Speaker 1: What's going on. Thank you so much for listening to
this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon
to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you
want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream,
my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron,
go to dpeakclendershow dot com. Make sure you hit the
subscribe button. Get every episode for free, write to your
smartphone or tablet, and again, thank you so much for
your support. Charlie Kirk always wanted to be remembered for courage,
for his faith. That's what he said, And so, as
Jordan Boyd writes over at the Federalist dot com, it
was only fitting that more than one hundred million people
around the world heard the good news that Jesus Christ
saves at his memorial service yesterday.
Speaker 2: I watch the whole thing.
Speaker 1: I was not aware it was supposed to go as
long as it did. I thought it was only supposed
to go about three hours. It ended up ended up
going like five. Highly recommend it. If you have the
time to watch it, you can break it apart. There
are lots of a lot of speakers, each one running
between you like three to five minutes. Most of them
three to five minutes. As you got towards the end
of the program, people spoke for longer periods of time.
It started with more than an hour of worship focused
on spreading the faith that Charlie had in God. I
will tell you that as I watched it, and this
was just my reaction, and of course over the course
of five hours there was there was a lot of
different people, a lot of things that were said, a
lot of performances. All the performances, the musical performances were amazing,
and I found a lot more. I'd say I felt
like it was predominantly about God and Christ, which I
thought was entirely appropriate for a memorial service for somebody
who was as practicing a Christian as Charlie Kirk was.
So a lot of profoundly moving moments, a lot of
comforting moments, a lot of defiance. Yeah, there were political
messages as well, which I could.
Speaker 2: Have frankly done without.
Speaker 1: I didn't need to hear any of that, but I
understand that was the work of Charlie Kirk's life. And
there's a comment here I'm gonna play from his pastor,
Rob McCoy, who explained why there was also some cringey moments,
which like honestly, every funeral and memorial I think I've
ever been to had some cringy moments. It's just like,
it's what happens, right. I saw people were questioning why
there were fireworks they did like sparklers like these, uh
you know it's like floor mounted or ceiling mounted. Uh,
just like sparklers that were just that were just like
constantly going off, and people were like, oh my god,
I have that stuff on there. And I admit, like
I watched it too, and I was like, that's odd
for a memorial service, But when you think of it
in terms of a celebration of life, it makes a
little bit more sense. But also according to Andrew Colvett,
who worked with Charlie at Turning Point, USA, he said,
the staff at Turning Point loves that effect. They see
it as one of the event signature for all of
their events that they do, and like it was a
marvel to behold the amount of planning necessary to put
together this kind of a service that had like the
top level security that you would afford like the Super Bowl.
You had like every member of the cabinet was there.
You had the President, the Vice president. You had all
of these, you know, famous people on the right that
are targets for more violence, and.
Speaker 2: It went off without a hitch.
Speaker 1: And the amount of planning that was done in such
a short period of time by a whole operation that
was mourning, it's remarkable, absolutely remarkable what they were able to.
Speaker 2: Pull off yesterday.
Speaker 1: But here's the other thing is that Charlie Kirk loved
those special effects. He loved them, and so as Covett
Andrew Corvette pointed out, they did this because the staff
loves it. Charlie loved it. It was a part of
their events. And he said, we do not grieve the
way the world grieves. We refuse to let the evil
that killed Charlie rob us of our joy in remembering
his incredible life and legacy. See, if you've ever been
to a celebration of life versus like just a funeral,
you know they're different.
Speaker 2: And that's what this.
Speaker 3: Was.
Speaker 1: That's the way I interpreted it as more of a
celebration of Charlie Kirk's life. And I do have some
audio I'm going to play here. In fact, let me
start with Pastor Rob McCoy. This was Charlie's pastor, and
he was the first speaker I believe, of the afternoon.
Speaker 4: He kept calling me his pastor, and I stopped him.
Speaker 5: I said, Charlie, since the president's got an elect your
stock has risen through the stratosphere, and I don't see
much of you. I mean, he wasn't a very good congregant.
He was on the road three hundred and twenty days
a year. But he said, Rob, not only are you
my pastor, but you're America's pastor.
Speaker 4: And I said, Charlie, if.
Speaker 5: We were at a tabling event on a campus where
you had the table set, prove me wrong, I'd win.
And he looked at me with that sheepish grin that
he always has Doug gone and if he wasn't right,
I mean, I wasn't America's pastor two minutes ago, and I.
Speaker 4: Won't be after this. But for right now, he proved
me wrong.
Speaker 1: He offered insight. I thought this was really profound into
why Charlie Kirk was so politically active, why this was
the work of his life.
