Ep 1266 ｜ Just Asking Questions： A Response to Candace Owens & a Biblical Approach to Investigation
Episode Stats
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Summary
This episode is about how to investigate and seek the truth and ask questions in a way that is productive, productive, and most importantly, glorifies God. Candace Owens has some questions for me and I have a response.
Transcript
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Candace Owens has had some questions for me, and I've got a response.
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Really, today's episode is about how to investigate and seek the truth and ask questions in a
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way that is edifying, in a way that is productive, and most importantly, in a way that is biblical
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Go to K-E-K-S-I dot com to get you some Keksi cookies for this holiday season.
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Hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far.
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If you want to know how this government shutdown is going to end, and if America is over, then
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He also talked about, at the beginning of that episode, a PBS special that I was going
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to film, and then it was going to go out around the March for Life in January, an abortion
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CR and I were supposed to go to New York City, and with all of the crazy travel stuff that
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was happening, our flights got canceled, and so we weren't able to make that happen.
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His eternal plan of redemption is going off without a hitch.
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And so who knows the reason why that ended up not panning out when it seems like God is
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doing one thing, he's doing a million things, many of them that we don't see.
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And there have been so many times over the past couple of days, even though it would have
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been fun to go to New York City in the fall with my husband, it has just struck me several
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Like, I'm so glad that I'm not traveling right now.
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And I sure as heck am so glad that I didn't go to Manhattan and somehow get stuck.
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I've heard so many crazy stories of all of you getting stuck in various cities for multiple
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And I'm so sorry for those of you, you or your spouse, you work for the government, you
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work at an airport, and you haven't been able to get paid.
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I know that's really demoralizing, and it just goes to show kind of the gridlock that
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we have in Washington right now and the failure of the people who represent us, especially those
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in the opposing party who are just not willing to come to the table and make things happen
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So hopefully there will be some relief on that.
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Okay, before we get into the content of today's episode, I want to ask something of you.
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I know I've got such a pro-life audience, and you want to not just talk the talk, but you
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And over the years, we have donated many, many baby and maternity items to pregnancy centers
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I have just been blessed to simply be a vessel of that, that a pregnancy center will reach
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out to me and say, hey, we have made this Amazon wishlist or baby registry, and we really
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And I will share that link with you guys, and you are so generous.
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You click the link and you donate as much as possible.
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And some of my favorite videos ever, y'all, are of these pregnancy centers just showing
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me the boxes and boxes and boxes that have filled their centers of baby items because you
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And one of my favorite stories was this Amazon driver was delivering all of these boxes to
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a pregnancy center in Texas and asked one of the staff there, what's going on?
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And they were not only able to share their mission there and the generosity of you guys,
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but the thing that compels all of you to be generous, and that is the gospel of Jesus
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And right there, that Amazon driver prayed a prayer to follow Jesus.
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So when I say God is doing, when it seems like He's doing one thing, He's actually doing
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You have no idea what your generosity accomplishes, not just in your obedience and stewarding your
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money well, but also how God uses that to weave together people's testimonies.
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And as you've heard me say so often, the grand tapestry of how our obedience and our testimonies
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is interwoven with the testimonies of countless other people in the lives that we live here on
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earth will not be fully seen or appreciated until the other side of glory.
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Like heaven is going to be so amazing because we can see how God worked through every single
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thing, even the hard things, even the scary things, even the unclear things, even the confusing
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God is doing amazing miracles every day through the unseen and unsung work of believers.
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Whenever your obedience seems small or whenever your generosity might seem unappreciated or whenever
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you're discipling your kids or you're washing your dishes or you're sending that email
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and it seems mundane and trivial, nothing is wasted in the life of the believer because God uses
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all of it for his glory and our good eternally.
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That leads me to a request that I have for you.
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My sister-in-law, she runs a maternity home in the state of Georgia and it's called Hope
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139 and it's based on Psalm 139 and the verses that say that God has knit us together in our
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mother's womb and just how precious is that and how precious are all babies inside the womb.
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And she cares not only for these babies, but also for moms who are very often in poverty.
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They are seeking refuge from abuse and she has created this incredible maternity home
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there where she serves these families in crisis called Hope 139.
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And they are one of these centers, one of these organizations that needs the help and the support
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And so because they have to supply these moms and babies with so much, they need our help.
