Charlie Kirk Tribute Gets TV Anchor Suspended

CBN News

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Benny Ray Harmony, a television host in Springfield, Illinois, was suspended after airing this tribute to Charlie Kirk.

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Take a look.

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So I want to talk about something for a minute. And it is heavy, so please bear with me. I want you to know that it's OK if you feel sadness. It's OK if you feel you're grieving. Two days ago, I lost a mentor, my first boss, the first person who made me believe in myself,

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that encouraged me to chase this dream that you're watching right now, Charlie Kirk. There's a lot going on in our world right now, in our country, but I want to say one thing, lean on your neighbors, speak up for what you believe in, I don't care what it is.

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I want to share with you one of my favorite sayings that Charlie would always tell us at the office. He would yell it from the mountaintops. So please listen. When conversations stop happening, when individuals become wordless, that's when violence begins. So if you do one thing today make it be with passion with conviction Stand up for your friends stand up for your beliefs and speak loudly even if your voice shakes Your words have meaning your values have purpose never forget that

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Thank You CK

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Changed my life. CBN's Billy Hollowell joins us now. Billy, what's happened since her suspension? So this is interesting because Benny Rae Harmony, she gets reportedly suspended. This is what she's claiming on social media. And she shared a video of what she was suspended for. And we could talk a little bit more about that, but she decided to resign her position and she put out a statement and I want to read

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part of that statement. She said, many in the mainstream media have been fired or punished for mocking his assassination, referring to Charlie Kirk. I believe I am the first to be targeted for honoring him on air. My resignation is guided by values that are essential to who I am, which I refuse to set aside in order to keep a job. I choose my faith in love of country and always will.

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That was a pretty strong statement now, just so people understand. She apparently worked for Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk's organization from 2021, I believe, until 2022 before becoming an anchor. And so there's some history there, obviously. And you watch the video. So did I. What did you think about the video tribute that reportedly led to this suspension?

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No, I didn't see anything wrong with her tribute. But there has been one thing that's been really apparent to me recently since this happened, is that there is a concerted effort to manipulate, to distract, to say things that just simply are half-truths. And all that to be said, if you're watching this, before we go any farther in this conversation, I want to give both you and I, our soul, a verse in Scripture to be rooted in as we navigate this really dark moment, this really spiritual moment, this really unveiling of

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evil forces that have come out on social media. I'm not saying that's what happened to this lady, but I do think that it's important for us to look at 1 John 4. And this is my encouragement to you. This is my encouragement to me. Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the

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world. And so as you're navigating this situation, as you're navigating your algorithms, as you're navigating what's trending, what's being pushed on you by bots and foreign governments and everyone trying to grab the narrative right now. I'm not even saying what's true and what's not true. I'm just saying, let's be praying to be discerning, to be wise, to invite the Holy Spirit of the risen King Yeshua to help us navigate these really difficult, complicated, intentionally convoluted situations.

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So going back to what this lady said, I thought there was something wrong with it. I do think that if this was any other person, it wouldn't be a problem. But Billy, what do you think is kind of going on

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behind the scenes here? Yeah, so a couple of things here. First, let's be fair to the station. We don't know, was there some directive that was put out beforehand and Fox News even questioned this. They said, we don't know.

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Did they give a directive saying nobody should comment on this and maybe she didn't listen to that? I'm not saying that's true. This was just a question. We don't really know. Is there some policy? That's a separate conversation. The reality is she was reportedly suspended and has resigned because of this. When it comes to what's actually going on, I think the enemy comes

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to kill, to steal, to destroy, to confuse, and that is exactly what the enemy is doing in this situation with Charlie Kirk, right? What comes out of it? More division, more anger, more evil responses, racial tension, these horrific things that only Satan could foster in love. That is what we're watching happen. And so we're getting to your point, very distracted by other things when the reality is a man, a 31-year-old father of two and a husband was gunned down and killed in front of the

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entire world. And the only reaction we've said this, and I'm gonna keep saying it, should be absolute horror that this happened. And so I just, I think we're allowing many times the enemy to get into our minds

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and distract us with other things and to pull us away from our call even with the frustration we feel to love God and love others. We start getting angry at those people saying those horrific things instead of praying for them. And so there's a lot there, but I think we need to not get distracted by the attributes of the enemy or embrace them, and we need to go to the truth and cling to it.

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Mm-hmm. Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly. And so my encouragement to myself, again, to you if you're watching, is, listen, I can get on Twitter right now, I can get on my Instagram reels, and go down some really dark rabbit holes. You're I don't think there's anything productive in that in that search in that, you know, quest to scratch some conspiracy theories. And listen, I'm not

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saying that there were evil things at play here. I just think that what Charlie would want us to do in this moment is to focus on what Charlie gave his life for, which is the gospel, which is the truth that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified, buried in a grave, and rose again on the third day for forgiveness of sins and to set us free from death. I have come that they might have life. And I think what Charlie would want for us in this moment is to not go down the algorithms, not let the bots distract us, not think about how to respond to

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certain social media posts, but to open our scriptures, to get on our knees, to pray, to call out to the living God, and to invite a revival, an awakening to the truth of Jesus, the truth that Charlie Kirk was martyred for. He wasn't killed because of, I mean, yes, it might have been political issues, but they're stemming from the truth that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is alive, and he is active, and his word is truth, and there is a demonic entity that wants to at first silence him, now confuse us to take our focus off of

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that which Charlie gave his life for. That God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. That is what I think Charlie would want us to focus on now. Billy, I'll give you the last word, my friend.

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It's hard to say it better than that because that is what this is all about, the legacy that we're already seeing. You know, it's kind of remarkable to consider that somebody's impact can be greater after their death than it was during their life, because somebody like Charlie Kirk had a major impact on people's lives, which is why we're seeing the reaction we're seeing.

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But people like Mike Signorelli, who you recently had on, he just had 533 people accept Jesus at a church service on Sunday. We're hearing reports of that all over the country, that this event was so horrific with Charlie and his impact was so big that people are turning to him. And so this is a moment for us, instead of fighting with the people around us who are saying horrific things, influenced by the enemy, that we turn to the truth and turn

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them towards the truth so they can have eternal life. That is what this is all about. And hopefully we're all emboldened to preach the gospel more, not less, as we move forward

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from this. from this.

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Amen.

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