Charlie: Not the Only Man Bold for Christ
- Kathryn van der Pol
- Sep 25
- 9 min read
“God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, For the Kingdom of God is theirs. God blesses you when people mock you, persecute you, lie about you, and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be extremely glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.”
Matthew 5:10-11
A few weeks ago, I interviewed Colby Barrett, the producer of the documentary, A Faith Under Siege. Like Charlie Kirk, Colby Barrett decided to stand on his faith and take the risk of life and persecution upon himself to tell the stories of persecuted Christians in Ukraine. Thankfully, Colby has not been attacked.
Bill O’Reilly, broadcaster of the No Spin News, predicted last Thursday that the next few days could be a turning point in the war with Ukraine. He may know something. He just published his latest book, Confronting Evil which made the New York Times, number one Best Seller list in non-fiction, the 20th time he has held that honor.
On September 11th, Mr. Trump invited Mr. O’Reilly to Yankee Stadium to discuss both Ukraine and Charlie Kirk. Together, they were attending the 9-11 Memorial service. Bill O’Reilly says he has known Mr. Trump for over 35 years. Mr. O’Reilly says he goes to serve his country.
In the video of their meeting [i], the two men were seated right next to each other. Mr. O’Reilly presented Mr. Trump with a copy of his new book featuring Vladimir Putin on the cover, along with three other bad dudes from history: the Ayatollah Khomeini, Mao Tse Tung, and Adolf Hitler. He told Mr. Trump, “Read my 20-page chapter on Bad Vlad, first.”
I read his chapter on Vlad today. Vlad has been bad since as a teenager he led a gang to extort, steal, and beat people up. His neighbors nicknamed him “Rat killer.” He was so bad that rather than arrest him, the KGB recruited and trained him to be a spy and trained him in torture methods. And that Vlad did. Willingly and frequently. Later as the head of the KGB, he staged a bombing in an apartment to justify the Russian war on Chechnya.
He has only grown worse with age. Read the book.
Bill O’Reilly believes we should support Ukraine. He should know. Better than most journalists and people of influence, he knows history. Because that’s what he writes.
Ten days ago in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s death, an important story was buried in the reporting. The Russians and Belarussians conducted a major military training exercise called Zapad 2025. The training was conducted in Belarus which is on Ukraine’s northern border. The Russians operate two military bases there with lots and lots of military equipment.
You know a man by the company he keeps, right? So, who participated in the training? In addition to Russia and Belarus, it was Iran, India, the Congo, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Bangladesh, all allies of Russia. Not there, but still strong allies of Russia are China, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. It’s starting to feel like a large part of the world and the world’s population is working against the West, and, in particular, the United States.
The total number of participants in ZAPAD 2025 is unknown. If you believe the Russians, it was 13,000 including 2,000 of their own soldiers. If you believe the Lithuanians, it was closer to 30,000. Everyone agrees that the largest participation came from Belarus.
Limited participation by the Russians is no doubt due to their ongoing invasion of Ukraine and a manpower shortage. The New York Post reported that the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) believes Russia, “has gained extraordinarily little land for the number of casualties its forces have taken in recent months. Moscow’s forces have advanced a total of 1910 square kilometers (737.6 square miles) inside Ukraine between May and August of this year, while suffering 130,160 killed and wounded in the same period, an ‘extremely heavy casualty rate’ by ISW’s definition.”2
Zapad 2025 was cause for European and NATO concern because in 2022 after the last Zapad exercise, the Russians invaded Ukraine a week later.
So, Mr. Trump was at Yankee Stadium asking Mr. O’Reilly’s advice while the Europeans are on edge, watching Russian fighters and drones cross the air space of Estonia and Poland. Today, we learn that the Hungarian Air Force intercepted five Russian jets over Lithuania. 3 Then Mr. and Mrs. Trump fly to Great Britain for a state visit—a grand show demonstrating Great Britain, American and European unity against Russia.