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So I am going to put a link to Hope 139 in the description of this episode and I would
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love for you to click on the website, learn more about what they do.
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Maybe you're local to them and you can volunteer.
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And just remember, like God uses that, not just in people's lives tangibly, but he uses
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And my sister-in-law and her family have poured so much into this mission.
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They get nothing out of these donations personally.
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This is all for these women and their babies so they can know the gospel and to feel the love
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So I'm going to include those links in the description of this episode.
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And if you can, and if you feel called, please make a donation.
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All right, let's get into what we are actually going to talk about today.
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Since I kind of did a long preamble, I'll go ahead and tell you about our first sponsor
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Here are some questions that we'll be exploring today.
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I want to explore these questions and other questions that I have from a biblical perspective
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in light of the Candace Owens YouTube series on Charlie Kirk.
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Now, there are a couple perspectives on her YouTube series.
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Her supporters say that she's just asking questions, that they're just asking questions,
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and they will say that Candace is really the only one who wants to know what happened to
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Charlie and is doing the investigation that others won't.
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Everyone else, their thinking goes, is just accepting the narrative fed to us by the FBI.
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Or worse, they say they might be in on a conspiracy to murder Charlie Kirk.
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And her supporters view her as a ride-or-die friend who will stop at nothing to bring the
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The other perspective from her detractors is that she's spinning conspiracy theories,
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that she is implicating the wrong people, that she's ginning up intrigue for lucrative
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clicks and views, that she's perpetuating dangerous narratives about the Jews.
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And before I give you my take on my perspective of her YouTube series,
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let me answer this question that I have heard her ask and that I have seen
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some of her audience ask, why would I wade into this at all?
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Well, I can tell you first that there is no incentive to comment on anything that Candace does
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One way or another, you're going to make people angry if you do, possibly including Candace herself.
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And anyone who has ever gotten in Candace's crosshairs knows that if you do or say something
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that she perceives as subverting her, she will retaliate with 10 times the force that you
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And that retaliation may involve attempts at character assassination.
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And she's got an army of very loyal followers who feel very emboldened to amplify her messages
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So there is much well-founded hesitation, I would say, and in some cases, fear that some
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People don't want to disagree with Candace publicly or push back against her at all.
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She has a lot of power, the number one podcast in the world as of last week, which doesn't
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She's got so much influence, probably more than anyone in right-wing media.
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And, you know, she talks a lot about this kind of David versus Goliath dynamic on her podcast.
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And so I am talking about this for the same reason that I talk about anything, certainly
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I feel a responsibility to give my audience, my listeners and viewers that God has entrusted
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to me the same thing that I always try to give you, and that is clarity and courage
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to help you think logically and biblically about the things that matter.
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And the truth is, for weeks, my inbox has been filled with messages from so many of you asking
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what I think about this or that thing that Candace has posited on her show.
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And I did do an episode a few weeks ago on the question of Israel's involvement in Charlie's
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There have been a couple times that I have encouraged you very clearly, do not outsource
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Don't outsource it to the media, to the government, not to any influencer or influence.
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I want you to use the mind that God gave you to ask good questions and to seek the truth.
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And last week was another one of those times that I offered that encouragement on Instagram.
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And I'll kind of back up and give you some context of why I gave that encouragement last week.
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Candace claimed on her show that the UVU campus stop where Charlie was murdered was booked too
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And she said, you know, there's, I'm paraphrasing something sketchy there, it seemed to her.
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And she cited her experience with Turning Point's campus tours, where she says that stops were planned a month in advance.
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And I, without saying Candace's name, gave a counter example of that on Instagram and acts, showing that Charlie had invited me at the end of August to speak on November 3rd of this year.
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So about two months in advance, but he couldn't yet confirm the venue because it wasn't confirmed.
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He didn't know which campus in Alabama we would be at yet.
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And I've done campus stops with Turning Point in the past, both with Charlie and not with Charlie.
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And I can tell you that in those cases, things were very often put together extremely last minute.
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But Candace had said that the quick timeline of the UVU booking points to her belief in the possibility that Turning Point is lying and engaged in some kind of cover-up.
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She said, quote, it reeks of an inside job, quote, Turning Point USA is involved.
