Death of Charlie Kirk leading to less freedom of speech?

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Charlie Kirk, who was politically assassinated last week, was a major advocate of freedom of speech and dialogue.

But since his murder, there have been calls from many government officials encouraging punishment for people who say, write, and/or post negative things about him or who have otherwise been pleased he is dead.

Many on “the right” have encouraged and applauded this, while many on “the left” are raising concerns. Here are some reports:

Pam Bondi Defends ‘Hate Speech’ Crackdown After MAGA Backlash

September 16, 2025

Attorney General Pam Bondi defended her move to crack down on “hate speech” in the United States after the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, saying threats of violence are federal crimes under the U.S. Constitution.

Bondi has faced a backlash over free speech concerns from MAGA voices online since vowing to take action, who see it as an attempt to stamp out protected speech under the First Amendment.

There has been a hunt for retribution in the aftermath of Kirk’s killing, with conservatives highlighting individuals who have celebrated his death and alerting their employers. Others have surfaced examples of individuals making threats of political violence. …

“For far too long, we’ve watched the radical left normalize threats, call for assassinations, and cheer on political violence. That era is over.”

Bondi pointed to the U.S. Constitution—specifically 18 U.S.C. § 875(c), 18 U.S.C. § 876, and 18 U.S.C. § 115—saying it directly outlaws threats of violence. …

Kirk had himself commented on the notion of “hate speech” in a May 2024 post on social media.

“Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech,” Kirk wrote. “And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment. Keep America free.” https://www.newsweek.com/bondi-charlie-kirk-hate-speech-maga-2130526

Charlie Kirk’s Assassination Has Taken Us Down a Dark, Orwellian Path

September 15, 2025 https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a66109768/charlie-kirk-assassination-thought-crimes/

Republicans celebrate Kirk as free speech champion, demand critics be fired

September 16, 2025

In the wake of the senseless murder of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, his political admirers are venerating him as a principled champion of free speech. Ironically, some of the same people are participating in an organized campaign demanding that anyone with a different view of Kirk’s political legacy be fired. This effort has been extremely successful. Dozens of people have been fired for expressing opinions about Kirk that others deem unacceptable. …

On Monday, Vice President JD Vance, who previously praised Kirk for his “willingness to speak openly and debate ideas,” encouraged Americans to “call the employer” of anyone expressing negative opinions about Kirk’s legacy.

Mobs of people, at the direction of elected officials like Vance and a constellation of right-wing influencers, are calling the employers of people who say the wrong thing about Kirk online. https://popular.info/p/republicans-celebrate-kirk-as-free

September 16, 2025

The dangers and virtues of free speech have gained new relevance after the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. He has been praised in death by those on the right and beyond as an exemplar of free speech — debating his ideological foes on college campuses and speaking his mind on his podcast. But he has also been held up as an enemy of free speech by his critics — having set up a “watchlist” online of college professors deemed insufficiently deferential to conservatives, explicitly encouraging visitors to intimidate and report them, and having frequently denigrated the democratic value and participation of minorities, women, and his political opponents. Now, politicians, businesses, and media organizations are firing and threatening people who have criticized Kirk after his death — in other words, punishing them for their speech. https://www.vox.com/politics/461597/free-speech-charlie-kirk-death-first-amendment-incitement-misinformation

Various ones on “the left” have long called for the censorship of what they call “hate speech.” They are now in an uproar when some of their statements are considered to be “hate speech” by the current Trump Administration and various others.

And now more on “the right” are calling for what seems to be restrictions on freedom of speech.

The Bible warns that “an hypocritical nation” will be punished (Isaiah 10:6, KJV)–and yes that point to the USA (see also our free eBook: Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America?).

Both the left and the right are being a bit hypocritical here, but the reality is that encouraging people to turn against freedom of speech, and to turn others into the government and/or employer for potential punishment.

Though a bit less now on Twitter, Facebook, Google, Apple, and many other big tech firms share similar political and censorship views–and it is really about suppressing views that they do not like.

I am neither a Republican nor Democrat, but thought people may wish to be reminded me of a poem from the last century by Martin Niemöller:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Yes, there are moves from the left and from the right against freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

In the USA, at least, that is not supposed to happen. Here is the first amendment to its Constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Yet, when it comes to keeping the Sabbath, paying for abortion, opposing the LGBTQ agenda, speaking out on moral issues, many of the courts in the USA have been making rules that have prohibited the free exercise of religion. During COVID, governmental restrictions on churches demonstrated that many government leaders are unwilling to support what the US Constitution says in order to further their objectives. Americans have been losing their religious rights in the USA this century. And while they SOMETIMES win in court, the fact that many have needed to go in the first place is an affront to the Constitution of the United States.

While I believe that much of the dissent against Charlie Kirk has been inappropriate and uncalled for, hassling those who do that, by the US federal government, will tend to encourage this as a precedent in the future.