Queen Camilla wore a Ukrainian blue gown and First Lady Mrs. Trump wore the Ukrainian yellow gown. Together, the colors of their gowns shout the Ukrainian flag. I think that was the plan. They entered the dining room together.
Why should we help Ukraine? We all know Vlad is bad and Russia is testing NATO’s resolve.
If that's not enough, here’s the most important reason.
Putin is persecuting Christians and Jews and kidnapping children. That is what keeps one particular American up at night.
So, at the end of last month, I interviewed that man who has firsthand knowledge of this persecution. He is an American, a Marine veteran, and a businessman. He holds a degree in engineering. He went to Oxford. He also holds a degree in jurisprudence from Yale. He owns a farm that grows peaches; he has a wonderful wife and children.
One day about a year and a half ago, he got a phone call from one of his Marine buddies. “Hey Colby, do you want to go to Ukraine?”
Colby Barrett was taken aback by the question. He had no ties to Ukraine nor knew any Ukrainians here. He said, “Why would I want to go to Ukraine? I don’t think so.”
After he hung up the phone, he felt that maybe he had been too quick. So Colby began doing research and discovered that the Russians had destroyed hundreds of evangelical churches. That was his nudge moment.
As a committed Christian, he asked the Lord for guidance and as a result, he felt this nudge was a spiritual touch. He contacted his friend to say he would go to Ukraine if he could document the situation on the front.
He would make a movie and document, he said, “and not just try to liberate these people, but to document their suffering.”
Last May, A Faith Under Siege was released. It is free and you can watch it here. This link includes CBN host Dan Andros and journalist George Thomas interviewing Colby before the documentary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rFI77hudcA&t=336s
A Faith Under Siege is a one-hour documentary. Colby financed it himself. It has now been watched over 350,000 times. We showed it three times at Texas Heritage Center.
Colby allows other news outlets like CBN and News Max to show the movie because he wants people here to know that Christians are being persecuted in Ukraine, and it's not just Protestants.
He told me a story about two orthodox Ukrainian priests. Both had their own church. One church was located in Kyiv, and the other was in a town outside Kyiv. Both of these Orthodox churches still had ties to the Moscow patriarchate.
One priest was dragged out of the church by Russian soldiers. He was beaten severely. “The soldiers used a rifle butt to beat his teeth out,” Colby said, “and they stripped him of all his clothes and paraded him naked through the streets, completely dehumanizing him, not killing him, though, but showing the people that if you try to worship God, this is what's going to happen to you.”
Then Colby described what happened to the other priest. He was dragged out of his church when the Russians came into Kyiv, and they took control of the church. He said, “They garrisoned troops inside the church sanctuary, and they positioned a sniper in the bell tower and shot at civilians.”
To him, this shows that these actions are not the acts of a country (Russia) who cares about people's faith, but who is using raw power to take over the country. In order to take over the country, faith has to be destroyed.
So, that's why the movie is called A Faith Under Siege because it's not just about the Protestants. It's about the suffering and persecution of all people of faith. Colby stresses that Ukraine is one of the most religious Christian countries on the planet. Over 85% of the population identifies as Christian.
Much of the footage in the documentary comes from the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, and it was smuggled out and provided to Colby Barrett at great personal sacrifice.
Since the movie came out in May, Colby has been busy promoting the film. He and his team have continued to produce several five-to-ten-minute shorts. Here is one titled, “Updates from the Front.” https://www.faithundersiege.com/updates-front
Here is another one, “Russia is Murdering Christian Families.”
This brings up an important reason why, besides the persecution, is Russia in Ukraine. Putin authored a lengthy article in 2021[ii] that Ukraine was not a real country but an extension of Russia. It states that Ukraine has no right to the Donbas and comes remarkably close to a declaration of war.
But there is another motive in Colby’s view for Russia’s aggression. Colby said, “Russia is losing population. They have one of the highest alcoholism rates. They have really high abortion rates, due to permissive abortion laws and some of the highest divorce rates.”
He said, “It’s created a culture of despair in Russia, so people don’t want to bring kids into that.”
