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Stop, in the Name of God: Why Honoring the Sabbath Will Transform Your Life
Stop, in the Name of God: Why Honoring the Sabbath Will Transform Your Life will help you discover how observing the Sabbath isn't a rejection of modern life but a rebellion against busyness and a pathway to genuine connection, peace, and presence. Through Stop in the Name of God, bestselling author Charlie Kirk guides you on how to unplug, recharge, and reconnect with God, family, and yourself in a way that nurtures your soul. In a world dominated by screens and constant noise, Stop in the Name of God presents the Sabbath as a radical act of resistance. Packed with practical insights and spiritual wisdom, Charlie Kirk demonstrates how honoring the Sabbath restores balance, reduces anxiety, and nourishes your soul. It's not just a day of rest-it's a lifeline to reclaiming what truly matters.
267 pages, Hardcover
First published December 9, 2025
715 people are currently reading
4538 people want to read
About the author
Charlie Kirk
14 books820 followersCharlie Kirk was the Founder and President of Turning Point USA, a national student movement dedicated to identifying, organizing, and empowering young people to promote the principles of free markets and limited government.
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September 13, 2025RIP Charlie Kirk
My prayer is that when I die, all of hell rejoices that I am out of the fight. C.S.Lewis.
My prayer is that when I die, all of hell rejoices that I am out of the fight. C.S.Lewis.
December 11, 2025
He stood unshaken, a voice in the storm
A man of conviction, a heart reborn
He spoke the truth when the cost was high
He lived for Jesus, unafraid to die
We are Charlie Kirk, we carry the flame
We'll fight for the Gospel, we'll honor his name
We are Charlie Kirk, his courage, our own
Together unbroken, we'll make Heaven known
A husband, a father, his family held near
A home built on scripture, on faith, without fear
The world tried to silence but his voice remains
In us, it echoes, in Christ, it sustains
We are Charlie Kirk, we carry the flame
We'll fight for the Gospel, we'll honor his name
We are Charlie Kirk, his courage, our own
Together unbroken, we'll make Heaven known
The battle is raging, the darkness will fall
We rise with his spirit, we answer the call
The truth is eternal, the cross is our guide
With God as our captain, we march side by side
We are Charlie Kirk, we carry the flame
We'll fight for the Gospel, we'll honor his name
We are Charlie Kirk, his courage, our own
Together unbroken, we'll make Heaven known
We are Charlie Kirk
Forever alive
We are Charlie Kirk
With God, we will rise
A man of conviction, a heart reborn
He spoke the truth when the cost was high
He lived for Jesus, unafraid to die
We are Charlie Kirk, we carry the flame
We'll fight for the Gospel, we'll honor his name
We are Charlie Kirk, his courage, our own
Together unbroken, we'll make Heaven known
A husband, a father, his family held near
A home built on scripture, on faith, without fear
The world tried to silence but his voice remains
In us, it echoes, in Christ, it sustains
We are Charlie Kirk, we carry the flame
We'll fight for the Gospel, we'll honor his name
We are Charlie Kirk, his courage, our own
Together unbroken, we'll make Heaven known
The battle is raging, the darkness will fall
We rise with his spirit, we answer the call
The truth is eternal, the cross is our guide
With God as our captain, we march side by side
We are Charlie Kirk, we carry the flame
We'll fight for the Gospel, we'll honor his name
We are Charlie Kirk, his courage, our own
Together unbroken, we'll make Heaven known
We are Charlie Kirk
Forever alive
We are Charlie Kirk
With God, we will rise
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 10, 2025
I have kept the Sabbath for years... but this book brings me to a new level of intimacy with our Creator. Thank you, God for inspiring Charlie to write this book in Your timing and with Your great grace. May it touch the hearts of those who are yearning to come closer to Your life and Your light.
November 20, 2025
I began personally observing the Sabbath rest several weeks before Charlie was assassinated.
In my desire to learn more about what he stood for, I looked into any books he had published, and coincidentally (I don't believe in coincidences) this book stood out to me as a guide to something I was seeking God's wisdom and leading on.
It was a great wake up call and a great encouragement. Sabbath rest is one of the Big Ten, a clear command from God to honor the sabbath day every week and keep it holy, which means set apart from the rest of the week. In the hustle culture of social media and the American world around us, rest is something to mock, something to be ashamed of.
Charlie challenges that perspectives and helps shine a light on the freedom we gain when we are in line with God's commandments, and how richly we can live our lives when we seek God's design in our lives. I would like to read this book at least once a year to continue to embrace slowing down and practically holding myself accountable.
Highly recommend this read to any Christian who is curious about a modern explanation on what could be seen as an outdated tradition. We need it now more than ever.
In my desire to learn more about what he stood for, I looked into any books he had published, and coincidentally (I don't believe in coincidences) this book stood out to me as a guide to something I was seeking God's wisdom and leading on.
It was a great wake up call and a great encouragement. Sabbath rest is one of the Big Ten, a clear command from God to honor the sabbath day every week and keep it holy, which means set apart from the rest of the week. In the hustle culture of social media and the American world around us, rest is something to mock, something to be ashamed of.
Charlie challenges that perspectives and helps shine a light on the freedom we gain when we are in line with God's commandments, and how richly we can live our lives when we seek God's design in our lives. I would like to read this book at least once a year to continue to embrace slowing down and practically holding myself accountable.
Highly recommend this read to any Christian who is curious about a modern explanation on what could be seen as an outdated tradition. We need it now more than ever.
Read
December 16, 2025One of this year’s hottest books comes trailing clouds of sorrow.
On Sept. 10, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot dead while speaking at Utah Valley University. This week, his final book, “Stop, in the Name of God,” was released by Winning Team, the publishing house co-founded by Donald Trump Jr.
Despite a reported first printing of 200,000, the book was almost immediately out of stock on Amazon, where it was the No. 1 bestseller for several days.
Given the politically aggressive nature of Kirk’s work, even alongside his frequent invocations of Christian faith, “Stop” — subtitled “Why Honoring the Sabbath Will Transform Your Life” — often feels composed in a different register. “The following pages,” he says at one point, “are not written from a mountaintop of certainty, but from a well-worn path of seeking.”
Indeed, much of this posthumously published book is committed to theological arguments, devotional reflections and practical advice on reclaiming the Sabbath to restore spiritual balance in a culture overstimulated by technology and consumerism. Throughout, he expresses heartfelt admiration for Hebrew scripture and Jewish tradition. Christians eager to consider whether Jesus Christ’s new covenant means they’re bound to Sabbath observance will find here chapter and verse.
Although I have no sympathy for the political agenda Kirk espoused, as an overworked, chronically distracted person of faith who rarely enjoys a holy day of rest, I’m inspired by his book’s admonition to take the Fourth Commandment seriously.
But “Stop” is also a strange, uneven volume that sometimes gets lost in the wilderness.
In chapter 1, we read: “Growing up, atheism was fashionable,” which makes me pine for a photo of toddler atheism in chic short pants. And the book is padded with numbing repetition, including verbatim redundancies that spark a disorienting sense of deja vu. On p. 70, for instance, Kirk writes, “Historian Daniel Boorstin observed, ‘In no other civilization has a day of rest been so deeply institutionalized,” and on the next page he tells us, “Historian Daniel Boorstin observed that in no other civilization had a day of rest been so deeply institutionalized.”
Better copyediting could have corrected those flaws, but Kirk’s prose is more deeply marred by a rhetorical strategy that poses as clarifying but soon feels like a tic. Again and again, he claims that something is not this, it’s that:
• “The Sabbath is not primarily a legal command — it is a cosmic declaration.”
• “Genesis 1:1 is not just an origin story — it is the first step in a divine arc.”
• “These are not just buildings; they are theological statements.”
Leaning so heavily on this binary frame suggests the central weakness of Kirk’s approach: his substitution of stylistic flourish for nuanced argument. That habit becomes particularly troublesome when he attempts to prove the divine origin of the Sabbath or to disprove the possibility of morality without God.
In an effort to sound supremely confident — “Millions follow me for clarity on the great and most pressing issues of our time” — Kirk sounds merely out of his depth. His grasp of world history and religious history is spotty; his philosophical analysis displays the rigor of a late-night bull session after the pizza has grown cold. False choices, straw man arguments, cosmic leaps — it’s a Macy’s parade of inflated fallacies. When he speaks from the heart about the blessings of setting aside a day every week, he can be genuinely moving; when he tries to make a case for Intelligent Design, he should be moving on.
In a book about the importance of periodically withdrawing from the cycle of getting and spending, it’s no surprise to find....
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post's free email newsletter, The Book Club:
https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw...
On Sept. 10, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot dead while speaking at Utah Valley University. This week, his final book, “Stop, in the Name of God,” was released by Winning Team, the publishing house co-founded by Donald Trump Jr.
Despite a reported first printing of 200,000, the book was almost immediately out of stock on Amazon, where it was the No. 1 bestseller for several days.
