A Call to Reject Outrage & to Embrace the Cross

The headline flashes across your phone—Charlie Kirk has been assassinated. Some are horrified. Others are cracking jokes online. And most just keep scrolling as if it’s normal.

It isn’t normal. It’s evidence of how far we’ve drifted into a culture where violence is entertainment and outrage is currency.

Whether you admired Charlie Kirk, disagreed with him, or barely knew who he was, this is not about politics. 

Hey Buck Creek Church, this is me, Pastor Chris, processing both what happened last week and the feelings stirred up in the hearts of you, my people. This post is about how Christians respond to violence and outrage in a way that reflects Jesus.

As believers we know every human life is stamped with the image of God (Gen. 1:27). Handmade by Him, in His image and likeness. He breathes His breath into our lungs. To cheer when a person is destroyed—even an enemy—is to cheer the defacing of God’s image. That’s not strength; it’s sin.

Jesus rebuked even the thought of vengeance: “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Matt. 26:52). Violence is not proof of strong ideas; it’s proof of weak ones. Strong ideas can withstand open debate.

The Outrage Machine

Why do so many seem to revel in outrage? Follow the money: outrage sells.

Media outlets and social platforms aren’t neutral. They amplify the loudest, angriest voices because anger gets clicks. That’s why I call them The Outrage Machine. Algorithms isolate us into echo chambers, feeding us only what hardens our biases and sharpens our contempt.

Here’s the chilling part: The Outrage Machine doesn’t actually care who “wins” or “loses.” It only cares that we stay outraged. Division is the product. Outrage is the commodity.

But Scripture tells us, ‘the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God’ (James 1:20). That means outrage can’t make you holy—it only hardens your heart.

Follow the money. 

Darkness has dressed itself up as a business plan, where hatred is monetized and human souls become revenue streams.

This isn’t just unhealthy—it’s demonic. Spiritual warfare is taking place, and we participate when we feed our addiction to The Outrage Machine.

This is not accidental. It’s a system designed to keep us divided, distracted, and suspicious because it makes people money. And why does the enemy love this route? Because a divided people are easier to control.

The Magic Trick

We’re told the real battle is “left versus right.” That’s the magician’s trick. Grab the most outrageous caricature of one side, hold it up as typical, and then demonize everyone who wears that label.

But the truth is ordinary people—across political lines—want much the same things: safety, stability, fairness. They want their family to be happy, healthy, and whole. To enjoy meaningful work. To live out their convictions without fear of violent retribution.

The Outrage Machine wants us to think of other people as our enemies.

But Scripture says our real enemy isn’t flesh and blood. It’s the spiritual forces that thrive on division (Eph. 6:12). Our true enemy spreads darkness—and darkness can’t survive the light. So we bring the light of Christ into the world.

The Outrage Machine loves when we demonize our neighbor, because then we’re fighting the wrong battle.

Politics Through the Lens of the Gospel

Christians should view everything through the lens of the Gospel—including politics. We should be involved. The Bible calls us to seek the welfare of the city, to pursue justice, to love our neighbor. Faithful presence in public life matters.

But partisanship? That’s where things get sticky. The elephant and the donkey are both part of The Outrage Machine. They benefit from anger. They profit from division. They want loyalty to the tribe above loyalty to Christ. If you are Team Left you cannot even question anything related to race or sexuality without being labeled hateful. If you are Team Right you cannot question the leader for fear or retribution. 

So before we jump into bed with either the elephant or the donkey, we ought to spend most of our time at the foot of the Lamb. He is the One Who reigns over every nation. His kingdom doesn’t advance by outrage, manipulation, or political violence—but by truth and grace, by light overcoming darkness.

Hot-Button Issues, Cross-Shaped Convictions

Christians can’t afford to be neutral on the big issues of our day—sexuality, immigration, vaccines, race, abortion. Jesus wasn’t neutral on the controversial questions of His time, and neither should we be. 

But our convictions must always be cross-shaped: marked by both truth and love, justice and mercy. 

Take immigration as an example. Here is how I approach that issue: 

Scripture affirms the role of government to enforce borders and uphold laws, while also calling God’s people to love the stranger and welcome those who seek to contribute and live peaceably. 

So Christians can affirm the need for order and accountability while still treating every immigrant as a neighbor made in the image of God. If you are here illegally and don’t want to obey our laws, the government can and will remove you. If you want to contribute to our nation, we should work for pathways to full citizenship.

Do you disagree with me? I’m sure some do. People of good conscience will arrive at different solutions. The elephant would call my position weak. The donkey would call my position hateful. I’m much more concerned what the Lamb thinks. 

That’s one example of approaching a hot-button issue with cross-shaped convictions. This is what it looks like to stand with Jesus in a pluralistic society— and especially in our local church: to speak truth with courage, to love with compassion, to work for justice, and to embody a community that gives the world a glimpse of Christ’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

And the same cross-shaped lens can be applied to sexuality, vaccines, race, abortion and everything else.

The Playbook

The Outrage Machine’s playbook is simple:

This isn’t just manipulation. It’s cult formation. Actually, it’s even worse–it’s idolatry. It trains us to worship our tribe instead of God.

A Better Script

Look at Jesus. When violence came for Him, He didn’t strike back—He stretched out His arms in love. He prayed for His executioners. He absorbed hostility so He could ultimately put it to death.