Colby continues, “The birth rate has been dropping for decades. Putin talks about demographics frequently, so it is a critical issue to him. About one in every five speeches, he discusses this.
“Now, the birth rate is at a 200-year low. So, you would have to go back 200 years ago to find a time when, so few babies were being born. So, one of the motivating factors of this war, if not the primary one, is to gain more Russian citizens.
“And you see that in the abduction of children.”
The Russians are kidnapping children. Depending on how you count and when you start counting, the number could be as high as 1.5 million.
Colby explains that this is part of the negotiation with Ukraine, but it is not getting much media attention. He said, “Thus far in the negotiations, I think Putin has returned five. This is out of the hundreds of thousands taken.” He believes this shows the true motivation for the war, where they are shoring up a failing state by abducting children since their own people don’t have enough hope to bring children into that world.
The film documents that kidnapped children are being re-propagandized, militarized, and given Russian identities. All of this footage was smuggled out at the risk of death.
The official Ukrainian numbers of kidnapped children is about 22,000. This is a small number, for if one goes back to when Russia seized Crimea, the numbers are in the hundreds of 1000s. If you count the children under current occupation, the number is 1,500,000. Colby says the Russians in their own words, have claimed they have taken 700,000 children.
Last week, Colby released his most recent short film. It is about the persecution of Ukrainian Jews. It’s called “Putin is Targeting Ukrainian Jews.”
If you have followed my blog, you may recall that the Russian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate is a Russian state-controlled church. Its leader is a former KGB agent named Patriarch Kirill. Last year, he and his council declared a holy war on Ukraine and the west in Vladimir Putin’s presence and with his approval. I have written about this in a very entertaining essay here. https://www.happeningsonthewaytoheaven.com/post/what-happens-to-a-writer-who-takes-a-long-bike-ride-and-finds-a-russian-jewelry-box
You can also watch this 5-minute video that Colby Barrett produced which gives a brief history of why the Orthodox Church of Ukraine has separated from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church--Moscow Patriarchate. Watch “Ukraine’s Christians vs. Putin’s Church.”
Finally, the last short film gives you insights into the film crew and their director. This one is called “Behind the Scenes.”
Men like Colby Barrett, Pastor Bill Rigsby (see my prior posts), and Charlie Kirk have been “bold for Christ” like the apostle Paul once wrote to the church in Philippi. So, can we? Paul said, “For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So, I really don’t know which is better.” I Philippians 1:20-22.
Paul says he doesn’t know which is better, living or dying for Christ. That is an interesting thought. Of course, Paul’s writings and life played a tremendous role in growing the Church.
It appears that Charlie’s death will have an impact upon the world that will go far beyond what he accomplished in life. While the rest of us may not be martyrs, we can still be doers. We can use our brains, our time, and our treasure to be bold for Christ and stand for the gospel. That is the best way to defeat evil, to defeat the spiritual darkness, and bad Vlad.
Share this movie with others. Visit their website www.AFaithUnderSiege.com. Look at the prayer guide and their many resources. Be bold for Christ and Christians under persecution. Paraphrasing Ephesians 6:12, we fight against evil rulers and authorities in this dark world and against evil spiritual powers in the heavenly places.
Endnotes
1. Photo of O’Reilly and Trump at Yankee stadium, Bill O'Reilly, The No-Spin News
Check out Bill's book here: https://www.billoreilly.com/p/Confronting-Evil/Confronting-Evil/69759.html
Read "Trump’s pro-Ukraine shift a ‘strategic move’ based on new intel showing Russian battlefield, economic losses" on SmartNews: https://l.smartnews.com/p-6gDZuydy/rZmUhu
3. Read "Hungarian fighter jets intercept five Russian aircraft over Baltic Sea – photos" on SmartNews: https://l.smartnews.com/p-6gYub7UI/VYVfI3
4. An analysis with links to Vladimir Putin's 2021 essay on Ukraine. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/putins-new-ukraine-essay-reflects-imperial-ambitions/
