Inside: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28    

I don’t know about you, but I found September 2025 to be an extremely disturbing month.  On the 10th of the month, when I heard Charlie Kirk had been shot, I couldn’t believe it.  I prayed and prayed that God would spare his life.  However, I quickly realized that would not happen.  My heart broke (and still breaks) for Charlie’s young widow and their beautiful children when I think about the fact that husband and daddy has been taken from their dear family.  I think of other couples I know about that same age… I think of where RaShell and I were when we were that age with young children, and I struggle to make sense of it.  I can’t begin to estimate the enormous blow to their family.  As you all know, at Patriot’s Hope, we have long prayed for this nation to return to its Godly foundations, and Charlie’s death has significantly fueled that fire, but at what a staggering cost….

We were still reeling from Charlie Kirk’s loss when news quickly came that Dr. Voddie Baucham had a medical emergency that took his life.  Really?  Honestly, I prayed, “Dear God, what are you doing?”  Voddie Baucham has long been one of my heroes.  He had a huge impact on the way RaShell and I raised our family.  I loved listening to him.  He was uncompromising on truth, and yet, to listen to him, you knew he loved you, and you knew he loved the Lord.  If I ever really needed to know the truth about some theological position or Biblical concept, I always knew if I could find a video of Voddie speaking on the subject, I would find out the real story.  How invaluable is a guy like that?   His death meant there is yet another family dealing with the catastrophic loss of husband and daddy. 

Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

At times like this, I am reminded you don’t have to hang around long until you are forced to deal with the question – from either yourself or someone else – “why do bad things happen to good people?”  I would describe both Charlie and Voddie as good men – really, as great men – the best of men.  However, I quickly correct myself.  In reality, it is a flawed question.  The Bible tells us there is no such thing as a “good” man.  We are all stained with sin and there are none that are qualified to be called “good”. 

“as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God.”    

– Romans 3:10-11

“The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”    

– Psalm 14:2-3

These verses force us to re-evaluate our assessment of good men.  In fact, one day, someone approached Jesus Himself and called him “Good Master”, to which Jesus replied that there is none good, but God alone. 

“And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God…”    

– Matthew 19:16-17

Even as He walked the earth, Jesus was good, not because He was a man doing amazing things, but because He was literally God, who had come in flesh.  I remember a dear Pastor that used to say of this passage that Jesus’ question back to the man was asking him essentially, “are you saying I am God?”  So, Jesus is the only good man that ever lived, and that is because as God, He had no sin.  Jesus was born to a virgin, by the Holy Spirit of God, and therefore did not inherit the sinful nature that has been passed through the ages and generations to all other people through the seed of man. 

Jesus went on to point this man to the Law of God.  God’s Law defines right and wrong.  So, in order to inherit eternal life, you cannot have violated the Laws of God.  Jesus includes law-breaking activities like lying, stealing, dishonoring parents, failing to love our neighbor.  These are things for which we are all quite guilty. 

A Flawed Question

So, then, it is a flawed question to ask, “why do bad things happen to good people”.  There are no good people!  Jesus is the only good person who ever lived on earth!  So, if bad things ever did actually happen to a good person, then it had to be Jesus Himself, because Jesus is the only good person who has ever lived!  Did bad things happen to Jesus?  Yes, they did…. And there is a clear reason as to why that had to happen…

You see, when I sin against God, I rack up a debt that I owe to Him.  I have committed the offense, and I am therefore responsible for the punishment that goes with it.  The Bible defines clearly what that punishment is for sin….

“For the wages of sin is death…”  

– Romans 6:23

I Am Guilty

The painful truth is that when I sin against God, I become guilty of the death penalty.  Wow…. This is especially frightening when I consider the number of times I have sinned against Him.  So not only did I earn the death penalty for one of my sins, but I have earned it over and over again throughout my life.  God the Father is a righteous Judge and therefore cannot simply dismiss our sin and the requirement for a righteous judgement against us.  The problem is that the judgement against us – even the very best of us – requires eternal punishment in a real place called hell.  In a very real way, if left to ourselves, we all are doomed. 

Jesus Paid My Penalty

How can God maintain his righteous judgement AND demonstrate His amazing grace to us?  There was only one way…  Jesus was (and is) the Son of God.  He is the only man with no sin.  He was the only man who did not have his own death penalty judgement to deal with.  So, Jesus went to a cross in my place, in Charlie Kirk’s place, in Voddie Baucham’s place, to pay that death penalty judgement that each of us owed.  If you repent of your sin, and believe in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sin, then the price He paid on the cross is plenty enough to cover your death penalty offense as well. 

“Why do bad things happen to good people?”  That is a flawed question.  How should we change the question to make it legitimate?  How about this… “Why do amazingly good things happen to sinful people?”  This is the legitimate question.  The only answer is that while we were sinners, Jesus Christ went to a cross in our place to pay the huge price of the capital offense of sin that we owe to God.

“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.“    

– Romans 5:8

Please Repent

Please turn in repentance from your sins to the Lord Jesus Christ and be numbered among those of us who are the recipients of His amazing gift of forgiveness of the debt of sin we all owe to Him. 

The other part of this conversation is that when our hearts are broken by tragic events that happen on this earth, we need to remember a couple of things.  First, remember that this world with its death and tragedy is not the way God designed it.  These things exist because the sin of man has corrupted the world.  Therefore, it is not God’s fault that bad things happen.  This world is a bad place because men have made it bad with our sin.  Secondly, remember that even in tragedy, God can (and does!) use tremendously bad things to accomplish amazingly good things. 

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.     

– Romans 8:28

This amazing truth of God’s Word is always true, even on days when heroes like Charlie Kirk and Voddie Baucham are taken from us – and from their families – what seems to be far too soon.

May the events we experience in this fallen world point us to The Lord Jesus Christ, who is our only hope in this life and the next, and may we remember and always be grateful that these things are firmly in His hand and He is working them for good – even if that is difficult for people like me sometimes to understand. 

P.S. I wrote this article and right before I published it, I listened to this talk by Eric Metaxas called “How Can Christians Engage the Culture?” All of it is excellent, but especially in the beginning of it, he talks about Charlie and talks about the message of this article. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.