"You are the salt of the earth . . . You are the light of this world . . . let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven." —Jesus from Matthew 5:13, "Sermon on the Mount."
Beginning the Friday night before last and continuing through to a Sunday Morning Worship, breakfast and a speaker, North Carolina’s Faith and Freedom Coalition held their eighth annual Salt and Light Conference in the rural area of Marion, North Carolina.
At the spacious and comfortable Nebo Crossing Church, this christian-conservative-spiritual gathering offered something for everyone.
Gospel music filled the air as those with Jesus in their heart moseyed through the aisles of exhibit booths offering all manner of life-improving and soul-billowing books, clubs to join, T-shirts and other products and services with a strong connection to God and his son.
The timing of this weekend's semi-revival was significant and there wasn't a person there, this writer believes, who hadn't shed a tear for Charlie Kirk and his young family.
In fact, most were still reeling.
So, it was in this place and thousands of other places in America like it, that Christians came to be reminded or converted or just simply to honor Kirk, God and Jesus.
It was akin to divine therapy, allowing us all to try and figure out where we go next.
If it's not with Jesus taking us off the earth and upward.
The North Carolina Faith and Freedom Coalition, founded by Ralph Reed, puts on an event that boxes way above its weight for a small town in North Carolina.
The speakers were extraordinary.
There was Rachel Campos-Duffy, the sparking Catholic hostess of "Fox & Friends Weekend," a show that lifts up its weekend morning viewers.
Campos-Duffy is married to President Trump’s Secretary of Transportation and former Congressman Sean Duffy.
Together they have nine children. Rachel Duffy is truly one of my favorite Fox News’ personalities. She positively beams when discussing her kids and her youngest special-needs daughter, Valentina.
Her commentary on family, the love of children and her faith in God is in perfect Holy lockstep with what Charlie Kirk stood for and promoted to America's youth.
There were few speakers who didn’t mention our loss of Charlie and that's as it should be.
Pastor John Amanchukwu, a big, burly, bearded hulk, who in a sanctified way strikes absolute terror into school boards across the country, gave a rousing talk about the importance of "storming the cockpit" of our public schools.
Pastor Amanchukwu is devoted to saving our children from certain desecration by sinister boards, supervisors, teachers, librarians and guidance counselors.
You can't imagine the unholy fear in the eyes of the Democratic-leftists in these schools, as he rises to read from the disgusting books they're reading to third-graders.
Of course, they inform him he "cannot use that vulgar language at the school board meeting," at which point he bellows, "You don’t want me to read here, the books you're reading to our young children!!"
To say that this strong Black American conservative emissary of the Lord rips asunder their woke narrative is an great understatement.
Additionally, the pastors speaking, giving sermons at the conference were the highlight of the event.
There was a real, fast-moving Southern Baptist fire and brimstone type address from Pastor Cameron McGill.
There was an incredibly moving, thundering sermon from Bishop E.W. Jackson, Sr. a former Marine, Harvard-educated attorney and ordained minister that I first saw at Salt and Light in 2023, while he was running for president.
He's consistently enjoyable, stirring, and puts the fear of God into audiences.
There were Pastors Tyler Gaulden, Bob Ritter, Neal Jackson and North Carolina Faith and Freedom Ambassador Dr. Paul Brintley, who all created an air of the Holy Spirit touching every shoulder in the large auditorium.
Reverend Lorenzo Sewell was a notable speaker after his super-charged invocation at the Trump inauguration.
Those who missed that on television got a different but still radical talk about the Lord and his many mysteries.
Former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson wrapped up the enlightening, exhilarating, and electrifying program with his perfectly timed calm and even paced style of speaking, whil sharing numerous examples of the hand of God's omnipresence in his life-saving surgeries as America's renowned pediatric neurosurgeon.
Dr. Carson gave at least three detailed examples of his turning to the Lord for guidance in his scrubs, begging for a way out of no way.
And God rarely let him down . . . or the child he was trying to save. Dr. Carson was as always, awe-inspiring.
I left this marvelous event exhausted but somehow energized for the fight, the modern-day Holy War that we face together.
Charlie knew it.
President Trump knows it and perhaps most of all, American Christians feel it in our bones and we won't be thrown to the lions.
As I walked out the door, the Bible phrase that has been running through my mind for years now came back again. Were we born "for such a time as this"?
I'm convinced we were.
" . . . Who knows if you haven’t come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"
—Book of Esther 4:14-4:17
Bill Robinson has appeared on EpochTV, NewsmaxTV, Fox News, CNN, PBS, Bloomberg, BBC and had his own segment on SKY News. For seven years, he was the only Conservative columnist for the insufferably Liberal Huffington Post. He has written columns and articles for Newsmax, The Epoch Times, The Wall Street Journal Europe, Forbes.com, Fortune Small Business, The Financial Times, The Moscow Times, United Airline's Hemispheres Magazine and many others. Read more of Bill Robinson's reports — here.