What I Learned Watching “Sinners” and Praying for Charlie Kirk
– As a Black Woman
by Nikki Walton for CurlyNikki.com
spoiler alert-
I watched the movie “Sinners” way after it was a trending topic. That’s how much of my life is. I live under a rock (in church). But I enjoyed it thoroughly. I grew up watching horror movies with my dad, and I was fortunate enough to watch this one with him as well. I don’t remember being scared until the haints/vampires, in unison, began reciting the Lord’s Prayer with a desperately praying victim. It was haunting. I’ve heard tales from exorcisms of demons knowing the Word of God, being able to recite scripture better than some preachers…the enemy knows the Word. That doesn’t mean it’s in him.
I say all of this to say, I didn’t know Charlie Kirk. I don’t follow politics, I follow Christ. I’d never heard of him until I got on IG that day and every, single, post, from the Catholic accounts that I follow were using phrases like, “assassination of a great saint“, a “martyr for the faith”, someone who, “spoke the Truth, and died because of it“. And so I continued to scroll to find out more about the truths he told. And found a lot of Jesus, but also a ton of hate speech. About Black people, about immigrants, about children, about women. I am what he mocked. I am ‘Laqueesha James‘. I am the children. I am the immigrants. I am all of us- the Body of Christ. At first pass, it gave Kevin Samuel vibes… provoking rage under the guise of righteousness. Still, I can’t judge him. I don’t know the state of his soul. I’m absolutely not qualified.
But I do know how this news made me feel- how it pulled me back into the whirlpool of conspiracies, comment wars, spiritual confusion. I found myself following the world again instead of the One who overcame it.
So today, I’m choosing a different path. And I invite you to join me:
Let’s pray.
For him.
For his family.
For his soul.
For this country.
For your world.
For all of our souls.