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She also said, quote, every day that goes on, it feels like Turning Point is engaged in a cover-up.
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So my point was that in my own experience, the timeline is not necessarily unusual.
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And therefore, I don't believe that it points to anything nefarious.
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And then last week, in the midst of that, I posted an Instagram story passionately urging you to think critically and to ask questions, even of the question askers.
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But then she responded to those things directly.
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And I told her I was glad to have a longer, off-the-record, totally confidential conversation with about her.
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And honestly, I wasn't going to say anything else about it.
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But then she said something on her show yesterday that just made me feel like I am responsible to respond.
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00:17:15.560
So here is Candice's response to my Instagram story where I just kind of in the midst of this just urged my followers,
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the people that I am responsible to in many ways to think critically about all things.
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I'm just really tired of some of y'all not thinking.
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You say that you're seeking truth and asking questions, but you're actually just outsourcing your critical thinking,
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your question asking to someone else, and you're never really asking questions.
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Or what is the alternative explanation for that?
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Or are these two things actually connected by evidence?
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And if you were implicating a real person in a murder plot, you better be 100% sure that it is true and backed by hard evidence.
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The thoughts we think and the words we say not only affect real people's lives, but they carry weight in eternity.
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I'm going to take that seriously, but you should too.
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Look, y'all, I don't even want, there's, I've just been wrestling with this so much over the past few weeks.
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I don't, I don't have the, the, the time and energy that it takes to go through, to make all of these claims first is incredible.
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But then to go through and debunk all of these claims, I don't have that time.
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Look, Allie, I just think she should take a break.
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I genuinely didn't even know she was going through it like this.
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Like I didn't, I don't think we asked her for any assistance at all.
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Actually, I did all the work and people sent me stuff and then we put together a timeline.
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And here's what I want to say, because you're saying it's real life.
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When you saw him sitting there and he got shot, that was his real life.
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So I feel like that, that's the part you're missing because you're so worried about the surrounding cast of characters who have been literally caught lying.
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We didn't just randomly pluck people up from obscurity.
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He was so amazing, but he walked away from Charlie as he was bleeding out.
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So that's what's on the line right here is he's not here anymore.
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Maybe you're not worried about him, but I am, I'm actually worried.
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And I want to know what happened to Charlie Kirk.
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So I am not apparently according to her worried.
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Uh, my friend too, who was shot in the neck, whom you have seen me talk about, um, and reference several times over the past, uh, over the past few weeks.
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And just, you know, what that mentorship meant to me and to hear the implication there that I don't care.
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And it just makes me, it really, it really makes me sad.
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Um, Candace on her show, she said, you know, she likes me and the feeling has been mutual for years.
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Um, I had always had very pleasant interactions with Candace and that is why thus far I haven't used her name when talking about some of the claims that she's put forth.
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I actually thought that that was a way to help you all think through these things without it seeming like I'm trying to fight with her or attack her because I wasn't, I still don't want that.
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And honestly, in hindsight, I probably should have been more direct from the get go.
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Um, and I do just want to say that several weeks ago I had reached out to Candace via Instagram in response to an Instagram message that she had sent me with questions about some of the claims that she was making and I didn't hear back.
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And so some people have said, you know, why didn't you reach out?
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I just want to say that I, that I did, um, you know, and I've thought a lot about how to do this, how to do this episode, how to do a response to those like very, that very hurtful implication that I don't care as much.
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I've thought really hard, like, how do I respond in a way that is actually edifying, that lifts you up and doesn't just like tear down and get down in the mud.
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And CR and I have really been talking about this and praying about this and trying to think about like the best approach.
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And gosh, there's a part of me that does just want to go tip for tat and wants like a detailed fact check and all of that.
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But I just know that that will lead to a never ending back and forth.
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And honestly, y'all, like I can't compete with secret sources.
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Candace has referenced unnamed sources that she has in the government and within turning point.
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And she said that Charlie came to her in a dream.
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He gave me lots of wisdom and encouragement and prayer over the years.
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He championed me when he didn't have to publicly and privately.
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And you can go back and you can watch my tribute to him and scroll through my Instagram post for the past couple of months for more on that.
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If I were to reveal all of the texts to each other that, you know, we have over the years, you wouldn't find anything juicy, no gossip, no hidden clues, no secret signals.
