married to a catholic.
2. His views on COVID were unscientific and false
3. His view on the Ukraine war lacked geopolitical awareness of its significance to US national interest.
4. His view on global warming (that it was mainly not manmade) was scientifically false.
5. He and his family made considerable amounts of money out of his activism which provides questions about his actual motives.
6. He repeated the Big Lie that Trump peddled about the stolen election:
Charlie Kirk Denounces Man Asking About Killing People Ov...
The audience member at the Turning Points USA founder's tour openly called for people to be shot over false election voter fraud claims.www.newsweek.com
newrepublic.com
Kirk had Christian values and preached them which he was killed for. That makes him a martyr.
I saw a documentary on Kirk where one of his donors was speaking in it and described giving Charlie money to get him stated. He did not ask for it. It was offered to continue his work.
I just read this:
Charlie Kirk dropped out of college and by 31 built a $95M political empire with a direct line to Trump
The death of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk has sparked over 37,000 inquiries for new college chapters as his widow vows to continue his conservative mission.www.foxbusiness.com
Turning Point Failed in the UK. Charlie Kirk Didn’t.
The late conservative activist has amassed a surprising following across the Atlantic.
The names you mentioned at the start of your post are solid people who have been a positive influence on my own faith, especially Francis Schaeffer.
Here’s a few pieces on funding I stumbled upon. The organization keeps their donor list private but a few were mentioned in the article.
Kirk launched Turning Point USA (TPUSA) in 2012 rather than attend college after the 18-year-old received encouragement from Tea Party activist Bill Montgomery. Later that year, Kirk met Republican donor Foster Friess, who helped finance the nascent political organizing group.
Business related organizations financially supported Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA for years
Charlie Kirk rapidly grew Turning Point USA with the help of a variety of donors since its founding in 2012, and his assassination has spurred further interest in the group.
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The second one is interesting and gets into bigger names that fund movements.
When someone deposits money into a donor-advised fund, they immediately earn a charitable tax deduction; plus, they can transfer appreciable assets such as stock into the account without having to pay the capital gains tax that would normally accompany the sale of one’s earnings. For a fee, financial professionals reinvest the money to make it grow. Whenever clients feel like it—as in, many years later, if ever—they can “advise” the fund manager on how much and to which organizations their donations should go. The fund manager almost always obliges.
But here’s the catch: When someone puts money or assets into a donor-advised fund, it’s no longer their money. They get the charitable tax deduction, since they’re actually donating to the donor-advised fund sponsor, a 501(c)(3) charity that then legally owns the money and has full discretion over where it goes. That also allows the donors to remain anonymous, both to the public and even to the IRS. So if someone wanted to fund, say, a white nationalist hate group but didn’t want the media or the government to catch wind of it, they’d use a donor-advised fund.
How Fidelity, Schwab, and Vanguard Fund Hate Groups
Charities affiliated with major investment banks allow anonymous donors to give millions of dollars to anti-LGBTQ and racist groups—and get a tax break for it.
……….
The last piece echoes what I shared earlier. It may not be available to some and I’m pasting the parts that apply to our discourse as a courtesy.
Charlie Kirk was only a teenager when he launched a scrappy conservative student group out of his parents’ suburban Illinois home. A decade later, that group—Turning Point USA—has grown into a political juggernaut, generating nearly a half-billion in total revenue in the 13 years since its inception, creating a sprawling network of campus chapters, and building a media machine that rivals legacy establishments.
Turning Point USA netted $85 million in revenue in 2024 alone, up more than 142% over the last five years. The vast majority, 99.2%, of that revenue comes from charitable contributions, including at least $350,000 from Kirk himself in 2024.
How exactly Turning Point spends its money, and who benefits from the organization’s hefty annual revenue, is unclear. Like many political advocacy groups, it’s organized as a 501(c)3 non-profit; the IRS does not require such groups to publicly disclose detailed expenditure accounts. The lack of clarity is compounded by the fact that many of Turning Point’s largest vendors are limited liability companies registered in states that do not mandate public ownership disclosure.
Within Turning Point’s organizational structure, there are also several interconnected nonprofit groups, political action committees, and a for-profit merchandise company, none of which are required to publicly report their finances. One branch, the Turning Point Endowment, held $64.3 million in 2024, having grown from $7.2 million in 2020.
$10,000 and a dream
Kirk often described his political awakening as Barack Obama’s presidency. As he told his podcast listeners last year, “In my local high school, progressive, left-wing Marxist ideas were widespread, and I looked around and I was unimpressed by the conservative organizations that were out there.”
His first taste of political involvement, aside from classroom debates, came in 2010 when he began volunteering for the campaign of Illinois Senator Mark Kirk (no relation) while still in high school.
The trajectory of Kirk’s life, and his future business endeavors, changed dramatically after he met William “Bill” Montgomery, a retired Tea Party activist and marketing entrepreneur.
Montgomery encouraged Kirk to drop out of college entirely, and within one month of their meeting, they launched Turning Point.
Montgomery provided Kirk with the Republican rolodex and access to investors he would need to build his empire. The first person to cut a check to Turning Point was investment manager turned Republican donor Foster Friess, whom Kirk met at the 2012 Republican National Convention.
“I was 18 at the time and Turning Point USA had zero donors, no real presence, and I was just a kid from Chicago with a dream & energy to try and change the world,” Kirk later wrote about meeting and pitching Friess. His proposal, according to Kirk, was simple: “I felt young people needed to hear the conservative message.”
A few weeks later, Friess sent Turning Point $10,000, an investment Kirk would turn into many millions of dollars.
*I forgot the link.
Charlie Kirk left behind a vast, lucrative network of 500,000 donors who gave Turning Point $85 million in revenue | Fortune
He wanted to create an institution as renowned as The New York Times or Harvard—but with its founder gone, the future is murky.fortune.com
…….
The speaker at the event said the money came from the same person and the checks were given in person.
~bella
A secret organization looking out for and promoting the church would be nice, though God always seems to find a way to do this in the long run anyway. Dominionism is false theology and may also be a bad fit for the USA. It is the Messiah that sends all the bad guys to hell in the end, not well-meaning vigilante groups that lack his direct mandate.