The biblical fact is that more censorship and banning online will happen.

And yes, it will affect you if you live into the time of the Great Tribulation (and, at least to a degree, even if you do not).

If this can happen in the USA–a land that supposedly has freedom of speech enshrined for centuries in its Constitution, what about elsewhere?

Well, the Bible clearly shows that a European totalitarian dictator will rise up with Vatican concurrence (Revelation chapters 13 & 17) after a pandemic (watch Fourth Horseman, COVID, and the Rise of the Beast of Revelation) and a reorganization (Revelation 17:12-13)–a reorganization that will have press support. Dissent will not be tolerated (cf. Revelation 13:15-18).

Was loss of freedom of free speech and of the press prophesied?

Back in 1981, the old Worldwide Church of God correctly pointed out that it was:

THE MOST important work in the world cannot be done without freedom of the press!

What is that work?

It is the work of announcing that God will restore His Government to the whole earth! But before the Government of God is restored, it must first be announced! The good news of that announcement — the Gospel of the Kingdom of God — must be preached (Matthew 24:14) to all nations (Matthew 28:19). And the nations must choose whether they will want it or resist it.

In this day, God has made the MASS media available to accomplish His work. But reaching a mass audience with the good news of God’s soon-coming Government requires the freedom to PUBLISH. Notice Mark 13:10: “And the gospel must first be published among all nations.”

Further, God lays a special duty on his messenger and Church to publicly disseminate certain warnings to certain nations. Ezekiel 33:1-7 describes God’s charge upon the watchman. When the watchman sees “the sword” come upon the land — a prophetic symbol of military devastation — he must “blow the trumpet” or God will hold him personally responsible.

This duty requires that a message warning about some very unpleasant events be published as far and as wide as possible to the latter-day descendants of ancient nations.

Similarly, when God charged the prophet Jeremiah with a message, he also had an affirmative duty from God to spread it to as wide an audience as possible. Jeremiah was given a message so important he could hardly contain himself: “But his [God’s] word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones…” (Jeremiah 20:9).

So God’s servants really have no choice as to exercising the right to publish their message freely. Their message is not for their personal benefit — but to the whole world!

Governmental Reaction

And yet while the Bible places a duty on God’s servants, it also warns that this world — even now and in the future — will not always allow the freedom to publish.

In the past a government’s excuse for persecution was that God’s message IS TOO DISTURBING to be allowed to circulate freely.

In the Old Testament, Elijah, for example, was hauled before King Ahab for the ancient equivalent of the crime of disturbing the peace: “Ahab said unto him [Elijah], Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” (I Kings 18:17).
Elijah’s defense was that he wasn’t troubling Israel, only bringing some very distressing news from God to Ahab’s government (verse 18).

Likewise, the religious and political authorities of Amos’ day tried to subject him to “prior restraint” — from speaking his message at all — because the message he brought from God was TOO CONTROVERSIAL!

“Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words…. Also Amaziah said unto Amos… prophesy not again any more at Bethel” (Amos 7:10, 12-13). Amaziah tried to deny Amos a forum for God’s message in ancient Israel. Amos’ message was too upsetting to the political and religious establishments!

The prophet Jeremiah was even subjected to an ancient form of book burning. God commanded Jeremiah to write down “all the words that I [God] have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations…” (Jeremiah 36:2).

Jeremiah put the words on a roll. Eventually, however, possession of the roll came to one of the king’s top aides, who read it to the king (verse 21). After reading “three or four leaves” of the scroll, the aide, ever eager to please a now distraught king, threw the roll into the fireplace (verse 23). Afterwards, the king attempted, unsuccessfully, to seize Jeremiah for putting God’s word to writing.

Earlier, Jeremiah had already endured actual imprisonment for the content of his spoken message (Jeremiah 20:2).

In the New Testament, the authorities tried to prevent the apostles from preaching the Gospel. The apostles were forcibly brought before the council. The high priest asked them: “Did not we straightly command you that you should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine…” (Acts 5:28).

In other words, the civil and religious authorities were seeking to regulate the content of their message!

In response, the apostle Peter declared the firm rule that “we ought to obey God rather than men” (verse 29). Since Peter and company had a God-ordained duty to say what they were saying, the commands of the civil government of Jerusalem were in direct conflict with God’s.

For the future, the Bible prophecy reveals that the time will come when most of this world’s nations will be led by Satan to abolish freedom of the press — and all related freedoms. Why? To prevent any publishing of God’s message from reaching any substantial number of people!

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it” (Amos 8:11-12).

Elsewhere the Bible reveals how this prophesied press clampdown will take place. Revelation 13 describes a great religious-civil power that will arise in the place of the old Roman Empire. This prophesied power will not allow free speech, a free press or the free exercise of any religion — except the official religion of the state.

Why Free Press Important

The Gospel is the good news of a government that will REPLACE the governments of this world. Yet replace is a mild word! The prophet Daniel flatly declares that the Government of God will “break in pieces and consume” the nations of this world that resist Him (Daniel 2:44).