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I am going to give us direction from scripture on what godly truth seeking looks like.
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And I'm going to analyze the weight of our words.
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And then I just want to share the arrows with a few of my, with a few of my friends.
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So first, let's talk about, like, what truth seeking really looks like.
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I told you the two perspectives of the supporters and the detractors at the beginning.
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People who think it's just conspiracy, that it's all malicious, that it's all for clicks and money.
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And then the people who think that, you know, no, this is real investigation.
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And what I think is that truth seeking and true investigation can be a way to be a good friend and that the truth does matter, that we should be asking questions, that we should be seeking truth, that we shouldn't just accept narratives from the FBI or the media or anyone, and that we should be critical thinkers.
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And I believe that there are podcasters and independent journalists.
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I think that there can be just regular, everyday people without a platform who can be extremely good at research and investigation, and we shouldn't dismiss someone just because they don't work for CNN or they don't work for the government or law enforcement or something like that.
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And I do think that trying to seek justice and seek truth is a way to be a good friend.
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But I contend that there is a way to seek truth that is biblical, that is helpful, and that is edifying, and a way that is not any of those things.
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So we need to look to scripture to show us an example of what truth seeking really looks like.
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And the first thing that came to mind to me is the Bereans.
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In Acts 17, we read about this group of people, this group of Jewish people called the Bereans.
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The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea.
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And when they arrived, they went to the Jewish synagogue.
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Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica.
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They received the word with all eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
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So many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.
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But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also,
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they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowd.
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So that's kind of an aside that we can maybe analyze more at length later on.
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At the beginning of Acts 17, we read that Paul shares the gospel to Jewish people in Thessalonica.
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And the Jews in Thessalonica, we read, got really angry and they caused an uproar.
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And then when those who were willing to seek the truth and actually discern what is true believed in this gospel,
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those that didn't like the gospel, they got angry about it and they started agitating.
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And they didn't like that those who were seeking truth found the actual truth in Jesus that set them free.
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And so we see this kind of juxtaposition in Acts 17 of the true discernment and the wisdom of the Bereans
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versus this emotionalism and reaction of the Thessalonians and how the Thessalonians were actually angry
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at the true discernment and the belief of the Bereans.
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But I love that part in verse 11 that the Bereans examined the scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
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So they didn't just listen to Paul and Silas and said, wow, that sounds good.
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But they examined the word of God to see if what they were saying matched with what the prophets said,
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In our Let Them episode, when I examined Mel Robbins' Let Them theory,
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if there's something good and biblical to redeem from it and what we should toss out as Christians,
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Christians have a responsibility to discern, and we get this word discern from the Latin word
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decernary, which I don't have my Latin accent up to date, so hopefully you understand me.
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To sift comes from Old English, and it is when something passes through a sieve or a fine mesh
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sleeve, a strainer to keep what you want to keep and let go of what you want to let go of.
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So for the Christian, the strainer for every idea, concept, and philosophy is the word of God.
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That's what it should still be true for us today.
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The only inerrant, infallible, and God-breathed written authority that we have.
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So to discern, as we are called to do, means we're not just about seeing two options and
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It's also about carefully separating the good from the bad and the good from the best.
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About distinguishing between worldly right and biblical right, worldly wisdom and godly wisdom.
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What do we read that wisdom starts with the fear of the Lord?
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Now there are people, even other Christians, who will mock you for asking questions, not
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just asking questions of the government or of the media or of law enforcement, but asking
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questions of influencers, asking questions of even the question askers.
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They'll wag your fingers at you for questioning whatever it is that they are positing.
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We are called to weigh what is being said, both how it's being said and the content of
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what is being said against objective truth, against logical truth, and most importantly,
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And while we do have to be careful never to veer into becoming self-righteous, we should
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Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes
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For at one time you were darkness, Christians, but now you are light in the Lord.
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So walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right
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and true, and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
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Remember a couple things about how Satan works.
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And this just reminds us of the importance of discernment.
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Satan isn't always out there saying what is obviously 100% wrong and bad.
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He starts with parts of the truth, and then he twists it.
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And actually, in 2 Corinthians 11, 14, we see that Satan disguises himself as an angel of
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In the wilderness with Jesus, he didn't just come up and lie to Jesus.
