The gospel according to David French: A study in betrayal

What do you call someone who thinks drag queen story hour better embodies “liberty” than Americans buying Bibles in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s martyrdom? I’ll tell you — and, let me assure you, I choose my words here with theological precision.

David French is a satanic slanderer of the brethren. In my view, he’s become an instrument of deception, and I’ll explain why.

If poetic justice prevailed, David French’s byline would read ‘Judas.’ May he enjoy the potter’s field he’s bought for himself.

Charlie Kirk’s legacy speaks for itself. Nearly everyone who spent time with the murdered founder of Turning Point USA left more grounded in the gospel than they were before. Even Donald Trump Jr., during Charlie’s memorial service, spoke to millions about St. Stephen — the church’s first martyr — because friendship with a man who had given his life and last breath to God bore visible fruit.

French, like Kirk, enjoys a powerful platform. From his perch at the New York Times — the epicenter of America’s corporate media machine — he can influence an elite readership. Yet what evidence shows that his faith leads anyone closer to Christ? None.

Instead, French routinely simps for the spirit of the age, mocking what is good, true, and beautiful. The man once known for moral clarity has become a parody of himself — Joe Biden with less drool and better diction.

French should not be engaged as a serious Christian thinker. He should be exposed and rebuked as what he has become: an agent of deception. As the apostle Paul wrote of Demas, his former companion who “loved this present world,” French has traded salt and light for relevance and applause.

Believers must guard against such turncoats as faith becomes costlier and clearer in our time. Scripture warns repeatedly about impostors who infiltrate the church, seeking to poison it from within. Paul named names in his epistles. He called out the frauds without apology. He didn’t leave the flock guessing about where the danger lay.

Today’s “nicer than God” crowd would scold Paul for being uncharitable. But Charlie Kirk understood that clarity, not niceness, wins spiritual battles. His campus Q&As didn’t leave students guessing about the truth. You might not have liked every answer, but you knew exactly what was at stake. That conviction, lived to the point of death, is what faith demands.

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Our faith is the cross, so all of us must provide an unambiguous understanding of the gospel and what it costs.

French’s conduct offers the opposite lesson. His public witness bears no fruit. He delights in the approval of secular elites who despise the gospel. He preens before the godless No Kings crowd, too vain to notice his own descent. Even the biblical warning about millstones and those who lead children astray doesn’t give him pause. He’s chosen his side: deceit and damnation.

I’ve mostly ignored French’s unraveling in recent years. But Charlie is dead, and I won’t let my friend — or the gospel — be caricatured by a man who has become nothing short of a terrorist to the faithful. French couldn’t tie Charlie Kirk’s shoes, which may explain his bitterness. He’s rewriting history to cheapen Charlie’s sacrifice.

How dare he.

You can’t hold such covetous slander in too much contempt. If poetic justice prevailed, French’s byline would read “Judas.” May he enjoy the potter’s field he’s bought for himself. The hireling always receives his reward in full.