Toronto Festival Shooting, Sen. Graham Dies, US Strikes Iran — July 12, 2026

This is The Gospel Briefing. I'm Charles King. Today... gunfire at a street festival in Toronto. The sudden death of a United States senator. And a third round of American strikes near the Strait of Hormuz. It's a heavy news day, but we're going to walk through it together. Headlines... Heartbeat... Hope. Let's get into it. Thirteen thousand people. That's how many were gathered on St. Clair Avenue in Toronto Saturday night for the TD Salsa on St. Clair Festival. Twenty-two years of tradition. Music, dancing, families, food. At eight twelve in the evening, the music stopped. Toronto police say gunfire broke out between two individuals who appeared to be targeting each other. When first responders arrived, they found six people with gunshot wounds. Two were pronounced dead at the scene. Four others were wounded. Deputy Chief Frank Barredo called it "a very chaotic scene." Three separate crime scenes. Two firearms recovered. As of Saturday evening, no arrests. The suspects, in his words, still "outstanding." Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was horrified. Here's what I keep coming back to. A festival that existed to bring a community together — twenty-two years of Latin culture and joy in one Toronto neighborhood — undone in minutes by two people who apparently wanted to settle something with bullets in a crowd. Scripture doesn't flinch from this kind of violence. Proverbs 6 lists seven things the Lord hates. Right at the top... hands that shed innocent blood. And feet that run swiftly to evil. What we saw in Toronto is not a mystery of the modern world. It is the ancient sickness of the human heart, given modern tools. When Jesus said in Matthew 15 that out of the heart come murder, adultery, and evil thoughts — He was diagnosing exactly this. Pray for the families of the two who died tonight without names in the reporting. Pray for the four wounded. Pray for a city trying to make sense of a festival that became a crime scene. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina died Saturday evening. He was seventy-one. His office called it a "brief and sudden illness." That phrase — brief and sudden — is worth sitting with. On Friday, Graham was in Kyiv meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He was scheduled to appear on NBC's Meet the Press Sunday morning. By Saturday night, he was gone. Graham served twenty-three years in the United States Senate. Before that, four terms in the House. Before that, thirty-three years in the Air Force, Air National Guard, and Reserve — deployments during the Gulf War, and later Iraq and Afghanistan during congressional recesses. He was in the middle of running for a fifth Senate term. You are going to hear a lot of political tributes this week. Some of you agreed with Senator Graham on almost everything. Some of you disagreed with him on almost everything. That's not the point today. The point is the phrase "brief and sudden." James chapter four asks a question every senator, every citizen, every one of us needs to hear. "What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes." A man who had survived war zones, who had flown into Kyiv while missiles were still landing in Ukraine, died from an illness that came and went in a matter of days. Psalm ninety says, "Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom." That's not morbid. That's clarifying. Because the person who knows their days are numbered lives differently than the person who assumes tomorrow. Pray for his family. And let this news do the work it's meant to do in you. Not fear. Clarity. The United States military launched a third round of strikes against Iran on Saturday. Here's what happened. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps struck a Cyprus-flagged container ship — the GFS Galaxy — in the Strait of Hormuz. They accused it of using an "unauthorized route." One crew member is missing. The engine room sustained significant damage. Iran then announced it was closing the strait. The strait is not just any waterway. Roughly a fifth of the world's oil passes through that narrow channel between Iran and Oman. The United States responded with strikes. Central Command said Iran had been given "yet another opportunity" to demonstrate adherence to the memorandum of understanding, and had again failed. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put it more bluntly. Quote... "Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay." The United Arab Emirates activated its air defense systems against what it called a "missile threat." Ceasefire negotiations that were fragile a week ago now look... let's just say strained. Christians disagree about the specifics of American foreign policy. That is honest and fair. Reasonable believers land in different places on when force is justified and how far it should go. But Scripture is not silent on the wider frame. Psalm forty-six... "Come, behold the works of the Lord, how He has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth." Notice the direction. It is not human diplomacy that finally ends war. It is God who breaks the bow and shatters the spear. Every ceasefire in human history has been temporary. Every peace treaty a pause. The kingdom of Christ is the only kingdom that ends in permanent peace. Pray for wisdom for those making decisions this week. Pray for the missing crew member. And pray, as we are told to pray in First Timothy 2, "for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life." A few more headlines to know about. The World Cup rolls on in America. Argentina survived another scare Saturday night in Kansas City, beating Switzerland in extra time on a Julian Alvarez goal in the one hundred twelfth minute. Lionel Messi did not score, ending a nine-game scoring streak that dated back to Qatar in twenty twenty-two. Argentina now faces England in the semifinal on Wednesday in Atlanta. A useful reminder that even legends have off nights. Humility is not optional. It's assigned. In Kansas, Dana Chandler was convicted of double murder after three trials — twenty-four years after Mike Sisco and Karen Harkness were shot in a Topeka home in 2002. Proverbs 21:15 says, "When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous." Delayed... but not denied. And a story I couldn't skip. A fourteen-year-old boy on a bike ride in Arizona spotted a woman wandering alone in the heat, disoriented. He called her family. He called first responders. He probably saved her life. Loving your neighbor doesn't require a title or a paycheck. Sometimes it just requires a kid who noticed. And from Religion News Service — a look at faith at the World Cup. Players from dozens of nations pointing skyward after goals, kneeling in prayer, wearing crosses on their cleats. The gospel travels wherever people do. Today's verse of the day is Psalm 46, verse 10. "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Every story we covered today pushes the same question. Who is actually in charge? A gunman at a festival? A senator's illness? A missile in the Strait of Hormuz? A courtroom in Kansas? None of them. God is exalted among the nations. God is exalted in the earth. That was true yesterday. It is true this morning. It will be true tomorrow. Thanks for listening to The Gospel Briefing. If today's episode helped you, send it to one person who is anxious about the news. That's how this show grows, and that's how a friend gets encouraged. The headlines will change tomorrow. The One who holds them will not. I'm Charles King. I'll see you tomorrow.