UPDATE: The University of Missouri has commented publicly saying:
The individual identified in the video is not a student at Mizzou. This individual has been trespassed from our campus. This serious matter has been referred to MUPD (University of Missouri Police Department), Columbia Police Department and the FBI for further investigation.
Original article:
A University of Missouri student openly endorsed killing people for exercising their freedom of speech during a confrontation at a Turning Point USA table Wednesday.
Andrew Kolvet, executive producer of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” stripped the disturbing encounter down to its spiritual core: “We are in a spiritual war.”
Christian evangelist Shane Winnings asked the student directly, “You are for people being killed for freedom of speech?”
“Yeah, absolutely,” the student answered.
“I think that’s completely un-American,” Winnings replied. “That’s insane, actually.”
The student attempted to turn the argument toward gun rights, responding, “Okay, so you’re for people being killed for their Second Amendment right.”
“The Second Amendment doesn’t kill anybody,” Winnings said. “Murderous people kill people.”
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The exchange was brief, but its implications were chilling. This was not merely a heated disagreement over politics. A student publicly affirmed that someone’s speech could justify that person’s death — and appeared pleased while doing it.
Not The Bee identified the student as a member of a firearms group called “Lesbian Sleeper Cell.” The outlet also questioned whether University of Missouri officials would discipline the student for endorsing political violence.
Blake Neff, a producer for “The Charlie Kirk Show,” said the incident exposed a fundamental divide within American culture.
“It would never occur to me or any of my friends to play dress up to celebrate somebody’s horrific murder in front of those who loved and admired him,” Neff wrote. “But on the left, this is easy, and variations on it happen all the time.”
Christians, we must now confront an urgent question: Are we awake to where this insanity is headed?
Charlie Kirk was undeniably a political figure, but politics alone does not explain the depth of hatred directed against him. Kirk repeatedly declared the name of Jesus Christ, defended biblical truth and called young people to reject the spirit of the age. That testimony struck at something deeper than party politics.
Jesus warned His disciples, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you” (John 15:18).
The hostility directed at Christians is not ultimately a battle between political ideologies or cultural views. It is a spiritual war between truth and rebellion, light and darkness, Christ and an age that increasingly despises His authority.
Kirk’s public proclamation of Jesus enraged spiritual forces that cannot tolerate the name above every name. Those forces work through lies, hatred and people willing to treat political violence as a joke — or even celebrate it openly.
We should not mistake laughter for harmless immaturity or dismiss these statements as campus theatrics. When a culture begins defending murder as a legitimate response to speech, persecution is no longer a distant possibility.
Jesus warned us that those who carry His name would be hated because He was hated first. The question is whether we recognize that warning unfolding before us — and whether we are prepared to stand firm.
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a journalism background from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and at the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
