“Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?” James 3:10-11 (NIV)

I have been trying to wrap my head around what I witnessed while watching the funeral service for Charlie Kirk. It’s taken me all week to process; and, honestly, it has distressed me. The more than 6-hour service included Scripture, prayer, songs of faith, fond memories of the deceased, eulogies, pronouncements of God’s love for the world and even an invitation to receive Christ. I’ve conducted funerals that include all those things, but this one also included a lot of vitriol, anger and a bitter flavor of retribution–spoken not by the spiritual leaders, not by the grieving widow, but by politicians–including a 41-minute rant delivered by Donald Trump.

I first started feeling unsettled though when conservative political commentator Benny Johnson stood at the podium and referred to the Apostle Paul’s definition of the purpose of government in Romans 13:1-5.. He then pointed to the members of the current administration who were present, declaring, “God has given them power over our nation and our land” to “wield the sword for the protection of good men and the terror of evil men.” He then charged the audience, “May we pray that our rulers here–rightfully instituted by God and given power by our God–wield the sword for the terror of evil men in our day in Charlie’s memory.” He finished by thanking the administration for “carrying out that godly mission of wielding the sword against evil.” The audience roared its approval.

It was the emphasis on “wielding the sword” on God’s behalf to punish those who do evil that deeply disturbed me. The initial message of God’s love, grace and Christ’s sacrifice suddenly turned into a message of God’s wrath and hate of evil-doers. While Johnson never identified the “evil-doers” by name or their behaviors, his implication was clear: those who oppose this administration which has the blessing of God are the evil-doers. This was confirmed by the parade of former and current cabinet members, media influencers, White House staff, and Vice-President JD Vance, who condemned the Marxist-leftists, labor unions, public educators, democrats, Hollywood elites, Antifa and even progressive pastors–those Deputy WH Chief of Staff Stephen Miller defined as “our enemies” and the “forces of wickedness and evil” who are “against us.” Interspersed with the drum-beat against evil were hymns, Scripture quotes, prayers and crowd-led chants of “USA! USA!” that turned the funeral into a White Christian Nationalist political rally–complete with fireworks. Talk about mixed messages!

What bothered me the most, however, were the audience responses to Erika Kirk’s statement of forgiveness for her husband’s killer-and to Donald Trump’s acknowledgement that Charlie Kirk didn’t hate his opponents but wanted the best for them, but adding “that’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent and I don’t want what is best for them.” The audience gave Erika a 45-second ovation. The audience also gave Mr. Trump applause and laughter. OK, it wasn’t a 45-second ovation, but it was approval. Trump went on to hope that the DOJ (Department of Justice) would find the “very bad people” who supported “paid agitators” at Charlie Kirk’s rallies. Again, the audience gave him loud applause..

I was dumbfounded. I would have expected this majority Christian audience to honor and affirm forgiveness, but wince at hate and retribution. I would have hoped that Trump would have heard silence or even a few BOOs. But both forgiveness and retribution were embraced–two opposite and incompatible sentiments. Out of the same mouths came praise and curses. In the same event, we heard calls for love for our opponents and hate for our opponents and both were affirmed. There were calls to forgive and calls for war against the radical left and both were applauded. The Bible has a word for that–double-mindedness.

It saddens me that what the world saw and heard last Sunday was a Christianity that says it worships the God of love and life, but also embraces the ethos of hatred and death. The service ended with Erika Kirk embracing and being held by the president–a metaphor for what I see within much of the American Christian church–an embrace of power at the expense of spiritual integrity.

The service promised fresh water–living water–but it delivered mostly bitter. Sadly, people drank it up.