Given the politically aggressive nature of Kirk’s work, even alongside his frequent invocations of Christian faith, “Stop” — subtitled “Why Honoring the Sabbath Will Transform Your Life” — often feels composed in a different register. “The following pages,” he says at one point, “are not written from a mountaintop of certainty, but from a well-worn path of seeking.”
Indeed, much of this posthumously published book is committed to theological arguments, devotional reflections and practical advice on reclaiming the Sabbath to restore spiritual balance in a culture overstimulated by technology and consumerism. Throughout, he expresses heartfelt admiration for Hebrew scripture and Jewish tradition. Christians eager to consider whether Jesus Christ’s new covenant means they’re bound to Sabbath observance will find here chapter and verse.
Although I have no sympathy for the political agenda Kirk espoused, as an overworked, chronically distracted person of faith who rarely enjoys a holy day of rest, I’m inspired by his book’s admonition to take the Fourth Commandment seriously.
But “Stop” is also a strange, uneven volume that sometimes gets lost in the wilderness.
In chapter 1, we read: “Growing up, atheism was fashionable,” which makes me pine for a photo of toddler atheism in chic short pants. And the book is padded with numbing repetition, including verbatim redundancies that spark a disorienting sense of deja vu. On p. 70, for instance, Kirk writes, “Historian Daniel Boorstin observed, ‘In no other civilization has a day of rest been so deeply institutionalized,” and on the next page he tells us, “Historian Daniel Boorstin observed that in no other civilization had a day of rest been so deeply institutionalized.”
Better copyediting could have corrected those flaws, but Kirk’s prose is more deeply marred by a rhetorical strategy that poses as clarifying but soon feels like a tic. Again and again, he claims that something is not this, it’s that:
• “The Sabbath is not primarily a legal command — it is a cosmic declaration.”
• “Genesis 1:1 is not just an origin story — it is the first step in a divine arc.”
• “These are not just buildings; they are theological statements.”
Leaning so heavily on this binary frame suggests the central weakness of Kirk’s approach: his substitution of stylistic flourish for nuanced argument. That habit becomes particularly troublesome when he attempts to prove the divine origin of the Sabbath or to disprove the possibility of morality without God.
In an effort to sound supremely confident — “Millions follow me for clarity on the great and most pressing issues of our time” — Kirk sounds merely out of his depth. His grasp of world history and religious history is spotty; his philosophical analysis displays the rigor of a late-night bull session after the pizza has grown cold. False choices, straw man arguments, cosmic leaps — it’s a Macy’s parade of inflated fallacies. When he speaks from the heart about the blessings of setting aside a day every week, he can be genuinely moving; when he tries to make a case for Intelligent Design, he should be moving on.
In a book about the importance of periodically withdrawing from the cycle of getting and spending, it’s no surprise to find....
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post's free email newsletter, The Book Club:
https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw...
December 28, 2025
Not helpful
December 21, 2025
Could not put this down. Convicting and full of truth. Charlie’s final words did not disappoint
December 29, 2025
Charlie Kirk complains (as he was one to do) that church attendance and identification with a church has gone down. He proposes a return to the Sabbath with the exhortation of a self-help book promising any number of positive changes including weight loss. (118)
He attributes this decline to the same list of causes that everyone else complaining about religious practice has ever noted: Modernity! “Our modern gods are autonomy, affirmation, and endless choice.” (P.3) I actually believe there is something to this but not in the way Charlie wrote.
For almost the past half century the mainstream political position of both major political parties and the entire Western world has been neoliberalism. In Margaret Thatcher’s words:
“there are individual men and women and there are families and no government can do anything except through people and people look to themselves first.”
Contrary to Charlie’s assertions over the years of “Woke,” or “Marxism,” or “socialism” the neoliberalism espoused by Margaret Thatcher is all there is.
One of the enduring ironies of today’s far-right is that they got nearly everything they wanted… except! in largely dismantling the state to its most minimal function of protecting private property they expected that organized churches would step into the vacuum and take over those social services vacated by governments. Instead what happened is that religion has been commodified as well. “Autonomy, affirmation, and endless choice…” the Market couldn’t guarantee eternal life at the Lord’s table but it can give you everything you’d never want in ‘Cool Ranch flavor.’ Joel Osteen and Kenneth Copeland were just savvy and fused the two.
It never gets old seeing the far-right flabbergasted that The Market doesn’t mark the Sabbath and keep it holy.
I wouldn’t necessarily consider neoliberalism the sole reason for the decline of church attendance and I do have another theory.
On April 9th, 2022 a man named Jonathan Neo of Singapore posted an instagram video of himself hijacking a plane. No, he didn’t have a bomb-that would have only been too merciful. Instead, he whipped out a guitar and began singing Christian hymns while his hostages-er-audience looked away or plugged their ears. The same group had previously spent some time singing to Ukrainian refugees (another moment he was sure to record and post).
When I saw this for the first time I got to thinking that being in the United States right now is a little like being trapped at 30,000 feet with that proselytizing douchebag and his guitar.
Every year beginning around Thanksgiving the Right Wing Outrage Machine sounds out the battle lines in an ongoing “War on Christmas.” The bugle is then taken up in statehouses, by newspapers, and television networks. Every year it is said, defeat is imminent. “Merry Christmas,” has been banned. Socialists such as myself are on rooftops with Santa Claus in our rifle scopes.
Every time Disney releases a new movie this same Outrage Machine will scour the movie frame by frame for something with which to find offence to their faith.
School bus backup lights actually have Luciferian symbols in them.
Jews are putting the blood of Christian children into fast food.
Earthquakes are God’s displeasure after Charlie’s assassination.
Hurricanes are because of gay marriage.
John Cena was performing a satanic ritual.
The Olympic Games are mocking Christianity.
And so it goes.
This might all be overlooked as merely obnoxious were it not for the fact that these same people are writing, enforcing, and interpreting laws in their favor.
The reason I mention all of these examples is that since Christianity has not gone anywhere and is instead more prominent and influential in our public life than it has likely ever been (there is now a White House Faith Office a successor to a Bush II era creation) I attribute a decline in church identification and religion to most Americans being sick of the never-ending Culture War bullshit espoused by self-proclaimed Christians the late-Charlie Kirk included. No amount of Bible study or Sabbath honoring by everyone else is going to erase the fact that the Grindr app goes down when evangelicals meet en masse to oppose the right to women’s suffrage.
I am not an opponent of Christianity by any means-I am a Lutheran and a member of a church but, a central part of these mainline Protestant churches that I like and also believe should be more prevalent is ‘Shutting up about it.’ I don’t believe that bragging out loud about honoring the Sabbath glorifies God when these days prayer is the last refuge of the scoundrel.
He attributes this decline to the same list of causes that everyone else complaining about religious practice has ever noted: Modernity! “Our modern gods are autonomy, affirmation, and endless choice.” (P.3) I actually believe there is something to this but not in the way Charlie wrote.
For almost the past half century the mainstream political position of both major political parties and the entire Western world has been neoliberalism. In Margaret Thatcher’s words:
“there are individual men and women and there are families and no government can do anything except through people and people look to themselves first.”
Contrary to Charlie’s assertions over the years of “Woke,” or “Marxism,” or “socialism” the neoliberalism espoused by Margaret Thatcher is all there is.
One of the enduring ironies of today’s far-right is that they got nearly everything they wanted… except! in largely dismantling the state to its most minimal function of protecting private property they expected that organized churches would step into the vacuum and take over those social services vacated by governments. Instead what happened is that religion has been commodified as well. “Autonomy, affirmation, and endless choice…” the Market couldn’t guarantee eternal life at the Lord’s table but it can give you everything you’d never want in ‘Cool Ranch flavor.’ Joel Osteen and Kenneth Copeland were just savvy and fused the two.
It never gets old seeing the far-right flabbergasted that The Market doesn’t mark the Sabbath and keep it holy.
I wouldn’t necessarily consider neoliberalism the sole reason for the decline of church attendance and I do have another theory.
On April 9th, 2022 a man named Jonathan Neo of Singapore posted an instagram video of himself hijacking a plane. No, he didn’t have a bomb-that would have only been too merciful. Instead, he whipped out a guitar and began singing Christian hymns while his hostages-er-audience looked away or plugged their ears. The same group had previously spent some time singing to Ukrainian refugees (another moment he was sure to record and post).
When I saw this for the first time I got to thinking that being in the United States right now is a little like being trapped at 30,000 feet with that proselytizing douchebag and his guitar.
Every year beginning around Thanksgiving the Right Wing Outrage Machine sounds out the battle lines in an ongoing “War on Christmas.” The bugle is then taken up in statehouses, by newspapers, and television networks. Every year it is said, defeat is imminent. “Merry Christmas,” has been banned. Socialists such as myself are on rooftops with Santa Claus in our rifle scopes.
Every time Disney releases a new movie this same Outrage Machine will scour the movie frame by frame for something with which to find offence to their faith.