Speaker 5: Now my responsibility and trusted to be by my friend
and his wife. You're gonna hear of what Charlie did
but I'm here today to tell you the why in
what he did. The why brought him the courage, The
why brought him the wisdom and the strength. The why
is the one that Charlie wanted to welcome as the
guest of honor.
Speaker 4: The guest of honor. His resume is long. He's the
King of Glory. He's the Prince of Peace. He's the
Savior of the world. He's the Living God.
Speaker 5: He's the God of all mercy and grace, the total
embodiment of love, the total embodiment of truth. And he's
here today to call his children back to him.
Speaker 4: From the thin veil of heaven.
Speaker 5: Charlie declares to all earthly powers and principalities who will
gather here, they have come into the presence of the
God of all creation. Charlie wanted his Savior to be
the guest of honor. He wanted all of you to
receive this gift from him, the why and what he did.
Charlie was never afraid, because he knew his life was
secure in the hand of God. Jesus left the glory
of Heaven's throne for the humiliation of an earthly cross.
He was fully tempted yet was without sin. For those
of you who struggle with the word sin, it's real simple.
It's an archer's term. Where the bullseye is and where
the arrow lands that's called the sin distance. How far
are you fallen from perfection? And there are none righteous, no,
not one. We've all missed the mark the bullseye, and
we try to get to God by our efforts, but
there is no effort that will bring us back into
the presence of a righteous God.
Speaker 4: You see, the wages of sin is death.
Speaker 5: Charlie knew this, and at an early age he entrusted
his life to the savior of the world. Jesus came
to this earth, was tempted in all ways, yet was
without sin, was crucified upon a cross.
Speaker 4: His blood was poured out, because blood.
Speaker 5: Must be shed for the remission of sins, and his
death upon that cross was sufficient for all the world's sins,
but only efficient for those who, like Charlie, would receive
him as their savior. Jesus has come to seek and
saved that which is lost.
Speaker 2: And I would say this.
Speaker 4: To all of you. The Lord loves you.
Speaker 5: He wants to save you, He wants to give you
a new life. He wants to cover the multitude of
your sins by the blood he shed upon the cross.
The Bible says, if you believe in your heart and
you confess with your tongue Jesus's Lord, you will be
saved to the.
Speaker 4: Glory of the Father.
Speaker 5: You see, Charlie looked at politics as an on ramp
to Jesus. He knew if he could get all of
you rowing in the streams of liberty, you'd come to
its source, and that's the Lord.
Speaker 2: There it is.
Speaker 1: Politics was the on ramp to Jesus that if you're
rowing in the waters of liberty, you will find its source,
and that's God. So I did expect there to be
political speeches and comments during the memorial service yesterday, and
there were some. I'm not going to give you a
lot of those, if any, because to me, it was
all secondary, right, because those were just the waters.
Speaker 2: I'd rather focus on the source.
Speaker 1: So when I was a kid, my grandpa died with Alzheimer's,
and before he died, my mom and my dad took
care of him as he got worse. Forty years ago,
there were no treatments and not much support for caregivers
and family, but things are different today because of the
work of so many people, including the Alzheimer's Association of
Western Carolina. It's a great organization with awesome people with
huge hearts. I've been a supporter for twenty five years.
This cause means a lot to me. I participate in
the annual Walk to end Alzheimer's and I'm leading a
Charlotte team again this year, and it's called once again
Pete's Pack. You can sign up and you can join
the team and walk with us. It's on October eighteenth,
that truest field. Sign up at alz dot org slash
Walk and then you could search for my team name
Pete's Pack. There's also a link at thepetepod dot com.
There's also a link in the description of this podcast. Also,
I'll be am seeing the Gastonia Walk on October eleventh,
and so you can make a team and join that
one too, or make a donation and help me hit
my goal of five thousand dollars. If you do, I
really appreciate it. There are a bunch of other walks
all over the Carolinas. You can go to alz dot
org slash Walk for all the dates and locations. We're
closer than ever to stopping Alzheimer's. Can you help us
get there? Will you walk with me? For a different future,
for families, for more time for treatments. This is why
we walk. We heard from Charlie's pastor Rob McCoy, old
fashioned alter call, right, And if you've never been, if
I know, there are a lot of transplants from up
north that probably have never seen something like this at
a funeral or a memorial service. When I first came
down south, and I was younger, and so I didn't
attend a lot of funerals because all of the people
I knew were all younger. It was something I had
never seen until oh, probably my thirties. But I've seen
a lot of them now as I've gotten older, and
you know, I know more people who are passing away,
and so this is pretty standard too. Next up was
Larry Arne, who is the president of Hillsdale College, and
you can tell this deeply affected him in his comments here.