At the cross, God “broke down the dividing wall of hostility” (Eph. 2:14). That means the church should be the one place on earth where enemies sit at the same table, where politics take a back seat to brotherhood, where partisanship is not present and where love runs deeper than outrage.

He drafts us onto His team as agents of reconciliation. As peacemakers. Those aren’t my words. It’s Scripture. 

But we're called to more than just stepping away from The Outrage Machine. We're called to show the world a better way. This is part of our cultural mandate—to reflect God's image not just individually, but collectively, creating cross-shaped culture wherever we are.

This doesn't mean retreating from the world. It means engaging it so differently that people stop and ask, 'What makes them different?' It starts in our own hearts, spreads through our families, takes root in our church, and then moves outward into our community. We're not just avoiding toxic culture—we're creating Kingdom culture.

Choosing Peace in an Age of Violence

So what does peace making look like?

Model a different way of being human. Let your neighbors see marriages that thrive, families that genuinely love each other, and a church that actually cares for its community.

Create spaces of sanity. Your dinner table, your workplace relationships, your neighborhood presence should all be little embassies of the Kingdom.

Refuse to cheer violence. Don’t join in when your “enemies” suffer. They’re still image-bearers.

Cross tribal lines. Build real relationships with people outside your echo chamber.

Speak truth with courage. Peacemaking isn’t appeasement. Name sin and lies, but do it with a heart to heal, not humiliate. Bring light, not heat.

Practice the slow work of love. Reconciliation happens over meals, forgiveness, and patient listening, not hot takes and memes. 

Be a counterculture of sanity. The church should embody a unity that makes no sense apart from Jesus. In Christ, enemies are supernaturally knit into brothers and sisters.

The Call

The world says: pick a side, stay angry, celebrate when your enemies lose.

The cross says: pick up your cross, love your enemies, and follow Jesus.

One multiplies darkness. The other brings light.

Sanity is contagious. If enough of us refuse to play the outrage game, if we reject violence and manipulation, if we see our neighbor as a person rather than a category, The Outrage Machine loses its power.

The breach is here. Division is the strategy. Outrage is the drug. But the cross of Jesus Christ is still the cure.

Choose Your Teacher

You are being discipled—either by The Outrage Machine or by Jesus. One feeds your anger; the other restores your soul. 

You can't sit in both classrooms.

If The Outrage Machine has its hooks in you, unplug it. Delete the apps. Turn off the TV. Not because you're hiding from the world, but because you're waking up to the One Who has already overcome it.

For a lot of us, that probably means turning off The Outrage Machine altogether. If you're over 60, you probably have cable news on more than a few minutes a day. Turn it off. Maybe for a season. Maybe forever. If you're younger, you probably spend hours scrolling on your phone. Delete the apps. Maybe for a season. Maybe forever.

The Outrage Machine disciples us in anger and fear. Jesus disciples us in love and peace. Choose your classroom carefully.

Where Change Really Begins

What can you and I really do about the evil in the world? That's a massive task—one far above our pay grade. There's only one Savior of the world, and He's already seated on His throne, working through broken people like you and me.

Yes, we have a role to play. But we begin not by fixing "the system" out there, but by killing the evil in our own hearts. 

Jesus has already saved us from the penalty of sin. One day He will return and save us even from the presence of sin. But right now, every single day, He is saving us from the power of sin. We are no longer slaves. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we can choose to follow Jesus today. Every day. 

That means we don't have to hook our wagons to The Outrage Machine. Jesus invites us to hitch our wagons to Him. That happens by faith—believing the truth and then acting out of the overflow of that truth.

Anchor yourself where the grace of God flows: gather with His people, open His Word, pray, serve, worship. Do the good stuff that pulls you deeper into Christ and cuts out the poison that numbs your heart and fuels your outrage.

Because only at the foot of the Lamb do we find the sanity, unity, and peace this world cannot manufacture.

A Different Response

The world says: pick a side, stay angry, celebrate when your enemies lose. The cross says: pick up your cross, love your enemies, and follow Jesus. 

One multiplies darkness. The other brings light.

So the next time that headline flashes across your phone—whether it's about Charlie Kirk, or someone else, or some other tragedy that gets weaponized for outrage—you'll have a choice to make:

Will you join the mob that cheers? Will you scroll past with indifference? Will you share the hot take that gets the most likes?

Or will you remember that behind every headline is an image-bearer? Will you pause and pray instead of posting? Will you resist the urge to turn someone's pain into your political point?

The Outrage Machine will keep churning out its product. The algorithms will keep feeding us anger. The headlines will keep flashing.

But you don't have to take the bait.

You can choose to see your neighbor—even your political enemy—as someone Jesus loves enough to die for. 

You can choose the slow work of love over the quick hit of outrage. 

You can choose to build bridges in your own community rather than burn them down online.

This is what it looks like to follow Jesus in an age of violence. 

Not retreating from the world, but engaging it differently. 

Not avoiding the hard conversations, but having them with grace. 

Not ignoring injustice, but pursuing it without hatred.

The next headline is coming. The next outrage cycle is already being manufactured.

But the cross of Jesus Christ is still the cure. And you get to be part of that healing, one conversation at a time, one relationship at a time, one choice at a time.

Choose wisely.