School bus backup lights actually have Luciferian symbols in them.
Jews are putting the blood of Christian children into fast food.
Earthquakes are God’s displeasure after Charlie’s assassination.
Hurricanes are because of gay marriage.
John Cena was performing a satanic ritual.
The Olympic Games are mocking Christianity.
And so it goes.
This might all be overlooked as merely obnoxious were it not for the fact that these same people are writing, enforcing, and interpreting laws in their favor.
The reason I mention all of these examples is that since Christianity has not gone anywhere and is instead more prominent and influential in our public life than it has likely ever been (there is now a White House Faith Office a successor to a Bush II era creation) I attribute a decline in church identification and religion to most Americans being sick of the never-ending Culture War bullshit espoused by self-proclaimed Christians the late-Charlie Kirk included. No amount of Bible study or Sabbath honoring by everyone else is going to erase the fact that the Grindr app goes down when evangelicals meet en masse to oppose the right to women’s suffrage.
I am not an opponent of Christianity by any means-I am a Lutheran and a member of a church but, a central part of these mainline Protestant churches that I like and also believe should be more prevalent is ‘Shutting up about it.’ I don’t believe that bragging out loud about honoring the Sabbath glorifies God when these days prayer is the last refuge of the scoundrel.
December 20, 2025
“How can it be that in an age of abundance, our youth feel more worthless than ever? It is because material progress cannot fill a spiritual void. We have given them everything except the one thing they were made for: meaning. When a culture denies its Creator, it also denies its children the ability to know who they are, why they exist, and what they are worth. The result is not liberation—it is devastation. We have everything to live with but nothing to live for.”
“The Sabbath is not a cultural artifact. It is a covenantal gift. It was not man’s idea, but God’s. It is not rooted in utility, but in revelation. And as long as there are people weary of the world’s pace, there will be a remnant who hear its call. The real question, then, is not whether the Sabbath will survive. It will. The question is whether we will remember. Whether we will reclaim what was given—not as a rule to restrict us, but as a mercy to restore us. Whether we will trust that our worth is not measured in output, but in being known by God. Whether we will dare to stop—not as an act of laziness, but as an act of rebellion against the cult of ceaseless striving. To keep the Sabbath in an age of frenzy is to declare this with your body and your time: I am not my own. I am not a machine. I will rest, because God rested. I will remember, because He remembered me. Let the world race on. But as for me and my house—we will stop.”
An absolutely beautiful and increasingly important book.
“The Sabbath is not a cultural artifact. It is a covenantal gift. It was not man’s idea, but God’s. It is not rooted in utility, but in revelation. And as long as there are people weary of the world’s pace, there will be a remnant who hear its call. The real question, then, is not whether the Sabbath will survive. It will. The question is whether we will remember. Whether we will reclaim what was given—not as a rule to restrict us, but as a mercy to restore us. Whether we will trust that our worth is not measured in output, but in being known by God. Whether we will dare to stop—not as an act of laziness, but as an act of rebellion against the cult of ceaseless striving. To keep the Sabbath in an age of frenzy is to declare this with your body and your time: I am not my own. I am not a machine. I will rest, because God rested. I will remember, because He remembered me. Let the world race on. But as for me and my house—we will stop.”
An absolutely beautiful and increasingly important book.
December 24, 2025
Charlie is a smart Godly man. At times his intellect was way over my head but for the most part he really got me thinking that I need to honor a 24 hour Sabbath and unplug. Technology is good but also gets in the way of so many interpersonal situations. I’m gonna give it a try.
October 3, 2025
Interesting, thought provoking
January 10, 2026
This book does a good job at why you should take a good day of rest, real rest. His empirical evidence regarding an improvement of your physical and mental health when taking a day of rest from everything is phenomenal. Stuff like taking a break from tech and spending more time with friends and neighbors in honor of God.
BUT the theological arguments for why (specifically Christians) we should honor the Sabbath feels very flawed and one sided. Granted he does provide two sides to Christians’ ideologies of the Sabbath but the side in favor of honoring the Sabbath feels more put together and thought out than the argument against honoring the Sabbath. There is also sort of an inherent bias to the side in favor of honoring the Sabbath because he had been honoring it before writing this book. One thing i also noticed that sort of detracts from his argument for why Christians specifically should honor the Sabbath was how many Judaic scholars he quoted regarding that topic. Sure Christianity has Jewish roots but what does a Jewish person or Judaic scholar know about the Sabbath in regard to Christianity?
As a Catholic whenever Charlie went about describing the Jewish customs of celebrating the Sabbath, i saw a LOT of parallels between that and the Holy Mass. This just kept making me think “why not just celebrate Mass on Sunday and use that as your day of full spiritual rest” or “why not make this book about becoming Catholic”? I know he wasn’t Catholic but these parallels just make me think that if he were alive today that he would have converted to Catholicism due to how close of a parallel there is (which he would have noticed) between the Sabbath rituals and the Catholic Mass.
On a less theological note, a lot of this book has some repeated wordage to the point where if i saw the same thing i would literally skip it. It also felt like there were a decent bit of conflicting statements that he would make throughout the book, one that comes to mind is that “oh we’re not making this about the law” but then mentions something about the law in support of his argument.
Overall, this book is a good read that diagnoses today’s current digital/hustle culture and its pit falls and provides a good solution for it. I know a lot of people won’t care but it is a little theologically lacking (especially since that is what he seems to make the book about in the first half). I 100% am not saying that people should become Catholic for a solution (maybe a little lol), rather what’s important is that the solution to the mental health epidemic we are seeing among ourselves, is to rest. How you rest is entirely up to you!
BUT the theological arguments for why (specifically Christians) we should honor the Sabbath feels very flawed and one sided. Granted he does provide two sides to Christians’ ideologies of the Sabbath but the side in favor of honoring the Sabbath feels more put together and thought out than the argument against honoring the Sabbath. There is also sort of an inherent bias to the side in favor of honoring the Sabbath because he had been honoring it before writing this book. One thing i also noticed that sort of detracts from his argument for why Christians specifically should honor the Sabbath was how many Judaic scholars he quoted regarding that topic. Sure Christianity has Jewish roots but what does a Jewish person or Judaic scholar know about the Sabbath in regard to Christianity?
As a Catholic whenever Charlie went about describing the Jewish customs of celebrating the Sabbath, i saw a LOT of parallels between that and the Holy Mass. This just kept making me think “why not just celebrate Mass on Sunday and use that as your day of full spiritual rest” or “why not make this book about becoming Catholic”? I know he wasn’t Catholic but these parallels just make me think that if he were alive today that he would have converted to Catholicism due to how close of a parallel there is (which he would have noticed) between the Sabbath rituals and the Catholic Mass.
On a less theological note, a lot of this book has some repeated wordage to the point where if i saw the same thing i would literally skip it. It also felt like there were a decent bit of conflicting statements that he would make throughout the book, one that comes to mind is that “oh we’re not making this about the law” but then mentions something about the law in support of his argument.
Overall, this book is a good read that diagnoses today’s current digital/hustle culture and its pit falls and provides a good solution for it. I know a lot of people won’t care but it is a little theologically lacking (especially since that is what he seems to make the book about in the first half). I 100% am not saying that people should become Catholic for a solution (maybe a little lol), rather what’s important is that the solution to the mental health epidemic we are seeing among ourselves, is to rest. How you rest is entirely up to you!
January 1, 2026
This one hurt. Charlie wrote the way he spoke. You can hear his unmistakable cadence, his crisp delivery and perfect word choices in every sentence. And his message in this last written work is the same one he delivered in person. We are made by God for His glory.
The theme of this book is simple: the sabbath was created for man, not man for the sabbath. It is a rhythm designed to bring you closer to God; to remind you of the spiritual realm: to keep you from falling into the idolatry of endless materialism; to remind you that you are no longer a slave, but free in mind and spirit.
I hope you will buy this book so that it cannot be ignored by bestseller lists. But I also hope you will read it with a sense of grief and sadness, righteous anger and unshakable resolve. Charlie’s assassination has not yet been digested, its impact still to be revealed.
It’s hard to read this book and not hear a lone fiddle in the mist of your mind. “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord…”. Buy it at retail, in hardback. Send a message. And then read it with an open heart. You’ll be glad you did.
The theme of this book is simple: the sabbath was created for man, not man for the sabbath. It is a rhythm designed to bring you closer to God; to remind you of the spiritual realm: to keep you from falling into the idolatry of endless materialism; to remind you that you are no longer a slave, but free in mind and spirit.
I hope you will buy this book so that it cannot be ignored by bestseller lists. But I also hope you will read it with a sense of grief and sadness, righteous anger and unshakable resolve. Charlie’s assassination has not yet been digested, its impact still to be revealed.
It’s hard to read this book and not hear a lone fiddle in the mist of your mind. “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord…”. Buy it at retail, in hardback. Send a message. And then read it with an open heart. You’ll be glad you did.