00:30:56.440
He actually used God's word to try to manipulate Jesus.
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So the first one is, is there a way to think about this critically?
00:33:07.380
Can we weigh what is being said by anyone against the truth?
00:33:10.720
Um, and then a question that we have to ask as we are thinking about what is true, as we
00:33:16.420
are trying to be thoughtful brands is, is there evidence?
00:33:21.320
Not a hunch, not a theory, not, I don't know, but I know not that looks fishy, not this doesn't
00:33:29.140
It's okay to have a gut feeling and ask questions.
00:33:34.980
Here is a pattern I see, bits of truth pieced together by innuendo.
00:33:39.420
For example, I'm just going to give an example, and I already laid this out in my episode about
00:33:45.460
So here are some things that I believe we know are true.
00:33:49.620
It's true that Charlie had a retreat in the Hamptons in August where they debated Israel.
00:33:53.660
It's true that Bill Ackman and Seth Dillon, and I believe Josh Hammer, were there.
00:33:57.420
It's true that Charlie seemed to be shifting on the Israel-Hamas conflict and that he was
00:34:01.400
certainly bolder in expressing that, and that he seems to have been under pressure by pro-Israel
00:34:09.820
What I don't see yet is any evidence proving that these things are connected and that they
00:34:18.820
The next question after, like, what is the hard evidence for that?
00:34:28.680
When I took a rhetoric class in college, one of the first things we learned was ethos, logos,
00:34:33.680
pathos, and the importance of the ethos, the credibility that you have with the audience,
00:34:38.620
and what gives this person the authority to know these things?
00:34:53.160
Is it based on something that has yet to be revealed?
00:34:55.940
Well, that is a good reason for people to hesitate before jumping on any narrative that anyone
00:35:03.220
Next question that we have to ask when someone presents a case or presents a theory or an
00:35:07.280
argument, what is the other potential side of this argument?
00:35:12.980
Well, let me play devil's advocate for a second.
00:35:15.760
Let me think about that a little bit differently.
00:35:17.620
I really encourage you to do that with my episodes.
00:35:22.320
People ask, how did you train for the Jubilee debate?
00:35:24.680
Girl, I've been training for that my entire life.
00:35:28.500
I just think, whether it's someone who agrees with me or not, I'm always playing devil's
00:35:33.400
I'm always thinking about how I can hone my arguments better by thinking about what would
00:35:41.920
But you got to do that with everyone, especially when they are making really important and impactful
00:35:48.780
Okay, along those lines, the next question, what are the other possible conclusions that
00:35:56.400
So this person is drawing this conclusion about this.
00:35:59.320
Are there any other conclusions that could be drawn from this video footage, this timeline,
00:36:09.280
Again, a lot of things can be true, but the conjecture comes in and trying to connect all
00:36:16.560
So we have to ask, well, is there another way that these could be connected?
00:36:20.640
Is there a non-nefarious reason for this thing that is being claimed or presented?
00:36:26.780
The next question, and this is like a really, this is a really serious one.
00:36:37.460
Investigation and truth-seeking are really important, but there is a difference between
00:36:44.360
investigation and truth-seeking versus salacious, innuendo-driven drip campaign.
00:36:49.800
See, I know that it's really hard today because we just don't have a lot of true journalism.
00:36:55.600
The bastions of journalism just aren't really, they're just not trustworthy.
00:37:00.020
They start with a conclusion and they try to fill in facts to support their ideologically
00:37:12.360
And so we don't have a lot of good examples within the mainstream of what investigation
00:37:17.260
But from my understanding, traditional investigation, whether it's done by law enforcement or whether
00:37:22.740
it's done by a true journalist back when those existed, you do the investigation and then
00:37:31.040
It's not conjecture, a new conjecture and a new theory and a new fact every week as people
00:37:39.220
are burdened with the responsibility to put these pieces together in real time because mistakes
00:37:46.620
And when we're talking about a murder plot, we just need to be really, really careful that
00:37:51.180
everything that we are saying, as far as it depends on us, can be 100% proven in the
00:37:57.960
moment, not later, not secretly, but in the moment.
00:38:03.920
So there is a difference in investigation and in you and Doe, there is a difference in truth
00:38:22.000
And everything that the Bible has to say about that.