Speaker 6: He became a friend of mine because I interrogated him
one time.
Speaker 4: Nineteen year olds are my specialty.
Speaker 6: I asked him some questions he couldn't answer, and he
was already becoming famous, and I noticed his reaction.
Speaker 2: He said, what should I do?
Speaker 6: And I said, well, you have to suffer. If you
want to grow, you have to suffer hard to learn
into the night, crack the dawn in the morning. Start
with the Bible, read the classics, study the founding of America.
In those places you will find that there's a letter
that reaches up toward God.
Speaker 4: And at the bottom of.
Speaker 6: It is the ordinary good things that are around us everywhere.
If we can call them by their names, they have being,
and the beings of the good things are figments of God.
You will find that article in Aristotle, you will find
it in the Bible. You will find it in Madison
and Jefferson. How do I learn that? He said, And
I said, you have to suffer. You have to study,
You have to think. I thought I'd never hear from
him again. Within a month, he got hold of my
cell phone number and he texted me a copy of
a certificate of completion of a Hillsdale College online course.
He would go on to do that thirty one times.
I keep a list in my head of the six
or eight young people, and I'm very privileged. I get
to know many inspiring young people who.
Speaker 2: Are the best I ever saw.
Speaker 6: Charlie is the only one who is never a full
time student at Hillsdale College who was on that list.
We will miss him dearly.
Speaker 1: He went on to say that he and his wife
have set up a college scholarship for Charlie's two kids,
and that he's granting an honorary degree to Charlie, which
is the highest honor college can bestow upon someone who
did not go to that college. Obviously, he had a
bunch of staffers speak at his memorial, people that worked
with Charlie, one of.
Speaker 2: Whom Mikey McCoy.
Speaker 1: And this was a fella who Charlie met and Charlie
told him, Hey, don't go to college. Come work for me,
and McCoy did so, just like Charlie didn't go to
college based on advice from a mentor of his who said,
there's no reason for you to do that. You can
always go back to college. You're building something else right now.
Mikey McCoy, he was defiant. He said, we'll never surrender
and are resolved to live free from life lies and
seek out what is true. We will respectfully, boldly challenge
what is accepted by culture in order to seek out
what is acceptable and true to God Almighty alone.
Speaker 7: My friend was martyred for using his voice to engage
in peaceful dialogue. Charlie's assassin thought that he could steal
and silence his voice by putting a bullet in his neck.
In the words of sore and Keeregarden, the tyrant dies
and his rule is over. The martyr dies in His
rule has just begun.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: This is why people on the right are saying and
have been saying that. A lot of our friends on
the left and in the media, but I repeat myself,
have misjudged this moment.
Speaker 2: This isn't going away right.
Speaker 1: The defiance and the faith that was on display yesterday
is proof of that. So you've heard me talk about
Creative Video for almost a year. But did you know
they also offer a game changing app for businesses that
reward their teams with incentive trips.
Speaker 2: Well they do.
Speaker 1: It's called Incentive Trip Kit. If you want a business
or work at one that offers these incentive trips, this
is a must have. It maximizes the impact and value
of these motivational trips. It's a super easy to use
app built just for your group, with private messaging, shared photos,
important trip documents, even a find the group locator just
in case somebody gets separated. And when I say it's private,
I mean it. No personal emails, no phone numbers, no ads,
no account sign ups. Everyone uses one shared login, so
it's super easy, no hassles. During the trip, everybody can
post their best photos and short video clips, and folks
back at the office can even follow along. And then
after the trip, Incentive trip Kit turns those memories into
a professional storytelling video you can use to motivate, inspire,
and get people fired up for next year's trip. More fun,
more memories, more ROI check it out now at incentive
tripkit dot com or call Eric at eight eight eight
five three three seventy six thirty seven Extension two O
seven for the details. Going over some of the highlights
from the Charlie Kirk memorial service yesterday, the stat I
saw and read to you earlier one hundred million views
of the service yesterday remarkable. One of the speakers named
Stacy Sheridan. She worked at Turning Point, USA, and she
said she viewed Charlie as sort of a younger brother.
And she told a story just of her own personal
tragedy she lost her husband to cancer and during the
and he died on their daughter's ninth birthday. And he
battled the cancer for two years, and Charlie would constantly
call her to check in on her, check on the family,
see if she needed anything. He sent her critical medication
and an oxygen machine directly to her house and she said,
she still has no idea how he was able to
do that. She said, he helped because that's what a
Christian is supposed to do. When she apologized to him
repeatedly over the two years for you know, not being
able to get into work, and she had to, you know,
put some of her responsibilities aside because she had to
care for her husband. And he would always say family first.