January 7, 2026
If I could give this book more than 5 stars I would. This book was truly life-changing for me. I make an effort to put my phone away and live in the moment a good amount, but I know I can and should be doing more to disconnect and honor God by spending more time with Him and the beautiful world He has created and with others. I will be making a stronger effort going forward in life and can’t wait to see and feel the peace that brings. Read this book. You will not regret it.
January 7, 2026
The assassination of Charlie Kirk was a disgusting and shocking moment for many last year, myself included. Here was a guy the same age as me, who I’d followed online for a long time, and had similar convictions about the world. His arguments played a big part in bringing me back into contemporary conservative politics and also gave encouragement to my faith—then one day he was gone. Why? What happened? Can we not have civil debate anymore, without trying to kill each other across political and cultural divides? I’m still trying to make sense of it. But one thing’s for sure, it impacted me and gave me increased resolve for attending Mass every Sunday and doubling down on the way I want to live my life: traditionally, conservatively, putting God and my family and my community first, over the manifold distractions of the world.
In that spirit I picked up this latest, and sadly, final, book by Kirk, the topic of which is keeping a weekly Sabbath. Kirk looks at the fourth commandment of the decalogue in the Old Testament, Exodus 20:8-11:
Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
While accepting that Christ in the New Testament started a new covenant, with the early church fathers replacing the Jewish Saturday Sabbath with the weekly worship rhythm of Sunday as the Lord’s Day, being the day that God made the world and the day of Christ’s resurrection, Kirk nevertheless encourages us to embrace the idea of switching off from the demands of the world, from work, from emails and Slack and Microsoft Teams, and also from our smartphones and social media, to have a proper day of rest: a Sabbath. He says, ‘In a world obsessed with doing everything, and obsessed with doing nothing, the Sabbath is God’s ancient, enduring answer’. He explains this understanding helped him take a rest despite his busy life leading two major political campaign organisations in Turning Point USA and Turning Point Action, and raising his young family, and that he would invite friends and relatives for lunch or dinner where they would put their smartphones in a basket by the door and engage in genuine and meaningful interactions without screens. He claims that this made a wonderful difference in his life, with him reporting better health, relationships, and spiritual fulfillment. Well, it all sounds good to me, and if someone as busy as Kirk could do it, I want to try it too.
This book goes deep into the biblical and theological ideas behind the Sabbath, looking at it from the classic Jewish perspective and also from the viewpoints of different Christians of various denominations, but Kirk sometimes loses focus and in the middle section he departs from looking at the Sabbath and how Christians can take a kind of Sabbath today, instead addressing the current political and cultural climate. He rails against the screen-addicted modern generations, who report higher levels of stress and anxiety than previous generations who came before the internet and smartphones. He also addresses the idea that instead of God we are setting up false idols again, like ancient pagans, in the form of self-glorification and vanity on social media, chasing career success and wealth, and losing ourselves in pleasure of various kinds. While I do generally agree and enjoy reading his riffs on the ills of the present day in the West, I think the topic of the book got away from him a little, perhaps deliberately so that he could pad it out. Still, if you do consider yourself to be aligned with Kirk, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it just becomes tangential and a repetition of ideas he often voiced on his radio show and YouTube videos from campus debates.
Overall this is an important read for Christians and I think hearing Kirk’s ideas on this topic that was so personal to him is a great way to commemorate his life. It’s incredibly sad to think this bold, moral voice will never speak again but the 32 years he did live were lived to the full and the young people he inspired will continue to carry out his Turning Point mission of fixing the broken, brainwashed youth. That at least is comforting.
In that spirit I picked up this latest, and sadly, final, book by Kirk, the topic of which is keeping a weekly Sabbath. Kirk looks at the fourth commandment of the decalogue in the Old Testament, Exodus 20:8-11:
Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
While accepting that Christ in the New Testament started a new covenant, with the early church fathers replacing the Jewish Saturday Sabbath with the weekly worship rhythm of Sunday as the Lord’s Day, being the day that God made the world and the day of Christ’s resurrection, Kirk nevertheless encourages us to embrace the idea of switching off from the demands of the world, from work, from emails and Slack and Microsoft Teams, and also from our smartphones and social media, to have a proper day of rest: a Sabbath. He says, ‘In a world obsessed with doing everything, and obsessed with doing nothing, the Sabbath is God’s ancient, enduring answer’. He explains this understanding helped him take a rest despite his busy life leading two major political campaign organisations in Turning Point USA and Turning Point Action, and raising his young family, and that he would invite friends and relatives for lunch or dinner where they would put their smartphones in a basket by the door and engage in genuine and meaningful interactions without screens. He claims that this made a wonderful difference in his life, with him reporting better health, relationships, and spiritual fulfillment. Well, it all sounds good to me, and if someone as busy as Kirk could do it, I want to try it too.
This book goes deep into the biblical and theological ideas behind the Sabbath, looking at it from the classic Jewish perspective and also from the viewpoints of different Christians of various denominations, but Kirk sometimes loses focus and in the middle section he departs from looking at the Sabbath and how Christians can take a kind of Sabbath today, instead addressing the current political and cultural climate. He rails against the screen-addicted modern generations, who report higher levels of stress and anxiety than previous generations who came before the internet and smartphones. He also addresses the idea that instead of God we are setting up false idols again, like ancient pagans, in the form of self-glorification and vanity on social media, chasing career success and wealth, and losing ourselves in pleasure of various kinds. While I do generally agree and enjoy reading his riffs on the ills of the present day in the West, I think the topic of the book got away from him a little, perhaps deliberately so that he could pad it out. Still, if you do consider yourself to be aligned with Kirk, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it just becomes tangential and a repetition of ideas he often voiced on his radio show and YouTube videos from campus debates.
Overall this is an important read for Christians and I think hearing Kirk’s ideas on this topic that was so personal to him is a great way to commemorate his life. It’s incredibly sad to think this bold, moral voice will never speak again but the 32 years he did live were lived to the full and the young people he inspired will continue to carry out his Turning Point mission of fixing the broken, brainwashed youth. That at least is comforting.
January 4, 2026
I've been increasingly interested in Sabbath recently, so I was excited to find a recent book on it written from the Christian perspective.
This book is written for both Christians and non-Christians, as Kirk spends the first few chapters explaining his Christian beliefs and justifying the choice to follow Scripture. If you've been a Christian for a while, you might skim/scan some of these chapters, as a lot of it is info you might already know (I skimmed a few chapters).
What I appreciated most about this book is it isn't just Kirk's opinion on Sabbath. He provided statistics and information on the following:
- Rest from a secular perspective
- Historical/biblical Jewish Sabbath
- Support for Christians honoring Sabbath
- Support for Christians not honoring Sabbath
- Lots of research
- Lots of Bible references
- Personal reflection and anecdotes
For any Christians contemplating Sabbath and the case for/against it, I highly recommend this book.
This book is written for both Christians and non-Christians, as Kirk spends the first few chapters explaining his Christian beliefs and justifying the choice to follow Scripture. If you've been a Christian for a while, you might skim/scan some of these chapters, as a lot of it is info you might already know (I skimmed a few chapters).
What I appreciated most about this book is it isn't just Kirk's opinion on Sabbath. He provided statistics and information on the following:
- Rest from a secular perspective
- Historical/biblical Jewish Sabbath
- Support for Christians honoring Sabbath
- Support for Christians not honoring Sabbath
- Lots of research
- Lots of Bible references
- Personal reflection and anecdotes
For any Christians contemplating Sabbath and the case for/against it, I highly recommend this book.
December 24, 2025
This book by American Hero Charlie Kirk is an amazing study on rest and the effects on our well being. Taking a multifaceted approach, sourcing from religion, science, and philosophy, Kirk shows the physical and mental benefits of religion on humanity. Considering the tumultuous times, this cure is exactly what Americans need right now.
December 23, 2025
We miss you Charlie! This book had many good points. It has left me with a lot of work to do on myself
January 16, 2026
I wanted to love this, especially as Charlie Kirk's last book.
But in the end, I can only acknowledge that while the book made some excellent points, it is largely misguided by a starstruck view of Jewish tradition and Mosaic Law.
Yes, a day of rest is an essential re-orientation of our hearts toward God. Humanity was never made to be measured by output, productivity, and efficiency. We require rest. What is NOT required are the rules, the braided candles, the veto on cooking, electricity, and driving a car. What Charlie terms as "beauty" is a heartbreaking adherence to the ceremonial laws of the Old Covenant when a new and better Covenant has already been purchased and established.
Did Christ or did He not fulfil all aspects of the Law - including ceremonial law - perfectly? So rest on the Lord's Day. Yes, turn off your phone for respite from the chaos. But not because the Jewish culture knows something Christianity doesn't. Not because the Mosaic Law commands it. But as a reminder of our finitude - that Christ is Lord and we are not.
"For Freedom, Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." ~ Galatians 5:1
But in the end, I can only acknowledge that while the book made some excellent points, it is largely misguided by a starstruck view of Jewish tradition and Mosaic Law.
