The Fed rate cut and the “Charlie effect” on church attendance

After days filled with hard news, let’s take time today for some good news in the bad news.

• The bad news is that the Federal Reserve is growing more concerned about the health of the nation’s labor market. The good news is that the Dow Jones rose 260 points yesterday after the central bank cut its key interest rate by a quarter-point and projected that it would cut rates twice more this year.
• The bad news is that bad news is prompting “asteroid economics,” in which consumers spend with abandon because they sense destruction is coming. The good news is that consumer spending is keeping pace with inflation and driving the economy.
• The horrible news of Charlie Kirk’s assassination last week brought good news last Sunday: his death reportedly brought thousands of people to church, a faith resurgence being called the “Charlie effect.”

Now let’s look for good news in bad news on a deeper cultural level, one that offers hope for our collective future and our individual souls.

What happens when nihilism reigns

In a brilliant analysis of our cultural moment, Clemson political science professor C. Bradley Thompson writes that “the moral culture of Western civilization is unraveling before our eyes.” He cites two tragedies in the news to make his point.

First, he explains the assassination of Charlie Kirk in light of the conservative activist’s debate slogan, “Prove Me Wrong!” According to Dr. Thompson,

It meant first that he appealed to reason, objectivity, and logic, and he encouraged his interlocutors to do the same. It also means that Charlie recognized right from wrong, truth and untruth, good and bad. He believed that honest men and women could reason their way to moral and political truths.

These are the core values and principles of Western civilization.

Next, he notes the murder a few weeks ago of Ukrainian immigrant Iryna Zarutska on a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina:

Three things stand out about this heinous murder: first was the utter savagery of the attack; second was the unbearable sadness of Iryna’s face as she realized what had just happened to her; and third was the fact that no fewer than five people sitting within sight of Iryna did nothing to help her. They just sat there and watched her die.

Iryna Zarutska died alone surrounded by people.

According to Dr. Thompson, these tragedies typify the nihilism of our day, the abandonment of objective meaning and morality. What is left is the will to personal power, a drive in which the end justifies the means.

Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin justified killing him by claiming that he “spreads too much hate.” The person who allegedly stabbed Iryna Zarutska to death was a Black man who said as he walked away, “I got that white girl. I got that white girl.”

When nihilism reigns, everyone can be its next victim.

Four things only Jesus can do

You’re probably wondering how to find the good news in this bad news. Here it is, courtesy of a Nigerian-English rapper/podcaster and Oxford graduate who is known by the stage name of Zuby. He posted perceptively to X: “Many people come to believe that God is real after realizing that Satan is real.”

When our enemy comes to “steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10), evil becomes objectively real and objectively wrong. This proves that reality and morality are in fact objective. It makes the point that if Satan is real, God must be real.

And it shows us that we need the latter to defeat the former.

After Charlie Kirk’s murder, we’ve heard it said often that Jesus is our only hope. Is this true? Consider four things Jesus does that no other person in human history has ever done.

• When we are tempted: “Because [Jesus] himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Hebrews 2:18; cf. 4:15). In his strength, we can defeat every temptation we face (1 Corinthians 10:13).
• When we suffer: Nothing shall “separate us from the love of Christ” (Romans 8:35), for “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (v. 37). As my friend Dr. Duane Brooks writes, “We are safe in the storm, even if we are not safe from the storm.”
• When we lack purpose: Because we are the “body of Christ” in the world today (1 Corinthians 12:27), Jesus continues his earthly ministry through us and promised, “Whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do” (John 14:12).
• When we face death: In that moment, Jesus promised, “I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:3). A church sign I saw this week says, “Death merely delivers a Christian to Jesus.”

Who else empowers us to defeat temptation, sustains us as we suffer, works through us in this world, and then transports us safely to the world to come?

“This is my strong tower, my immovable rock”

St. John Chrysostom (c. 347–407) testified:

The waters have risen and severe storms are upon us, but we do not fear drowning, for we stand firmly upon a rock. Let the sea rage, it cannot break the rock. Let the waves rise, they cannot sink the boat of Jesus. . . .

I have his promise; I am surely not going to rely on my own strength! I have what he has written; that is my staff, my security, my peaceful harbor. Let the world be in upheaval. I hold to his promise and read his message; that is my protecting wall and garrison. What message? “Know that I am with you always, until the end of the world!” . . .

Though the waves and the sea and the anger of princes are aroused against me, they are less to me than a spider’s web. . . . This is my strong tower, my immovable rock, my staff that never gives way. If God wants something, let it be done! If he wants me to stay here, I am grateful. But wherever he wants me to be, I am no less grateful.

He therefore asked, “If Christ is for me, whom shall I fear?”

The fact is, Christ is for you. Right now, this very moment.

Whom shall you fear today?

Quote for the day:

“The cross of Christ is the true ground and chief cause of Christian hope.” —Pope Leo I (c. 391–461)

Our latest website resources:

• Cultural shockwave of Charlie Kirk’s death, America divided, free speech debate, viral revival, Robert Redford & Larry Ellison
• How to fight against the Age of Outrage
• How can understanding the mind-body-spirit connection improve mental health struggles?
• “Dancing with the Stars” and the Christian journey: The art of transformation
• Can Bonton Farms show us a better way to restore hope to struggling communities?