I debated with myself as to whether this was a post that I needed to write, and ultimately decided it was necessary for two reasons. The first is that Stephen Crowder’s show, Louder With Crowder is the number one conservative daily show on the internet. With such a massive audience, clarity of solid Biblical theology is required. Secondly, since this is a theological issue and not political opinion, it needed to be addressed. For the record, I like the show and watch it regularly and am not writing a hit piece, I merely intend to set the record straight regarding the Bible’s teaching on death, eternal life, and heaven. Here is what Crowder said when replying to a listener’s question:

“I don’t believe that Charlie’s looking down [from heaven], but that’s my theology. Because I don’t believe Heaven could exist if they are looking down living in the same spectrum of time as we do. That would be incredibly painful and we’re told that there is no pain, there is no yearning, there is no want in Heaven. So I get why it makes for nice novels; I don’t believe it. And people can disagree with me on that. I think that Charlie Kirk has far more fulfilling and, um, more completing things to do that would be way more fulfilling than we could comprehend. Certainly, not looking down on us and seeing us mourning and crying. And as a matter of fact it is my belief that when Charlie Kirk walks through the gates of Heaven he’s going to walk through them at the same time as his wife and his children, because otherwise it would be painful and in Heaven you know no pain and we don’t – think of it this way – do you ever dream and think for sure you must have been asleep for 10-20 hours but find it’s been 10 minutes? Think of Heaven that way. It’s a different experience of time…” — Stephen Crowder, Louder With Crowder, September 16, 2025, 1 hour and 58 minutes in.

After saying this, he closes by iterating his belief people do not look down from heaven. There are two statements that concern me (highlighted in the above quote) that I want to be clear about. Before I do that, I want to state that it is entirely possible that Crowder did a terrible job explaining his beliefs and equally possible that I have read too much into his statement.

The first part that concerns me is his stated belief that Charlie Kirk will walk through the gates of Heaven “at the same time as his wife and children.” That simply isn’t true, and it is important to correct as this leads to other bad theology. Allow me to explain.

When a person dies their soul (and\or spirit, depending on your stance on the dichotomy or trichotomy existence of man) is immediately present with the Lord God. Paul states that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5.6-.8); Jesus told the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23.43); and in Luke 99.28-36 on the Mount of Transfiguration Jesus speaks with Moses and Elijah who are clearly alive at that time and not waiting for anyone else to join them or experiencing “soul sleep”.

The first time I heard Crowder say this was during his live show and I immediately thought he was advocating for a doctrine called “soul sleep”, an idea put forth by both Seventh Day Adventists (SDA) and Later Day Saints (LDS), both considered to be cults. Going back to the recording to listen to him again and type out what he said for this article, I think (and hope) he simply did a poor job of explaining what he believes. But if he does advocate for “soul sleep” he needs to be admonished, and co-host Gerald would be the man to do it as a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary. Hopefully Crowder’s belief is clarified on the air soon, so none are led into error.

Why is this doctrine so dangerous? Because every error has consequence and because every lie always hurts someone or something. In LDS theology, the soul sleep is part of a bigger picture that directly opposes a Biblical view of man. According to them, at present there is no part of man that is eternal. Even the soul has a death and is resurrected with the body. If true, there is no hell and all the teaching regarding hell – in both Testaments – are wrong. Therefore, if true, the Bible isn’t infallible. In fact, since Jesus himself teaches about hell, he would also not be infallible and therefore not God. All of this aligns with LDS theology. See the problem?

The second notion I take umbrage with is that Charlie Kirk would not be happy in Heaven without his family. This belief tends to advance idolatry, and I’ll prove it. The greatest command of all, agreed on by both Old and New Testaments, is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength” (Deuteronomy 6.5 and Luke 10.27). Our love of God is to be complete and is to be felt in our entire person. Conversely, the second greatest command is to “love your neighbor as yourself”. Loving God is a whole other level than the love we are to have for others, including our family. If we honestly think (or feel) that we would be unhappy in heaven and in the presence of our Savior without our spouse, or children, or pet, or anything else then one of two things is true: either we do not love God as much as we love our spouse, children or pet or we have placed our spouse, children or pet on the same level as God. Either way, that’s idolatry. Being in the presence of the Almighty will provide indescribable joy to the believer and he will want for nothing.

With those two problems sorted, it is only right to mention I do agree with Crowder on two points. First, there is no indication in Scripture that our ancestors can look down from heaven upon Earth. There simply isn’t. Second, I do think that time moves differently in Heaven than on Earth. Peter tells his readers “that a single day is like a thousand years with the Lord and a thousand years are like a single day” (2 Peter 3.8). For this reason, it may be 60 years before Erika Kirk sees Charlie again – and she will live every one of those years without him. That is the sting of death. For Charlie, however, time will pass differently, and it may be that his experience of time without his wife will seem much shorter. There is no direct teaching on this in the Bible, but it is possible.

I hope this clears any confusion that may have been caused by Stephen Crowder’s inelegant description of his theology or bad theology, whatever the case may be, and that all believers can be encouraged by the light of God’s Word.