Yes, a day of rest is an essential re-orientation of our hearts toward God. Humanity was never made to be measured by output, productivity, and efficiency. We require rest. What is NOT required are the rules, the braided candles, the veto on cooking, electricity, and driving a car. What Charlie terms as "beauty" is a heartbreaking adherence to the ceremonial laws of the Old Covenant when a new and better Covenant has already been purchased and established.
Did Christ or did He not fulfil all aspects of the Law - including ceremonial law - perfectly? So rest on the Lord's Day. Yes, turn off your phone for respite from the chaos. But not because the Jewish culture knows something Christianity doesn't. Not because the Mosaic Law commands it. But as a reminder of our finitude - that Christ is Lord and we are not.
"For Freedom, Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." ~ Galatians 5:1
January 8, 2026
There is so much beauty in this book. At many moments it gave me pause, even as someone who is already a Sabbath keeper. I’m glad this is Charlie’s last work.
He made great points and was thoughtful. (I do really wish he cited his sources here though!) My only substantial point of disagreement is that I would stand firm in the fact that the Sabbath is the seventh day and he presented it more flexible than I would. With that said, this is a great starting place and I love the heart behind it. This review says nothing of Charlie’s politics, but the heart behind this book. I appreciate it greatly.
He made great points and was thoughtful. (I do really wish he cited his sources here though!) My only substantial point of disagreement is that I would stand firm in the fact that the Sabbath is the seventh day and he presented it more flexible than I would. With that said, this is a great starting place and I love the heart behind it. This review says nothing of Charlie’s politics, but the heart behind this book. I appreciate it greatly.
January 15, 2026
Powerful final book from Charlie Kirk on why honoring the Sabbath is important, especially in our tech-filled world today. Loved the apologetics section, as well as the for/against theological cases for the Sabbath. Lots of great practical ideas for slowing down, detaching from technology and the busy world, and embracing God’s gift of rest. Have already begun putting some of these ideas into practice!
January 4, 2026
"What is a legacy? It's planting seeds in a garden you never get to see."~L-MM
So much wisdom. To hold this book in your hand was like chatting with a friend.
“Those of us who knew him best, talk about him often Sometimes it makes me sad though, him being gone. I have to remind myself that some birds just aren’t meant to stay. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, part of you knows
it was a sin. That the place you live is that much more drab and empty now that he's gone. I guess I just miss my friend.”
Shabbat Shalom Charlie.
So much wisdom. To hold this book in your hand was like chatting with a friend.
“Those of us who knew him best, talk about him often Sometimes it makes me sad though, him being gone. I have to remind myself that some birds just aren’t meant to stay. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, part of you knows
it was a sin. That the place you live is that much more drab and empty now that he's gone. I guess I just miss my friend.”
Shabbat Shalom Charlie.
January 18, 2026
Simply, there is a so much thought provoking content in this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and have a lot to think about.
January 3, 2026
greatly missed here on earth. thankful for his last message.
January 4, 2026
I would categorize this book as “self improvement”. It does have a lot of good information presented. I was expecting a more Biblically based presentation, so it did not measure up to my expectations.
January 22, 2026
Here is my piece on Charlie Kirk's book "Stop In The Name of God" and boy, this one hurt to write about because this book encompasses the devestation behind self-anointed belligerence.
Stop in the Name of God: The Distorted Gospel of Charlie Kirk
Charlie Kirk would have you believe he’s sounding a new revelation—one that returns us to the roots of faith, order, and strength. His latest book, “Stop In The Name of God,” arrives with the fanfare of a modern-day prophecy. But read closely, and the alarms start blaring. This isn’t revelation. It’s a retreat—a retreat into a vision of the past that is as old as monarchy, as blinkered as patriarchy, and as dangerous as any authoritarian strongman’s fantasy.
It’s not that Kirk’s movement is subtle. In fact, the audacity is gobsmacking. He wraps himself in the language of Christ, invoking the crown and cross, but what’s inside is a Trojan horse. Strip away the pious rhetoric and what remains is the age-old playbook of the charismatic strongman: glorify the leader, demonize the vulnerable, and promise salvation through obedience. Kirk’s message to his followers isn’t to find the divine in their own humanity, or to honor the suffering of others, but to sidestep it, ignore it, and—if possible—blame it on those who suffer.
The book reads less like an epistle and more like a remix of the old hierarchies dressed up for the digital age. It’s a mash-up of “honoring the biology of man,” financial engineering, and “political influencer” jargon—buzzwords that mask a singular mission: consolidate power, narrow the circle of belonging, and justify it all with a revisionist gloss. The result is a movement that feels ancient, even as it deploys the latest social media tactics.
Perhaps most painful is the way Kirk invokes science and technology—not to expand our sense of shared purpose, but to shrink it. He points to the extraordinary capacity of the human brain as evidence that there must be a benevolent being behind creation. Yet, instead of recognizing all humans as collaborators in that vision—capable of interpretation, stewardship, and compassion—he restricts its meaning to those who are self-anointed, those who already hold power. But these gatekeepers are not chosen by divine merit; they are, more often than not, the creations of benefactors and manipulators who exploit the openness of a pluralist society for personal and political advantage. The very gifts meant to unite us in humility and responsibility become tools of separation. In Kirk’s worldview, the miracle of human consciousness is less a call to collective action than a justification for exclusion—where only a chosen few, propped up by systems of privilege and influence, are deemed fit to interpret God’s will and decide who deserves to belong.
Kirk’s Christianity is a curious thing: the Beatitudes are invoked, but only as a veneer. The radical message of Christ—blessed are the poor, the meek, those who mourn, those who hunger for justice—is hollowed out, made safe for the powerful. Agape, the self-giving love at the heart of the gospel, becomes a slogan. In Kirk’s world, the suffering of others is not a call to compassion, but a sign of weakness or moral failure. The wounded are not the inheritors of the kingdom, but obstacles to be overcome or, worse, scapegoats for societal decline.
It is, in a word, upside-down. Dante wrote of nine levels of hell, each reserved for those who betrayed the bonds of trust and justice. Kirk’s vision, whether he recognizes it or not, is a kind of mishmash of those infernal circles—praise for the strong, contempt for the vulnerable, and an indifference to the suffering that Christ and Dante both insisted was at the center of any honest reckoning with evil.
Yet perhaps the most damning irony is this: the growing rejection of organized religion across the country is not a rejection of God, but a rejection of those who claim to be sainted by holiness while inflicting the nine levels of Dante’s Inferno on others. The exodus from church pews is less about a crisis of faith than a crisis of trust—trust shattered by those who use the name of Christ to wound, punish, and exclude. These self-proclaimed arbiters of salvation have never walked the lives they judge, never carried the wounds they blame on “character flaws.” What Kirk and his movement are truly against is not sin, but the wounds left by the very systems—revisionist capitalism, patriarchal authority, and religious gatekeeping—they defend and perpetuate.
And the consequences aren’t hypothetical. When power is left unchecked, when the rhetoric of exclusion and hierarchy is given cover by faith, the result is not just a culture of cruelty—it is a culture that produces and protects predators. The most chilling and concrete example is Jeffrey Epstein, whose vast human trafficking operation was funded and enabled by the same elite networks that bankroll movements like Kirk’s. There is a manipulation at work here, in the worst possible sense: a system that preaches morality while creating the conditions for exploitation and abuse. When the powerful close ranks, when money and influence become shields against accountability, the Jeffrey Epsteins of the world flourish. This is not an accident. It is the grim harvest of a worldview that prizes control over compassion and image over justice.
The irony, of course, is almost too rich. Kirk rails against the freedoms of pluralism, democracy, and open society—the very things that allow him to build his platform, attract his audience, and sell his books. His nostalgia for monarchy and strongmen, for a purified, patriarchal society, is a rejection of the resilience that has marked the best of the West. The platform of democracy is the platform from which he shouts, even as he claims it is the source of all our woes.
What Kirk offers is not a society, but a caste system enforced by fear and sustained by violence—overt and structural. It is a world where the powerful rule by divine right, and the rest are not merely expected to accept their lot in silence, but are coerced into obedience under the threat of ruin, exclusion, or even death. This is the logic of every regime that has justified abuse in the name of order: dissent is treated as a crime, vulnerability as a target, and resistance as a reason for punishment. The masses are not simply passive; they are actively suppressed, exploited, and harmed, their obedience extracted not by consent but by the ever-present shadow of consequence. At its core, this vision is the opposite of what Christ taught and what the best of democracy aspires to be.
The cost is real. The harm is not theoretical. When victim-blaming passes for gospel, when exclusion is sold as revelation, communities fracture. Those who most need faith and hope are left adrift, told their suffering is their own fault. The message to the marginalized is clear: you are on your own. And the people leaving organized religion in droves are not turning their backs on God, but on those who make God into a weapon.