The Gospel of the Kingdom of God proclaims that there is a higher power than human government, another and divine government to whom men, whether they know it or not, ultimately owe allegiance. For this reason early Christians were accused of doing “contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus” (Acts 17:7).

No wonder the governments of this world have historically sought to suppress the publishing of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God — for it is ultimately the news of their overthrow by Christ at His return!

Some have tried to justify the suppression of press freedom on the grounds that the free circulation of false ideas would create havoc for human government.”Lying opinions, than which no mental plague is greater,” wrote Pope Leo XIII, “and vices which corrupt the heart and moral life, should be diligently repressed by public authority, lest they insidiously work the ruin of the state.”

The key error is the failure to see the difference between the government of man and the government of God. God does not reveal the whole of His spiritual truth to society at large — only to those He calls (see Romans 8:30).

Man, cut off from God, cannot be trusted to pass judgment on whether God’s truth is, in fact, “true.” The Bible reveals that Satan has deceived “the whole world” (Revelation 12:9).

Christ said his true church would be a little flock, not a majority of the political community (Luke 12:32). Thus, no human government can ever be really certain that it can tell a “lying opinion” from a true one.

Because men’s minds are limited, men must have the truth revealed to them by God. When God doesn’t reveal it, as He doesn’t to most of society, the safest course open to humans is the greatest possible circulation of ideas. The Bible supports this idea when it declares: “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the MULTITUDE of counselors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14).

Even if false ideas circulate under freedom of the press, at least God’s Word will also be able to go out unhindered.

Free societies pay a very high price for freedom of the press — pornography circulates freely because human courts say they can’t really tell the difference between pornography and other kinds of writing or expression. This is a very high price — but at least it does insure the free circulation of God’s truth, as well as other religious ideas.

If you grant human government the authority to censor what is printed or spoken, you allow the government to stop any message it doesn’t approve of.

Government tried to suppress Elijah, Amos and Jeremiah; it is prophesied to suppress God’s true Gospel again in the future. The power to censor bad writing easily becomes the power to suppress good writing.

There is a reason why God began, and based, his end-time work in the country on earth where freedom of the press is greatest — and why God’s Church has grown the most, as a rule, in countries where press freedom is substantial. Since the spreading of God’s Word is the most important activity on earth — the preservation of freedom of the press is one of the most awesome responsibilities God lays on human government. (Calkins J. FREE PRESS IN THE BIBLE? Was It Prophesied? Plain Truth. May 1981)

The Philadelphia portion of the Church of God did begin in the USA and its most faithful remnant (see Why is there a Philadelphian remnant of the true Christian Church of God?), the Continuing Church of God, is still based out of the USA and we are proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and other biblical truths.

Yet now, in the USA as well as out of it, we are seeing more and more calls for speech restrictions, retaliations, and censorship.

More is coming. The prophet Amos was inspired to record the following:

11 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God,
“That I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine of bread,
Nor a thirst for water,
But of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 They shall wander from sea to sea,
And from north to east;
They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord,
But shall not find it. (Amos 8:11-12)

In a October 23, 1980 co-worker letter, Herbert Armstrong wrote:

The Bible warns us the time is just ahead when NO MAN CAN WORK—in the Lord’s Work. We must sacrifice now as never before for this Work that we may FINISH the Work that Christ has called us to do. Pray as never before, for this Work.

In a November 22, 1982 co-worker letter, Herbert Armstrong wrote:

… brethren and co-workers, the prophesied Great Tribulation (nuclear World War III) will start soon after the European unification. That means OUR WORK OF SPREADING THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD WILL BE FINISHED! We have not now much more time. Soon shall come a FAMINE of hearing the Word of the Lord (Amos 8:11). God says, work while it is day, for the night is coming when no man can work – in the Work of God! Nothing else is important in our lives, now, but this all-important Work of God. (http://cog-ff.com/html/pcomments_07_04_08.html, viewed 10/03/13)

So, the Bible tells of a time that will come when the word of God will not be found. And that would seem to be because it will be taken off the internet. In the 21st century, the internet is accessed by people in every country, and thus some type of internet restriction/suspension/site removal is coming.

But Matthew 24:14 will be fulfilled BEFORE the full ‘famine of the word’ happens.

After the Gospel of the Kingdom of God has sufficiently reached the world the end comes and the Beast will rise up (he is the one associated with the abomination Jesus mentions below):

14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand),

16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.

18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.

19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!

20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.

21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened. (Matthew 24:14-22)

Based on Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:14, we know that the Gospel of the Kingdom of God will be preached to the world as a witness, before the famine of the word.

Censorship calls and actions from government officials, “Big Tech,” and others essentially point to the reality that this will need to happen fairly soon before the true Gospel of the Kingdom of God is effectively banned from the internet.

Jesus said: