It's Monday, September 22nd, 2025.

I'm Albert Moller, and this is the briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.

It was one of the largest funerals in American history.

The memorial service for Charlie Kirk held yesterday in Phoenix was attended by

almost 200,000 people by most estimates. The crowd filled the Arizona Cardinal Stadium, known as State

Farm Stadium, and overflow crowds amounted to the tens of thousands. It was also a long event,

just over five hours in duration.

And just to note the historic nature of the event, virtually the entire cabinet of the

President of the United States was there, the Vice President of the United States, and

the President of the United States spoke at the event.

It was one of those developments that could not have

been foreseen until all of a sudden it was upon us, and of course, foisted upon us by a grotesque

act of violence in the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a major figure in American politics

and in American culture. That was indicated by the scale of the event yesterday.

I think many people looking at this would first note the massive scale of the event,

because things like this just happen very, very rarely. As a matter of fact, it's hard to come

up with any precedent for a non-governmental figure that would have a funeral anywhere near this size in magnitude.

In terms of recent events, funerals of former presidents or memorial services for such events

or for popes there at the Vatican, they're the only parallel kind of events you can think of

along these lines. That shows you something of the cultural

importance of what took place in Phoenix yesterday. But I think in theological terms, it was a far more

significant event than most people might understand. What took place yesterday, not only for the

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