This is why Kirk’s “Stop In The Name of God” is not just another book. It is a warning. The strongmen of history have always claimed divine sanction. They have always promised order, belonging, and purpose. And they have always left brokenness and suffering in their wake: Dante’s Inferno, made real for those at the bottom.
The call now is to wake up—to see through the disguise, to remember that the heart of both Christ’s gospel and Dante’s warning is compassion, justice, and humility. The true danger is not that Kirk is new. It’s that he is so very, very old.
We ignore that at our peril.
Leanne Edwards
Stop in the Name of God: The Distorted Gospel of Charlie Kirk
Charlie Kirk would have you believe he’s sounding a new revelation—one that returns us to the roots of faith, order, and strength. His latest book, “Stop In The Name of God,” arrives with the fanfare of a modern-day prophecy. But read closely, and the alarms start blaring. This isn’t revelation. It’s a retreat—a retreat into a vision of the past that is as old as monarchy, as blinkered as patriarchy, and as dangerous as any authoritarian strongman’s fantasy.
It’s not that Kirk’s movement is subtle. In fact, the audacity is gobsmacking. He wraps himself in the language of Christ, invoking the crown and cross, but what’s inside is a Trojan horse. Strip away the pious rhetoric and what remains is the age-old playbook of the charismatic strongman: glorify the leader, demonize the vulnerable, and promise salvation through obedience. Kirk’s message to his followers isn’t to find the divine in their own humanity, or to honor the suffering of others, but to sidestep it, ignore it, and—if possible—blame it on those who suffer.
The book reads less like an epistle and more like a remix of the old hierarchies dressed up for the digital age. It’s a mash-up of “honoring the biology of man,” financial engineering, and “political influencer” jargon—buzzwords that mask a singular mission: consolidate power, narrow the circle of belonging, and justify it all with a revisionist gloss. The result is a movement that feels ancient, even as it deploys the latest social media tactics.
Perhaps most painful is the way Kirk invokes science and technology—not to expand our sense of shared purpose, but to shrink it. He points to the extraordinary capacity of the human brain as evidence that there must be a benevolent being behind creation. Yet, instead of recognizing all humans as collaborators in that vision—capable of interpretation, stewardship, and compassion—he restricts its meaning to those who are self-anointed, those who already hold power. But these gatekeepers are not chosen by divine merit; they are, more often than not, the creations of benefactors and manipulators who exploit the openness of a pluralist society for personal and political advantage. The very gifts meant to unite us in humility and responsibility become tools of separation. In Kirk’s worldview, the miracle of human consciousness is less a call to collective action than a justification for exclusion—where only a chosen few, propped up by systems of privilege and influence, are deemed fit to interpret God’s will and decide who deserves to belong.
Kirk’s Christianity is a curious thing: the Beatitudes are invoked, but only as a veneer. The radical message of Christ—blessed are the poor, the meek, those who mourn, those who hunger for justice—is hollowed out, made safe for the powerful. Agape, the self-giving love at the heart of the gospel, becomes a slogan. In Kirk’s world, the suffering of others is not a call to compassion, but a sign of weakness or moral failure. The wounded are not the inheritors of the kingdom, but obstacles to be overcome or, worse, scapegoats for societal decline.
It is, in a word, upside-down. Dante wrote of nine levels of hell, each reserved for those who betrayed the bonds of trust and justice. Kirk’s vision, whether he recognizes it or not, is a kind of mishmash of those infernal circles—praise for the strong, contempt for the vulnerable, and an indifference to the suffering that Christ and Dante both insisted was at the center of any honest reckoning with evil.
Yet perhaps the most damning irony is this: the growing rejection of organized religion across the country is not a rejection of God, but a rejection of those who claim to be sainted by holiness while inflicting the nine levels of Dante’s Inferno on others. The exodus from church pews is less about a crisis of faith than a crisis of trust—trust shattered by those who use the name of Christ to wound, punish, and exclude. These self-proclaimed arbiters of salvation have never walked the lives they judge, never carried the wounds they blame on “character flaws.” What Kirk and his movement are truly against is not sin, but the wounds left by the very systems—revisionist capitalism, patriarchal authority, and religious gatekeeping—they defend and perpetuate.
And the consequences aren’t hypothetical. When power is left unchecked, when the rhetoric of exclusion and hierarchy is given cover by faith, the result is not just a culture of cruelty—it is a culture that produces and protects predators. The most chilling and concrete example is Jeffrey Epstein, whose vast human trafficking operation was funded and enabled by the same elite networks that bankroll movements like Kirk’s. There is a manipulation at work here, in the worst possible sense: a system that preaches morality while creating the conditions for exploitation and abuse. When the powerful close ranks, when money and influence become shields against accountability, the Jeffrey Epsteins of the world flourish. This is not an accident. It is the grim harvest of a worldview that prizes control over compassion and image over justice.
The irony, of course, is almost too rich. Kirk rails against the freedoms of pluralism, democracy, and open society—the very things that allow him to build his platform, attract his audience, and sell his books. His nostalgia for monarchy and strongmen, for a purified, patriarchal society, is a rejection of the resilience that has marked the best of the West. The platform of democracy is the platform from which he shouts, even as he claims it is the source of all our woes.
What Kirk offers is not a society, but a caste system enforced by fear and sustained by violence—overt and structural. It is a world where the powerful rule by divine right, and the rest are not merely expected to accept their lot in silence, but are coerced into obedience under the threat of ruin, exclusion, or even death. This is the logic of every regime that has justified abuse in the name of order: dissent is treated as a crime, vulnerability as a target, and resistance as a reason for punishment. The masses are not simply passive; they are actively suppressed, exploited, and harmed, their obedience extracted not by consent but by the ever-present shadow of consequence. At its core, this vision is the opposite of what Christ taught and what the best of democracy aspires to be.
The cost is real. The harm is not theoretical. When victim-blaming passes for gospel, when exclusion is sold as revelation, communities fracture. Those who most need faith and hope are left adrift, told their suffering is their own fault. The message to the marginalized is clear: you are on your own. And the people leaving organized religion in droves are not turning their backs on God, but on those who make God into a weapon.
This is why Kirk’s “Stop In The Name of God” is not just another book. It is a warning. The strongmen of history have always claimed divine sanction. They have always promised order, belonging, and purpose. And they have always left brokenness and suffering in their wake: Dante’s Inferno, made real for those at the bottom.
The call now is to wake up—to see through the disguise, to remember that the heart of both Christ’s gospel and Dante’s warning is compassion, justice, and humility. The true danger is not that Kirk is new. It’s that he is so very, very old.
We ignore that at our peril.
Leanne Edwards
December 22, 2025
While I have read a little on the subject of “sabbathing” in other books, this is the first book that was written entirely on the subject. However, more than a third of the book isn’t directly about the sabbath, but laying the foundation for why a person would even observe it in the first place (spoiler: it’s about what you worship). The first five chapters are very heavy on apologetics and history. While most are things I’ve read in other books, it would be very helpful for anyone who hasn’t considered the impact of what you believe about Genesis 1:1, and it was still an excellent review for me. I do have a minor complaint: several times in these chapters I noticed paragraphs repeated almost verbatim. After the third time this happened I couldn’t decide if it was a bug or a feature, because I did actually remember those paragraphs better, which may have been the point all along? Also, the alliteration in the book was ever so slightly over done in my opinion.
The next few chapters explore the benefits that sabbath keeping communities experience (better health, better sleep, etc). I noticed there is no dedicated notes section in the back of the book where Kirk directly references these studies. However, he does give enough information in the actual chapter so that a person could google the studies to find and double check the information. I also think it’s short sighted to credit sabbath keeping alone with the improved health and happiness experienced in sabbath keeping communities. Most Jews and Seventh Day Adventists are also very strict with their diets, which can play a large role in health and happiness. This section also felt rather legalistic, tho once I finished the book I realized Kirk wasn’t necessarily advocating for sabbathing exactly how these groups do it, but was rather explaining how the groups do it.
Finally, I made it to chapter 9 and beyond, where I found the meat of what I was looking for: the exploration of whether Christians are bound to the sabbath, arguments for and against sabbath keeping, thoughts from early church fathers, and finally a blueprint to begin sabbathing. Obviously Kirk is pro-sabbath, tho not in a legalistic way like the Jews and Seventh Day Adventists keep it. Even the chapter with arguments against sabbath keeping were very pro-rest (In the words of Martin Luther, who is quoted in the book: “It is not necessary to observe the sabbath or Sunday because of Moses’ commandment. Nature also shows and teaches that one must now and then rest a day.”)
This is the first book that I’ve read in which sabbath keeping is presented strongly as an exercise of resistance against the worship of today’s cultural gods. One of my favorite quotes from the book is, “Your sabbath is not just about you. It is not a private act of self-care, but a public declaration of allegiance to a different kingdom. In a culture drunk on exhaustion, your refusal to live life at a frantic pace is a form of protest. Your rest says, God is my provider. I do not have to earn my worth. I am not owned by the clock or controlled by the crowd….That’s the legacy Sabbath helps build--not just one of rest, but of witness. In a world that never stops, be the person who knows how to stop well. Not because you’re lazy, but because you trust the Lord of time more than the tyranny of hustle. That’s Sabbath. That’s freedom. That’s worship.”
Other quotes I liked (which are all from chapter 9 and beyond):
“The Sabbath is not first and foremost about what we can’t do--it is about what we get to do. We get to stop. We get to rest. We get to worship without distraction. And in doing so, we remember that God is God--and we are not.”
“Don’t make excuses. Make adjustments. Don’t give up. Get creative. Rest is not about perfection--it’s about intention. The goal isn’t to follow a legalistic rule, but to cultivate a sacred rhythm of freedom and trust. Sabbath is not a burden. It’s a gift. And like all good gifts, it requires humility to receive and courage to protect.”
“Rest requires courage. It means confronting our fear that the world will fall apart if we stop working. It means choosing trust over control. And it means recognizing that the things that matter most--our health, our relationships, our spiritual life--cannot thrive on leftovers….Rest doesn’t wait for life to get easier--it shows up as resistance within the chaos.”
“The Sabbath was never meant to cancel your joy--it’s meant to sanctify it. God didn’t tell you to become somber and bored for twenty-four hours. He’s not anti-laughter, anti-celebration, or anti-fun. He simply wants to reorient our joy to what lasts. The Sabbath is the space where delight is deepened, not dulled.”
The next few chapters explore the benefits that sabbath keeping communities experience (better health, better sleep, etc). I noticed there is no dedicated notes section in the back of the book where Kirk directly references these studies. However, he does give enough information in the actual chapter so that a person could google the studies to find and double check the information. I also think it’s short sighted to credit sabbath keeping alone with the improved health and happiness experienced in sabbath keeping communities. Most Jews and Seventh Day Adventists are also very strict with their diets, which can play a large role in health and happiness. This section also felt rather legalistic, tho once I finished the book I realized Kirk wasn’t necessarily advocating for sabbathing exactly how these groups do it, but was rather explaining how the groups do it.
Finally, I made it to chapter 9 and beyond, where I found the meat of what I was looking for: the exploration of whether Christians are bound to the sabbath, arguments for and against sabbath keeping, thoughts from early church fathers, and finally a blueprint to begin sabbathing. Obviously Kirk is pro-sabbath, tho not in a legalistic way like the Jews and Seventh Day Adventists keep it. Even the chapter with arguments against sabbath keeping were very pro-rest (In the words of Martin Luther, who is quoted in the book: “It is not necessary to observe the sabbath or Sunday because of Moses’ commandment. Nature also shows and teaches that one must now and then rest a day.”)
This is the first book that I’ve read in which sabbath keeping is presented strongly as an exercise of resistance against the worship of today’s cultural gods. One of my favorite quotes from the book is, “Your sabbath is not just about you. It is not a private act of self-care, but a public declaration of allegiance to a different kingdom. In a culture drunk on exhaustion, your refusal to live life at a frantic pace is a form of protest. Your rest says, God is my provider. I do not have to earn my worth. I am not owned by the clock or controlled by the crowd….That’s the legacy Sabbath helps build--not just one of rest, but of witness. In a world that never stops, be the person who knows how to stop well. Not because you’re lazy, but because you trust the Lord of time more than the tyranny of hustle. That’s Sabbath. That’s freedom. That’s worship.”
Other quotes I liked (which are all from chapter 9 and beyond):
“The Sabbath is not first and foremost about what we can’t do--it is about what we get to do. We get to stop. We get to rest. We get to worship without distraction. And in doing so, we remember that God is God--and we are not.”
“Don’t make excuses. Make adjustments. Don’t give up. Get creative. Rest is not about perfection--it’s about intention. The goal isn’t to follow a legalistic rule, but to cultivate a sacred rhythm of freedom and trust. Sabbath is not a burden. It’s a gift. And like all good gifts, it requires humility to receive and courage to protect.”
“Rest requires courage. It means confronting our fear that the world will fall apart if we stop working. It means choosing trust over control. And it means recognizing that the things that matter most--our health, our relationships, our spiritual life--cannot thrive on leftovers….Rest doesn’t wait for life to get easier--it shows up as resistance within the chaos.”
“The Sabbath was never meant to cancel your joy--it’s meant to sanctify it. God didn’t tell you to become somber and bored for twenty-four hours. He’s not anti-laughter, anti-celebration, or anti-fun. He simply wants to reorient our joy to what lasts. The Sabbath is the space where delight is deepened, not dulled.”
December 31, 2025
Excellent. Just excellent.
Stop in the Name of God is both a work of apologetics and a thoughtful treatise on the Sabbath. While I find freedom in understanding the Old Testament Sabbath not as a strictly mandated 24-hour observance but as a principle meant for the blessing of rest, this book impressed upon me the weight and wisdom of intentional rest in a deeper way.
Kirk also addresses the false gods of our culture and offers a compelling defense for this modern world of the reality of a Creator God, effectively setting the stage for the worship of God alone through the holy practice of Sabbath rest. I had never read anything by Kirk prior to this book and wasn’t quite sure what to expect—other than a desire to encounter his final words. I ended up enjoying it far more than I anticipated.
Here are some quotes I want to remember:
• "The Sabbath is not primarily a legal command—it is a cosmic declaration. It is a weekly, embodied confession that we are created, not accidental. That there is a Creator, and He is not us."
• "This rest is due not to fatigue, but to fullness. It is not the withdrawal of power, but the crowning of meaning. It is the divine punctuation mark at the end of the most magnificent sentence ever spoken."
• "We should see it as the moral architecture of a free society. It’s not just about taking a break. It’s about remembering who we are. It’s about acknowledging that no matter our job, our title, or our background, we stand equal before the Lord of the Sabbath. That is the seed of equality."
• "The commandment does not prohibit movement, joy, or community. It prohibits melachah—the kind of work associated with dominion, production, and control,"
• "The Sabbath is the presence of eternity in time."
• "It is the only command in the Decalogue that God Himself is explicitly said to observe."
• "The Sabbath, then, stands at the intersection of creation and redemption. It is both protological and eschatological. It looks backward to Eden and forward to a world where the yoke of Pharaoh is broken and beyond."
• "Let the Sabbath be your weekly rebellion. Let it be the time when the world’s demands go silent, and the eternal voice becomes audible again."
• "Rest is not what happens after creation; it is part of creation. It is the seal."
• "This is why the text does not merely say that God ceased, but that He “blessed” the seventh day and “made it holy.” This Hebrew word for “holy” (qadosh) is used here for the first time in Scripture—and not to describe a place or object, but a slice of time. God sanctifies a moment. The seventh day becomes sacred not because of what happens in it, but because of what does not happen. The absence of work becomes the presence of worship."
• "The Sabbath teaches us, from the very beginning, that we were not created primarily to produce, but to walk with God."
• "It is not an interruption from reality—it is the unveiling of reality’s true purpose."
• "God declares the Sabbath a “sign forever” between Himself and Israel: “It is a sign forever . . . that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed” (v. 17). The Hebrew word translated “refreshed” (vayinafash) is rarely used of God and implies a kind of soul-breathing, as if the Creator Himself pauses, not because He is depleted, but because He delights. This anthropomorphic image is the language of intimacy: a God who breathes not only life into man, but also breathes deeply in the joy of His completed work."
• “He hallowed time itself. The Sabbath is not just something God told us to do—it’s something He Himself did. Every time you observe it, you are joining Him in that rest.”
Stop in the Name of God is both a work of apologetics and a thoughtful treatise on the Sabbath. While I find freedom in understanding the Old Testament Sabbath not as a strictly mandated 24-hour observance but as a principle meant for the blessing of rest, this book impressed upon me the weight and wisdom of intentional rest in a deeper way.
Kirk also addresses the false gods of our culture and offers a compelling defense for this modern world of the reality of a Creator God, effectively setting the stage for the worship of God alone through the holy practice of Sabbath rest. I had never read anything by Kirk prior to this book and wasn’t quite sure what to expect—other than a desire to encounter his final words. I ended up enjoying it far more than I anticipated.
Here are some quotes I want to remember:
• "The Sabbath is not primarily a legal command—it is a cosmic declaration. It is a weekly, embodied confession that we are created, not accidental. That there is a Creator, and He is not us."
• "This rest is due not to fatigue, but to fullness. It is not the withdrawal of power, but the crowning of meaning. It is the divine punctuation mark at the end of the most magnificent sentence ever spoken."
• "We should see it as the moral architecture of a free society. It’s not just about taking a break. It’s about remembering who we are. It’s about acknowledging that no matter our job, our title, or our background, we stand equal before the Lord of the Sabbath. That is the seed of equality."
• "The commandment does not prohibit movement, joy, or community. It prohibits melachah—the kind of work associated with dominion, production, and control,"
• "The Sabbath is the presence of eternity in time."
