Before One of Charlie Kirk's Final Speeches, He Was Warned Not to Talk About Christianity - That Was All the Motivation He Needed
Some of Charlie Kirk’s co-workers and friends said that he was advised, before he took the stage in Tokyo, Japan, last year, not to speak about Christianity. The event happened just days before he was assassinated in Utah.
Japan Forward reported that Kirk delivered a speech on Sept. 7, 2025, at an event organized by Sanseito, “a political party that emphasizes traditional values, pride in history, and the overreach of globalization.”
“More than 1,200 people attended the Tokyo gathering, where Kirk spoke on education, civic participation, and cooperation among movements critical of globalism,” the outlet said.
Mikey McCoy, Kirk’s chief of staff and right-hand man at Turning Point, who accompanied him on the trip, posted Tuesday on X, “One of my favorite stories from our last night in Tokyo happened just before Charlie was supposed to take the stage. A local pastor pulled him aside and cautioned him about talking too much about Christianity: ‘Japan is not…particularly a Christian country.’”
“So, naturally, one of the first things Charlie did when he walked on stage was proclaim the name of Jesus Christ. He told the crowd how important his faith was to him and made no attempt to water it down,” McCoy recounted.
“And instead of getting upset or walking out, the crowd cheered. That was Charlie. It didn’t matter what country he was in, who was in the audience, or whether proclaiming his faith was considered popular. He was never going to hide the most important part of who he was,” Kirk’s chief of staff concluded.
One of my favorite stories from our last night in Tokyo happened just before Charlie was supposed to take the stage.
A local pastor pulled him aside and cautioned him about talking too much about Christianity. “Japan is not a particularly a Christian country.”
So, naturally,… pic.twitter.com/5zXsDknATz
— Mikey McCoy (@Michael_McCoyy) September 8, 2026
Blake Neff, who co-hosts “The Charlie Kirk Show,” concurred with McCoy’s assessment.
“This was one of Charlie’s greatest moments. Charlie’s original Japan speech draft had no references to Christianity — but Charlie always wanted to be preaching the Gospel, especially where it might be difficult. So just before he went on stage, we talked about the best way to include it, and Charlie executed the ad-lib effortlessly,” Neff wrote on X.
“After speaking about the threats of globalism and mass immigration, Charlie challenged the people of Japan that only by believing in something eternal and transcendent would they be able to save their country,” he continued.
“Even in the most unlikely situation, Charlie’s last public speech included him proclaiming the Gospel. What a tremendous warrior for the faith he was!” Neff said.
Indeed, in a video from the event, Kirk first broached the subject of faith, saying, “I personally believe it was the hand of God that saved America from the forces of evil and darkness from taking over our civilization,” referring to President Donald Trump’s return to office and the Republicans controlling Congress, wresting it from the left-wing wokeness and lunacy seen during the Joe Biden years.
“And for those of you that are involved in this political fight, I can tell you, things might get difficult. You might be called names. There might be protesters. I can tell you in the midst of all of that, having strong family and friends and having a relationship with God is the most important way to sustain a movement like this — and for me personally, that looks like…my personal relationship with Jesus Christ.”
As I chronicle in my book, “We Hold These Truths: The Two Beliefs That Still Hold the Power to Transform the Nation and the World,” Kirk said just months before he died, “If I’m to be known for anything, I want to be known for being courageous for my faith.”
He launched Turning Point Faith to promote belief in Jesus Christ among America’s youth and the population in general.
Speaking at a Freedom Night sponsored by Turning Point Faith at Dream City in Phoenix, Arizona, in February 2025, Kirk talked about the Declaration of Independence and the beliefs underpinning the founders’ decision to form the fledgling nation under the Constitution.
That night, Kirk quoted John Adams, who famously wrote in a 1798 letter while serving as president, “The Constitution was only written for a moral and religious people. It was wholly inadequate for the people of any other.”
Kirk observed, “The body politic of America was so Christian, so Protestant, that our form and structure of government was built for people who believed in Christ, our Lord. One of the reasons we’re living through a constitutional crisis is that we no longer have a Christian nation, but we have a Christian form of government, and they are incompatible. You cannot have liberty if you do not have a Christian population.”
So Charlie’s counsel to Japanese conservatives was the same as he gave in America: The true source of liberty is Jesus Christ.
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