00:38:26.780
Then the second one, along the lines of this question of, is someone being falsely accused?
00:38:31.700
The second thing we have to think about in all of this is that our words matter.
00:38:35.560
And let me just say right now, I am talking to myself as much as I am talking to or about
00:38:42.180
Like, I want to take this so seriously as a professional talker.
00:38:46.040
When you have a podcast, you say something, and you might make a mistake because we're
00:38:51.200
fallible people, or we might say something that we don't mean because we're sinners.
00:38:56.200
But then you can correct it, you know, on the next show.
00:39:00.220
And it's easy to give ourselves a lot of grace.
00:39:03.140
And I'm not saying we shouldn't get any grace, but the fact that you can always correct what
00:39:08.260
you say, again, speaking to myself does not mean that we shouldn't take care of every
00:39:17.220
And this is like a huge, huge hefty responsibility for those of us who talk so much to make sure
00:39:23.640
that what we are saying is glorifying to the Lord.
00:39:30.440
I tell you, on the day of judgment, people will give account for every careless word they
00:39:40.120
I tell you, on the day of judgment, people will give account for every careless word
00:40:00.100
It is not like Buddhism that puts, you know, silence on the same level as holiness.
00:40:05.620
This is actually something that I remember Charlie talking about a lot.
00:40:08.460
This is an evangelistic faith that we are to go preach the gospel, make disciples of all
00:40:14.240
nations, that Jesus came and he spoke the truth.
00:40:18.080
And not only that, but he is called the word, the logos in John 1.
00:40:28.260
We read over and over again, whether it's in these passages or the book of James, how much
00:40:33.040
our tongue can do in creating real life impact and how much our words matter.
00:40:42.060
I would never want it on my conscience to stir up suspicion because of my words where maybe
00:40:51.260
I would not want it on my conscience to point fingers where they don't need to be pointed.
00:40:58.720
And please, Lord, give me the humility, give me the discernment, give me the self-control
00:41:04.640
and give me the strength to ensure that my tongue is bridled and that I am only speaking
00:41:10.480
that which edifies what is good and right and true.
00:41:13.260
I don't want to be a part of someone carrying the burden of responsibility that they should
00:41:21.460
I think about in the Old Testament, what's incredible about the Old Testament law is the
00:41:26.980
rights that were given not only to the accuser, the one who is actually making the claim against
00:41:34.700
a person, but also the accused, that witnesses were required, that due process was required,
00:41:41.720
that there were certain definitions of justice that you couldn't just say that someone was
00:41:45.860
guilty of something because God actually cared about the truth and about impartiality and
00:41:50.980
that something was spoken in a way that was entirely factual.
00:41:56.120
God really cares about that when it comes to justice.
00:42:01.940
There is a process of justice that always has to be rooted in care and in truth.
00:42:06.660
And we see that God's character throughout Scripture is that He really cares about how
00:42:14.520
But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if
00:42:19.920
he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler,
00:42:28.160
And we talked about last week when we were talking about something else entirely about this
00:42:33.160
And I hadn't realized, and again, this is something I want to take seriously, how important this
00:42:41.120
I mean, so many passages in the New Testament talk about reviling, trying to assassinate
00:42:45.140
someone's character, especially based on something that is not true and how abominable
00:42:54.020
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up as
00:42:58.960
fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
00:43:03.620
Out of the abundance of the heart, His mouth speaks.
00:43:17.840
You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness.
00:43:25.020
A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection
00:43:37.500
Therefore, do not associate with a simple babbler.
00:43:58.100
I know that she thinks that because I care about these people who are being wrapped up in this
00:44:03.360
or swept up in this and implicated that I don't care about Charlie.
00:44:18.480
And I don't believe that anyone close to him is uninterested in what is true.
00:44:26.000
I do feel for those who have been caught in the crosshairs without evidence.
00:44:41.080
I just posted a story on Instagram about, you know, like, how do we make sure that we're giving gifts to our kids that don't just promote consumerism and materialism
00:44:50.560
and add things to their shelves that they don't really need just for the sake of giving gifts?
00:44:55.080
Like, how do we show them that gift-giving is good?
00:44:58.680
It points to the gift of salvation that we were given in Christ.