• "It is the only command in the Decalogue that God Himself is explicitly said to observe."
• "The Sabbath, then, stands at the intersection of creation and redemption. It is both protological and eschatological. It looks backward to Eden and forward to a world where the yoke of Pharaoh is broken and beyond."
• "Let the Sabbath be your weekly rebellion. Let it be the time when the world’s demands go silent, and the eternal voice becomes audible again."
• "Rest is not what happens after creation; it is part of creation. It is the seal."
• "This is why the text does not merely say that God ceased, but that He “blessed” the seventh day and “made it holy.” This Hebrew word for “holy” (qadosh) is used here for the first time in Scripture—and not to describe a place or object, but a slice of time. God sanctifies a moment. The seventh day becomes sacred not because of what happens in it, but because of what does not happen. The absence of work becomes the presence of worship."
• "The Sabbath teaches us, from the very beginning, that we were not created primarily to produce, but to walk with God."
• "It is not an interruption from reality—it is the unveiling of reality’s true purpose."
• "God declares the Sabbath a “sign forever” between Himself and Israel: “It is a sign forever . . . that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed” (v. 17). The Hebrew word translated “refreshed” (vayinafash) is rarely used of God and implies a kind of soul-breathing, as if the Creator Himself pauses, not because He is depleted, but because He delights. This anthropomorphic image is the language of intimacy: a God who breathes not only life into man, but also breathes deeply in the joy of His completed work."
• “He hallowed time itself. The Sabbath is not just something God told us to do—it’s something He Himself did. Every time you observe it, you are joining Him in that rest.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 16, 2026
In “Stop in the Name of God,” Charlie Kirk presents an argument for why human being should honor the Sabbath. This book was a gift from my father, so I decided to read it.
Charlie makes some good points on why the idea of a Sabbath may be beneficial for a person, especially in the modern day. The Sabbath is like a break time in Jewish culture that is meant to give the people rest and honor God, but it is very strict with specific rules, at least in the orthodox community. Charles argument is not that everyone should follow the exact Jewish customs, but that the rest from the Sabbath is very important for human beings. Instead of following like a specific set of rules and laws, Charlie lays out several ideas for a person to implement into their lives to give them time to detox from the anxiety and high stress environment of life in the 2020s. He has several chapters laying out where the idea of the sabbath comes from, religious support for the Sabbath, how societies used to implement things like the Sabbath throughout history, how societies tried to reject rest for their people and how that backfired, and, very importantly, to benefits of detoxing from social media and electronic use on things like mental health.
There are some good points made in the book, but my main issue with the book is the length. The good points that are made definitely provide the reader with something to consider, but it just feels like throughout the whole book, the same points are being made over and over again. The book could’ve likely cut off about 100 pages and still have made the same semi-effective argument. I don’t think this book is amazing or life-changing, but there are some ideas in there about social media and human connection that people could implement into their lives. If this book is something that interests you, then feel free to check it out, but I think there may be other books about the negative effects of social media and cellular devices on youth that may make stronger arguments for many of these same lifestyle changes.
One thing that I do wanna note is the fact that Charlie continually calls this break the sabbath seems a little disingenuous just because of the fact that it doesn’t require you to follow a lot of the same Jewish laws and customs as the actual Sabbath would have you follow, but I understand from a marketing and ease of linguistic viewpoint that maybe it was just easier to call it the Sabbath. It seems more of like a return to middle-age Christiandom and respect for holy days, which me ideas from the sabbath, but is distinct. He touches on the sum, but not significantly till like 2/3 of the way through the book.
Charlie makes some good points on why the idea of a Sabbath may be beneficial for a person, especially in the modern day. The Sabbath is like a break time in Jewish culture that is meant to give the people rest and honor God, but it is very strict with specific rules, at least in the orthodox community. Charles argument is not that everyone should follow the exact Jewish customs, but that the rest from the Sabbath is very important for human beings. Instead of following like a specific set of rules and laws, Charlie lays out several ideas for a person to implement into their lives to give them time to detox from the anxiety and high stress environment of life in the 2020s. He has several chapters laying out where the idea of the sabbath comes from, religious support for the Sabbath, how societies used to implement things like the Sabbath throughout history, how societies tried to reject rest for their people and how that backfired, and, very importantly, to benefits of detoxing from social media and electronic use on things like mental health.
There are some good points made in the book, but my main issue with the book is the length. The good points that are made definitely provide the reader with something to consider, but it just feels like throughout the whole book, the same points are being made over and over again. The book could’ve likely cut off about 100 pages and still have made the same semi-effective argument. I don’t think this book is amazing or life-changing, but there are some ideas in there about social media and human connection that people could implement into their lives. If this book is something that interests you, then feel free to check it out, but I think there may be other books about the negative effects of social media and cellular devices on youth that may make stronger arguments for many of these same lifestyle changes.
One thing that I do wanna note is the fact that Charlie continually calls this break the sabbath seems a little disingenuous just because of the fact that it doesn’t require you to follow a lot of the same Jewish laws and customs as the actual Sabbath would have you follow, but I understand from a marketing and ease of linguistic viewpoint that maybe it was just easier to call it the Sabbath. It seems more of like a return to middle-age Christiandom and respect for holy days, which me ideas from the sabbath, but is distinct. He touches on the sum, but not significantly till like 2/3 of the way through the book.
January 14, 2026
It hurts me to write this review. I absolutely LOVED CK. I think he was such an inspiration to so many people, and he brought so many people to God. I have a FREEDOM hat and a FREEDOM shirt, and I bought a CK hat from his store as well. All of this to say, don't attack me because of my review, because I've read other reviews and people just get torn apart for saying anything negative about this book. My review has NOTHING to do with how I feel about him as a human being (it's the complete opposite).
But guys. Those negative reviews are RIGHT. This book is not good. If you read The College Scam and enjoyed it, you'd have some serious reservations as I do as to if he even wrote this book. The writing is NOT at all like TCS, nor does it sound like him at all. The second half of the book is more aligned with his writing style than the first half, which is almost impossible to even get through. The first half is written as a scholarly article aimed towards 70 year old professors (generalizing here, trying to find an example of who would have enjoyed it). It's not written to HIS audience, which is college aged kids and/or young adults. The first book was completely written in his talking style, which was easy to comprehend. This book, the first half is nearly impossible and the second half is just okay.
If I had to guess, I'd say he had a VERY rough draft going to which it was almost completely wrecked. There must have been at LEAST 25 times where he quoted Genesis 2:2, and wrote out the entire verse each time. I think that perhaps that could have been just written with just "Genesis 2:2" after the first five times I read it. As someone else mentioned, the repetitiveness is literally cringeworthy, and hard to read. On one page will be a direct quote, and on the NEXT page the same exact quote (see pages 70 & 71). If he DID in fact write the entire thing, I think it was meant to be edited but someone didn't want to remove any of his words without permission, so they just published as is.
I was both interested in reading the book because of who he was, but also because I was genuinely interested in learning more about observing the Sabbath. This book leaves MUCH to the imagination when it comes to how to actually observe the Sabbath, with only the last few pages with "tips" for observing it. I felt a complete lack of promise.
Overall, I am EXTREMELY disappointed, because like I mentioned above, I REALLY liked CK. I still think he leaves behind an amazing legacy, I just think that this book won't be part of it.
But guys. Those negative reviews are RIGHT. This book is not good. If you read The College Scam and enjoyed it, you'd have some serious reservations as I do as to if he even wrote this book. The writing is NOT at all like TCS, nor does it sound like him at all. The second half of the book is more aligned with his writing style than the first half, which is almost impossible to even get through. The first half is written as a scholarly article aimed towards 70 year old professors (generalizing here, trying to find an example of who would have enjoyed it). It's not written to HIS audience, which is college aged kids and/or young adults. The first book was completely written in his talking style, which was easy to comprehend. This book, the first half is nearly impossible and the second half is just okay.
If I had to guess, I'd say he had a VERY rough draft going to which it was almost completely wrecked. There must have been at LEAST 25 times where he quoted Genesis 2:2, and wrote out the entire verse each time. I think that perhaps that could have been just written with just "Genesis 2:2" after the first five times I read it. As someone else mentioned, the repetitiveness is literally cringeworthy, and hard to read. On one page will be a direct quote, and on the NEXT page the same exact quote (see pages 70 & 71). If he DID in fact write the entire thing, I think it was meant to be edited but someone didn't want to remove any of his words without permission, so they just published as is.
I was both interested in reading the book because of who he was, but also because I was genuinely interested in learning more about observing the Sabbath. This book leaves MUCH to the imagination when it comes to how to actually observe the Sabbath, with only the last few pages with "tips" for observing it. I felt a complete lack of promise.
Overall, I am EXTREMELY disappointed, because like I mentioned above, I REALLY liked CK. I still think he leaves behind an amazing legacy, I just think that this book won't be part of it.
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