A statement from Center for Christian Virtue President Aaron Baer

Dear friend,

Ecclesiastes tells us there’s a season for every matter under the sun. After the assassination attempt on former President Trump, I can’t tell whether this is a season of mourning or anger.

Or maybe both.

I’m in mourning because I had to explain to my daughters why someone would try to kill our former and potential future president.

I mourn because two other daughters lost their father, a public servant and brother in Christ, Corey Comperatore. 

And we mourn because our nation has received another eternal scar, having failed to live up to our founder’s vision of a nation that peaceably resolves our political differences through elections, not violence.

But I’m also incredibly angry. It’s why I’m writing this message to you days after the shooting, to not let my anger get the best of me in this moment.

I’m angry at the legacy press who has stoked political fear and anger for clicks and headlines.

I’m mad at the left, which has used hysterical rhetoric, comparing the former president to Hitler, or calling groups like Center for Christian Virtue “Hate Groups” — and who then try to point fingers when something like this happens. 

I’m mad at the failures of our Secret Service that allowed the gunman to be in position to kill President Trump, and unleash chaos in our nation.   

Based on the texts and conversations I’ve had since Saturday, I think you may be having a similar reaction to mine. As I’ve been praying through this incident, I have thought, too, that maybe it’s a season of gratitude.

Gratitude for the mercy of God, that but for a slight head turn, President Trump would have been murdered.

Gratitude for those members of the Secret Service that dove on the President, risking their own lives.

And grateful that despite this great evil, our elections are moving forward, unimpeded.

It’s hard to know exactly how to react when something so severe takes place. It feels like the world is shifting beneath our feet, and we need to hold on to something sturdy, something permanent, something unchanging in times like this.

So I turn to God’s word for wisdom, and I hope you’ll do the same with me. Here’s a few passages the Holy Spirit has put on my heart over the last few days:

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
Matthew 5:9

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8-9

“Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.”
Psalm 37:8

“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger”
James 1:9

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
Romans 8:18

If you have passages that the Lord has spoken to you, please share them with me. We’ll continue to pray through God’s word to seek his peace, wisdom and strength for the work ahead.

Hold fast, brothers and sisters. Our nation has endured these stories before, and we will again. We cannot control what others do. But as the Church, we can walk in path of Jesus, forsaking our flesh, supporting one another, and putting on Christ.

Marching on for the Kingdom,

Aaron Baer
President
Center for Christian Virtue