00:45:04.760
And building a box for Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan's Purse is a way to do that.
00:45:10.720
It is a way to show your kids that gift-giving is fun.
00:45:15.000
Not just gift-giving, but gift-giving is a blessing both for you and the person whom you are giving to, and it glorifies God.
00:45:23.120
Operation Christmas Child has been doing this for over 30 years.
00:45:27.060
They take these shoeboxes that are filled by us with non-perishable items.
00:45:37.220
Different things that children all around the world in impoverished nations need and want.
00:45:42.940
And this spreads the joy of Christmas, the love of Jesus, the generosity of the body of Christ to people who are unreached by this, who really have nothing.
00:45:53.420
And it's such a great thing to involve your kids in because, again, you are teaching them it's not about you.
00:46:01.100
So if you want to participate in this, then you need to get your box.
00:46:13.000
There are all these drop-off locations across the country.
00:46:15.780
Lots and lots of churches and other entities are drop-off locations for Operation Christmas Child.
00:46:21.400
Collection week is November 17th through the 24th.
00:46:28.000
And then take your kids, drop it off at one of these locations.
00:46:34.140
One of the people that has been implicated in this is Mikey McCoy, who was the assistant to Charlie Kirk and a good friend of Charlie Kirk.
00:46:49.980
I don't know Mikey well, but Candace said that Mikey has appeared to have an extra spring in his step from her sources inside Turning Point USA in the aftermath of Charlie's murder.
00:47:03.440
And she claims that he was promised to be some kind of successor to Charlie.
00:47:07.920
She has also cast doubt on how he reacted in the immediate aftermath of Charlie being murdered, immediately getting on his phone and walking away.
00:47:18.360
Someone commented, the way Mikey walked away with no crouching, hiding, or urgency is chilling.
00:47:29.100
And that was a comment that on Candace's YouTube that she had liked.
00:47:35.840
I don't think that we see any evidence of his involvement.
00:47:38.860
I don't think that we have any facts that prove that somehow he had a spring in his step, that somehow his behavior was sketchy.
00:47:46.820
In fact, we saw that Erica Kirk told Jesse Waters in her interview with him a couple weeks ago that Mikey called her and said that Charlie's been shot.
00:47:58.400
But it is a very strong claim to make that someone who was close to Charlie acted sketchy immediately following his death and also that he had a spring in his step, implying that he was somehow happy about this.
00:48:14.380
I will never, like, can't explain to you that there was something very dangerous, like, psychologically when talking about Seth Dillon.
00:48:23.060
Josh Hammer was one of the people who was in the Hamptons, who she claims was a part of kind of pressuring Charlie Kirk.
00:48:30.820
And she has implied that all of that pressure involving Israel also had something to do with Charlie's murder.
00:48:38.300
And she has said, quote, the people around Charlie are not acting in the way that they should be acting.
00:48:43.040
Their emotionality is not meeting the moment of violence that we all witnessed.
00:48:46.560
They're lying to you about where Charlie was on his faith journey.
00:48:54.000
And again, I don't have any inside information on a Catholicism journey there.
00:49:00.040
Again, she said that Charlie's murder reeks of an inside job.
00:49:04.300
Turning Point is involved every day that goes on.
00:49:06.820
It feels like Turning Point is engaged in a cover up.
00:49:11.520
She said, I don't know how the executives over at Turning Point USA sleep at night.
00:49:18.860
This is a quote like the apparent plan was to assassinate Charlie Kirk, then to stage a hostile takeover of his brand and his legacy.
00:49:26.760
Ben Shapiro was with Megyn Kelly and said that Candace Owens has directly accused Erica of being involved somehow.
00:49:39.420
And I think Ben kind of clarified and he clarified that she has said that everyone close to Charlie betrayed him.
00:49:46.800
Candace has not said, you know, I think Erica was involved in this.
00:49:54.220
I think people are drawing that conclusion from her saying everyone around Charlie and all of the executives at Turning Point.
00:50:10.740
But I think that is where people are making that assumption and drawing that conclusion.
00:50:15.240
But in response to what Ben Shapiro said, you know, she's released a bunch of texts about Ben between her and between Charlie and, you know, basically saying that they didn't like Ben very much back in the day, seven years ago.
