In the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk assassination, many in the Christian world are forced to address the death of a man who was a repudiation of how they conduct ministry. Early on, Kirk was a MAGA conservative, which directly contradicts how the American church handled Trump back in 2016 and how they prefer to wage the culture war to this day. Men like Mike Cosper at Christianity Today or Mikale Olson were on the opposite side of Kirk, especially as Kirk became more adjacent to Christian Nationalism in his positions on issues like homosexuality, the great replacement, civil rights, and even birth control, which even “conservative” protestants are inconsistent on. At the very end of his life, he was making the Iryna Zarutska murder a race issue and blaming transgenderism for the rise of trans-shooters. He spoke more boldly in Christian witness than many of these evangelical elites who come from much more robust theological traditions like the PCA or in this case, the LCMS.
Matt Harrison is the President of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. Under his prolonged tenure as LCMS President, he has led the denomination in a liberal direction. His churches are aged and dying off and, like other “conservative” denominations, the institutions are captured by limp-wristed men and liberals. The LCMS, under his watch, wrote annotations to the catechism that equivocated pedophilia and homosexuality with fornication. The LCMS has encouraged the white replacement through its partnership with broader Lutheran organizations like LIRS, which is responsible for aiding Ilhan Omar and other Muslims in America.
President Harrison had many thoughts on the assassination of Charlie Kirk, so he decided to publish a word salad on his Facebook page:
A Few Thoughts After 15 Years as President of the LCMS
“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
As I pulled into the gas station this a.m., I turned on the radio. There were interviews with children whose fathers were firemen, killed in 9/11. Oh my, I thought. Another anniversary of that horrid day. I remember it all too well. Within a week I was at ground zero. The LCMS provided a million dollars for the victims’ center in Manhattan. The controversy in the LCMS which ensued nearly broke my heart. Thank God we’ve moved beyond it and our approach to such situations constructed in the wake, has very largely kept us out of further internal controversy.
Those were my LCMS World Relieve and Human Care days. So many tragedies came in the early 2000s. The great Asian Tsunami. I remember the smell of the dead scattered over the coastal plain of Sri Lanka. A fisherman there showed me the one wall left of his home after two 40-foot waves destroyed his entire village. A battered crucifix hung on the wall. He gave it to me. To this day it reminds me of the depth of sin which required the death of the Son of God to redeem. And our lives are like Jesus.’ Defined by the cross and the many crosses we endure with Christ in this life, ever pointing us to Jesus. The same in India and especially Indonesia where multi-story buildings collapsed like pancakes crushing the innocent. I’ll never forget Katrina, landing in a borrowed private jet in Baton Rouge, filled with chain saws as our people requested. Our people in New Orleans were amazing. They loved their neighbors. The mayor of New Orleans said several years ago, “If it weren’t for the Lutherans New Orleans would not be back yet today.” Our Camp Restore rebuilt thousands upon thousands of homes.
There were many other tragedies. Hurricane after Hurricane. Fire and tornado. Always the great folks of the LCMS and their precious congregations rise to the occasion with astounding generosity, given away to people in the clear name of Jesus Christ, while sharing his love and his gospel. I often thought, I’ve been privileged to see the suffering world, and so much more privileged to be the bearer of the mercy of God’s to people in terrible need. But sometimes I think I’ve seen too much.
This is an elongated “look what the LCMS did” in response to natural disasters and 9/11, not necessarily helpful in addressing a political assassination. Perhaps he is trying to spin the LCMS as charitable in lieu of all the liberalism they sponsor in the name of “humanitarianism.” This is where such a statement should begin, if at all:
Yesterday was the tragic murder of Charlie Kirk. A confessing Christian murdered for political speech. I beheld the news in shock, bouncing between the reports of sorrow and vitriol, putting the worst possible construction on sound bites. Our world is deeply disordered. Families are disordered. Our governments are disordered. Immigration is disordered. Crime is an intense indicator of this disorder. The trans movement is inherently disordered. The middle east is disordered. Our beloved LCMS has given hundreds of millions of dollars for the care of people suffering tragedy and need, no matter their religious views. Yet vitriol is unleashed upon us for simply believing what the bible says about sex, about family, about decency. A few on our far edges say untoward things about race, failing to take into account the beautiful message of the N.T. that “God is no respecter of persons.” (Acts 10) And that repeatedly in the N.T. we see lists of early Christians which include multiple ethnicities from around the Mediterranean world. There is no N.T. argument against the freedom to marry among ethnicities, much less any such distinctions in the church. Jesus said, “Go therefore to all ETHNAE.” Some drink of the philosophy of the world on sexuality matters and fail to note the mandated compassion of Jesus is grounded in his message, “Repent for the Kingdom of God is near,” which is meant for all. There is a failure to call for repentance and to reject disordered confusion of male and female in all aspects of life. Thank God these views are rather rare, and when I become aware of something contrary to our LCMS confession of the clear Scriptures, I contact the relevant District President, and the matter is engaged and most often resolved in short order.
He makes the death of Kirk about Stone Choir, though not by name. Just because the Gospel is supposed to go out to all the ethnae does not mean the ethnae should come to America. Furthermore, interethnic marriage is an issue of the 5th commandment (Lutheran 4th Commandment) whereby parents can forbid under their authority, just as the State can impose such regulations which are binding under Romans 13. He says there are no such New Testament arguments as if Martin Luther would let his daughter marry a black guy. No Lutheran in the 60s believed this, as only a small minority supported miscegenation at that time.
They killed Kirk because he spoke on issues of sexual degeneracy in a fashion that is foreign to most Christian denominations. Unmentioned by Harrison is that Kirk’s views on race were increasingly Steve Sailor levels of Noticing black criminality.