And then she lost her home in the Pacific Palisades fire,
and Charlie said, well, you know, you should move to Arizona,
where Talking Point or sorry, Turning Point, USA is located.
Speaker 2: And she did.
Speaker 8: And then she said this while and during our various tragedies,
my daughter Grace would ask me at least once, why
would God.
Speaker 9: Do this to us? Mom?
Speaker 8: My honest and only answer was, someday we will look
at each other and instantly know why all of this
had to happen, and it will be for something far
greater than we can ever imagine. In my first conversation
with Grace after Charlie's death, Grace said to me through
tears over the phone, Mom, this is the answer to
my question.
Speaker 4: This is our why.
Speaker 2: Now we can be there for Erica.
Speaker 8: And Gigi at mac the way they.
Speaker 4: Were there for us.
Speaker 1: One of the things that comes through when you hear
and for a lot of people they may have never
heard have heard this kind of eulogizing in these types
of Christian sentiments expressed. Which is also another reason why
yesterday's service I think was so profound, as that a
lot of people may not be accustomed to hearing these
types of messages, is that this is all about your
personal not just relationship with Christ and God, but it's
your personal responsibility the things that Christ called you to do,
not to offload that responsibility to somebody else or some
entity like government. I've said for years, right, if we
on the right Christians want government to do less, we
need to do more. There was no reason for the
government to do things if those things are being addressed
by individuals, by churches. Frank Tuik he was a mentor
to Charlie Kirk. He's a Christian apologist guy and author.
And he was there when Charlie was murdered, just five
feet away, standing off to Charlie's side, and so he
was there with him in the vehicle as well as
they raced to the hospital, and he told the audience
that Charlie Kirk was killed instantly, there was no suffering.
Speaker 10: Now, I want you to know that Charlie right now
is in heaven. Not because he was a great husband
and father, not because he saved millions of kids out
of darkness on college campuses, not because he changed minds
and chased votes to save the country, not because he
sacrificed himself for his savior. Charlie Kirk is in heaven
because his Savior sacrificed himself for Charlie Kirk.
Speaker 1: So over the next hour, then after this weird speeches
from Stephen Miller, Susie Wiles, Tucker Carlson, then Telsea Gaber
spoke and she said, Charlie took his message to the
very places where that message was needed most.
Speaker 9: And Charlie did this so well. He was winning so much,
winning so much so that the forces of darkness, hate,
and evil were threatened by him and tried to silence him.
History shows this dark pattern that when ideas cannot withstand scrutiny,
whether it's the ideology of so called religious fanatics or
political fanatics, their defenders, terrified that their weak ideas will
be exposed for what they are, turned to intimidation, censorship,
and violence. They kill and terrorize their opponents, hoping to
silence them. But in this evil that we have experienced
that Charlie faced their flawed ideology as exposed. Because by
trying to silence Charlie, his voice is now louder than ever,
His message is more powerful and impactful than ever. The
truths that he spoke have spread hundredfold.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: This is why I'm not sure people who hate Charlie
Kirk call everybody on the right Nazis and fascists and
every sort of phobe and ist. This is why I'm
not so sure that you recognize what is happening and
what has happened in the wake of this murder. I
said it right after the assassination when we came back
on the air. It is very much like the line
from the Star Wars movie You strike me down, I
will become more powerful.
Speaker 2: That's what happens.
Speaker 1: That doesn't happen, as she says here, it doesn't happen
when you strike down the tyrant. The tyranny ends. But
the message and the attempts to spread the message, those
are only threatening to people who would use violence and
intimidation against you because they cannot debate the ideas. They
cannot answer for the ideas. That's why I've said for
years also, unchallenged ideas are easy to hold. If you
can defend your ideas, then you debate them, and if
you can't, then you should either scrap them. But if
you kind of like build your entire personality and everything
that you think is interesting about you around your political ideas,
then that's why we see this this, you know, resorting
to violence and cancelation and intimidation. It's been going on
for fifteen years at least against conservatives on college campuses.
I've been talking about it literally my entire radio host career,
and I think we might be at a turning point.
Game on Week one starts now, and every touchdown brings
you closer to a payout. With Draft Kings Sports Book
and official sports betting partner of the NFL. This isn't
just football, it's first touchdown fireworks anytime. TD rushes live
bets that ride every momentum shift that DraftKings every play
is your next shot to win. Will the Panthers win?