00:50:30.280
And I just will say, yeah, I would I would hate someone to like after I died to reveal texts like that, like between us, because those texts didn't make Ben look bad.
00:50:49.420
And I mean, that makes him it makes him look petty.
00:50:53.060
And I'm just not sure like what that revelation really accomplishes.
00:50:59.300
She's also criticized Lila Rose heavily, and she's kind of questioned Lila's military connections, I guess, because her husband is a veteran.
00:51:10.080
She has questioned Alex Clark and Alex's decision to talk to the Wall Street Journal a week after Charlie was murdered.
00:51:18.040
And Candace claimed that it would make her feel icky to speak to the media one week after Charlie's death.
00:51:24.580
She did do a CNN interview a couple of weeks after Charlie died, though.
00:51:30.140
And I just want to say, like, I know Alex and Lila really well.
00:51:38.680
And everything I know about these people is that they are kind and genuine people.
00:51:44.560
And I don't believe that they deserve at all to be implicated in this way.
00:51:51.340
I just think it's really serious when we bring these things to the table.
00:51:56.220
And that doesn't mean we can't disagree with people.
00:52:02.880
I still don't mean for this to be an attack, but I do want to share the arrows with my friends.
00:52:07.140
I want you to pray for the people that I just listed.
00:52:10.180
I want you to share their arrows, and I want you to encourage them and to pray for them.
00:52:16.000
Because it's not easy to, like, to get these kind of arrows.
00:52:20.820
And I know that by doing this episode, like, I am also going to get a fresh set of arrows.
00:52:28.120
But I also would want people to stick up for me.
00:52:30.940
And so I just, I want to stick up for these people that I know.
00:52:41.700
And that's just, like, what I want to say about these people is that they don't deserve this ire.
00:52:47.440
And I just don't think this is right to catch them up like this.
00:52:54.640
A couple more things that I want to say as we close out.
00:52:57.480
Just, like, some questions to ponder and some encouragement for you.
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Charlie had a lot of enemies because of the truth he spoke.
00:54:16.960
Progressives, the far right, apparently some pro-Israel activists and donors,
00:54:26.060
Charlie spoke against Islam and transgenderism and immigration and progressivism far more than
00:54:31.540
he spoke against anything else, far more than he criticized Israel or anything else.
00:54:38.380
They're very powerful people in every single realm of the universe that Charlie criticized.
00:54:44.980
There were a lot of people, a lot of different people, who could have seen that Charlie was
00:54:52.340
Do I think that we should necessarily accept everything that the Federal Bureau of Investigation
00:55:03.300
I think there's very good reason to believe that some transgender-loving activist, some
00:55:08.520
radicalized left-wing guy, that he killed Charlie.
00:55:13.860
And I think that we have to trust that those closest to Charlie, that Erica, that those
00:55:23.080
in his life who loved him way more than we ever did, who knew him way better than we ever
00:55:30.380
did, that they want truth more than anyone, that they want justice more than anyone, and
00:55:36.900
that they are asking the right questions, and that they are trying to find inconsistencies,
00:55:44.860
But maybe that's not happening out in the open, because maybe that's not the way to do
00:55:51.860
But I don't think that we can just assume that because they're not responding to everything
00:55:57.880
that an influencer or podcaster says, that there is not truth being sought.
00:56:09.320
It is trusting the Lord, but also trusting, okay, the people who knew Charlie and loved
00:56:13.580
him way more and knew him way better, that they've got this, and they are seeking the
00:56:23.400
And so I want to see this investigation play out.
00:56:26.580
Like they're pushing to have cameras in the courtroom, we will be able to see it, and we
00:56:32.220
will be able to see the questions that are asked and the justice that is being sought in
00:56:47.120
I want to ask the right questions in the right way, in a way that edifies you and doesn't
00:56:55.320
even risk falsely accusing someone, slandering someone, giving them unfair criticism, putting
00:57:02.920
unfair heat on them, seeking people against people who may not deserve any ire or any suspicion.
00:57:19.140
And it's a false choice, which is a logical fallacy to say that either we care about people's
00:57:24.500
reputations or we care about seeking justice for Charlie.
00:57:34.880
So let's all be careful what we say, whom we follow, what we listen to, and making sure
00:57:45.900
We will be back here on Friday with Frank Turek.