The world is filled with vitriol. The explosion of personal expression at the fingertips of every fool ready to state something untoward, uncharitable or biblically illiterate has made our life a mess. Often, I don’t speak into situations just because I tire of the half-cocked responses it’s guaranteed to receive. It’s a constant judgment call. Will it do more good than harm? “My kingdom is not of this world,” said Jesus. “You said this about that, why not that about this?” The church is not in this game to save the world’s ethics, or to Christianize the government of the United States. We exist to proclaim the forgiveness of sins solely in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. We confess that the N.T. calls us to be good citizens. We pray for our leaders according to Paul’s admonition. We work for good in our vocations. We participate as good citizens upholding reasonable, just and equitable laws.
The government has the power of the “sword” according to Romans 13. Christians may disagree about when and to what extent it is to be used in punishing crime, but they cannot disagree on the fundamental need for law and order. Governments grow from the 4th commandment. “Rulers” according to Luther are to enforce just laws, with decisiveness when called for, and with mercy when needed. Christians may disagree on immigration law and policy.
The LCMS has a long history of assisting immigrants. Right from the beginning our institutions welcomed Germans at the US harbors like Baltimore and connected them with LCMS Churches across the country. I recall in my youth my congregation assisting Southeast Asians fleeing communism. Many of these people joined the LCMS and their children and grandchildren are still among us. I do not support uncontrolled immigration.
Immigration was an issue at the core to the MAGA movement. In recognizing Kirk’s murder, Harrison also acknowledges that the LCMS worked against the platform of Charlie Kirk who supporting a president who campaigned on mass deportations. Rather than seek the benefit of America, the LCMS has supported its decline, all while claiming the banner of Christ.
I think it’s vital to retain Western Christian influenced culture and its wonderful blessings. But we Lutherans do not exist to “Christianize the state.” Our Augsburg Confession says the state and church are not to be “mixed.” I worry, frankly, about Muslim immigration and the orthodox Muslim denial of the two kingdoms. But some evangelicals have the same dogma! A great many of the decisions of the nature of state and law, are left to sanctified individual choice and action, biblically informed.
Again, through Lutheran Immigrant Refugee Services (LIRS), he sponsored Islamic Immigration. These questions should be answered prior to assisting immigrants into America. Furthermore, the Augsburg Confession was at the behest of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, so what the mixing of the church means today is not what it meant in the 1500’s.
It was while I was at the gas station that an old friend texted me: “Congratulations on your 15th anniversary serving as the President of the LCMS.” I had not recalled THAT midst all the other things blaring into our lives. I thanked him.
I learned something as a very young pastor at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Westgate, Iowa. Town of 200 and parish of 440 when I left. No matter how hard you try, you can’t make everyone happy. I by nature do not like controversy. I don’t like to displease folks. But something trumps that aspect of my personality. I am a man under orders. I’m a called minister of Christ, yoked by him. It is my deepest desire – and has been since I was a young pastor – that the LCMS simply be who we say we are. We have a solid basis, THE solid basis of the blessed, inerrant Scriptures. We have the rock-solid confession of the Book of Concord built squarely on those confessions. I and every pastor and congregation of the LCMS has pledged to believe, teach, confess and act according to that confession.
In this life it’s always a matter of becoming not being. Every day I wake up and resolve by God’s grace to do the right thing, no matter what. Decisions often fall on my desk after they have become nearly unsolvable matters. My only desire is to serve faithfully, come what may. Midst all the many difficulties I have made mistakes. Daily I plead for forgiveness and strength to do what is right. I plead the Psalms daily.
My greatest worry is thanklessness. Luther said several times that the gospel passes away from a people and a place for thanklessness. We see that reality in the U.S., long the source of genuine Christian mission around the globe. But church after church, institution after institution has lost its Christian moorings. Once Christian universities and charities have lost Christ. I worry when I see thanklessness in the LCMS. In many ways we are much stronger than we were when I began this vocation as president. The COP is much stronger. Our seminaries are stronger. Our universities are stronger and closer to the church. Our world mission is stronger. Our leadership of world confessional Lutheranism is stronger. Our finances are stronger. Our publishing house is stronger. Much more could be noted. I am thankful. I am thankful for the crosses which so often reduce me to nothing. I cleave to Christ and his word. I believe our public confession to the depth of my heart. And I’m thankful for you.
Thank you for 15 incredible years.
“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
Matt Harrison
St. Louis Sept 11, 2025
In his lengthy word salad, Harrison invokes the assassination of Charlie Kirk to boast about the ministries and strength of the LCMS. He fails to acknowledge the issues of leftist violence being ubiquitous in both organized and disorganized fashion, Americans struggling to find jobs and afford houses, and public education making children gay. He cannot even address the assassination of Kirk without taking jabs at Stone Choir. Unacknowledged by Harrison is that the LCMS is a dying denomination because of stagnant, liberal leadership that pushes away subsequent generations like Gen X, Millennial, and Zoomer in favor of a Post-War Christianity that has done nothing but acquiesce to the cultural decline of America. Harrison boasts the strength of the LCMS, but 58% of their members reside in the Midwest (The Rustbelt) which is dying off due to a lack of manufacturing, while 77% of their members are above the age of 50, with 47% over 65.
In a Lutheran denomination that denies the duty of self-defense, it is unsurprising that their response to the Charlie Kirk assassination and leftist violence is to equivocate against the Right and boast about their ministerial efforts which are harming Americans via the negative effects of immigration. Like many of the mainline denominations, the LCMS is dying because of its failed leadership by effeminates like Matthew Harrison.