Will we even get a touchdown? New customers, bet just
five dollars and get three hundred dollars in bonus bets instantly,
plus get over two hundred dollars off NFL Sunday ticket
from YouTube and YouTube TV. So your season starts now.
Download the Draft Kings sportsbook app and use code Pete
to get three hundred dollars in bonus bets instantly when
you place your first bet of five dollars or more
plus over two hundred dollars off NFL Sunday ticket it
from YouTube and YouTube TV. But you gotta use promo
codepete in partnership with DraftKings. The Crown is yours. Gambling
problem called one eight hundred gambler In New York call
eight seven seven eight hope and why, or text hope
and why four six seven three six nine. In Connecticut,
help is available for a problem gambling Call eight eight
eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit
CCPG dot org. Play responsibly on behalf of boothill, casino
and resort Kansas. Fees may apply in Illinois twenty one plus.
Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Bonus
bets expire seven days after issuance. See Sportsbook dot DraftKings
dot com, Slash promos NFL Sunday Ticket offer for new
subscribers only and auto renews until canceled. Digital games and
commercial use excluded. Restrictions apply additional NFL Sunday Ticket terms
or at YouTube dot com slash Go Slash NFL Sunday
Ticket Slash terms Limited time offer, Chris, Welcome to the program.
Speaker 3: Hello Chris, good morning, Pee, how you going, Hey, I'm.
Speaker 2: Good, good afternoon. What's going on.
Speaker 3: I've just been listening to you for a long time, man,
and now I got it. Just I just felt called
to say, dude, thank you for who you are, for
being a truth seeker. I'm one who has very limited
patients with people who I would say are blind, and
I am reminded in the last couple of weeks just
how I have to stop, like I have to drop
to my knees and thank God that I can see
that the veil has been lifted from my eyes, and
those that can't are to be dealt with with more
patience and kindness because they're blind. Like it's they're cursed
in a way. I'm not trying to put myself on
some morally superior pedestal. I just have the ability to
see the highest order. I'm not saying that I live
it or I am, but I certainly can tell. And
men like you who just you know, put me in
my place at times and remind me how long about
things I have been And I just appreciate you man,
Thank you. I'll watch, yes, sir, well.
Speaker 2: I appreciate that.
Speaker 1: I think though there there requires a level of humility
to say what you have said about your relationship with God,
to get down on your knees and to recognize that
that relationship, you know, And I think that's what inspires
so much hatred from a lot of people that are,
as you say blind. I always get this suspicion that
they kind of know right, and and rather than humble themselves,
they they lash out and deny, you know, because that
allows them to continue doing what they're doing, living the
way they would prefer to live.
Speaker 2: And I think.
Speaker 1: That that was also Charlie Kirk's mission was to open
people's eyes and to give especially young men a different
direction when they are ready to see.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and the older we get, the harder it is
to realize that maybe I've got this wrong. Maybe I
actually am not the bad guy in the situation, but
I just I've been wrong in this situation. And the
more steadfast and the more dug in we get, the
older we get, it's just harder and harder and harder
to rip that part of us that's wrong off and
let it die and let something new grow there. I mean,
it's really difficult. It hurts.
Speaker 1: Well, that's what Larry Arne was saying from Hillsdale College, right,
he said, in order to grow, you have to suffer.
And a lot of people don't want to do that.
They don't want to put in the work, you know,
they don't want to challenge their own ideas that have
become so central to who they think they are.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: Well, you keep sending that suffering my way, peepe.
Speaker 1: All right, man, I'm gonna try my hardest, right all right,
bless you. I appreciate the call, man, Thank you along
those lines. There was a headline at the Wall Street
Jo to listen to this invoking a quote revival. GOP
hopes Kirk's legacy unites and endures. They hope the slain
activists work will carry them into a new era of
influence and dominance. Hugh Hewitt talks your host out in California.
He said, this headline illustrates a point secular media, not
just media staffed overwhelmingly bi secular people, but secular media
lack the language and background to understand yesterday's service. It
was the largest witness to the objective truth of Christianity
in history. The regular roster of guests and sources who
comment on matters politics and policy, they're not equipped to
analyze or even comment coherently on what they saw. Some
won't even be inclined to try. It was not primarily
a political event. It was a religious event, and a
uniquely powerful one. Reported that way, and you won't miss
by much. Though it is hard, the Christian view is
a large one.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: That'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much
for listening. I could not do the show without your
support and the support of the businesses that advertise on
the podcast, so if you'd like, please support them too
and tell them you heard it here. You can also
become a patron at my Patreon page or go to
thepetecleanershow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening,
and don't break anything while I'm gone.