Rush Limbaugh Looks to his ‘Personal Relationship with Jesus’ in Light of Grim Cancer Update
Legendary Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh took to the air Monday afternoon to give a health update, and in the process opened up about the role his faith was having throughout these challenging times:
I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is of immense value, strength, confidence. That’s why I’m able to remain fully committed to the idea that what is supposed to happen will happen when it’s meant to.
The nearly 70-year old political commentator shared last February that he has been diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer, a sickness which has a grim prognosis and which treatment focuses on slowing the progression of the disease, seeking to maintain quality of life, and minimizing symptoms wherever possible rather than curing it.
Depending on the nature of the cancer, it has a 5-year survival rate of between 1-10% and a 1-year survival rate between 15-19%.
Limbaugh said during Monday’s show, speaking to 20 million listeners:
I feel more and more blessed hearing from you, knowing that you’re out there praying and everything else you’re doing. That is a blessing. It’s just a series of blessings. And I’m grateful to be able to come here to the studio and tell you about it and really maintain as much normalcy as I can….the only thing that any of us are certain of is right now, today. That’s why I thank God every morning when I wake up. I thank God that I did. I try to make it the best day that I can…I try to remain as committed to the idea that what’s supposed to happen will happen when it’s meant to.
I mentioned at the outset of this, on the first day I told you, that I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is of immense value, strength, confidence, and that’s why I’m able to remain fully committed to the idea of what is supposed to happen will happen when it’s meant to. There’s some comfort in knowing that some things are not in our hands. There’s a lot of fear associated with that too, but there is some comfort. It’s helpful to be able to trust and to believe in a higher plan.
While Rush has long spoken of his belief in God, it has always been in more generic types of reference, eschewing talk of repentance and faith in Christ with more broad terms and phrases such as “This country needs to understand the importance of religion” and “I believe in God.” Even during the initial cancer revelation back in February, he said “I told the staff today that I have a deeply personal relationship with God that I do not proselytize about, but I do, and I have been working that relationship tremendously.”
The fact is that specific reference to Jesus and having a “personal relationship” with him is a new development for Limbaugh.
Rush’s Brother, David, a well-known political commentator in his own right, is a professing evangelical Christian, and we can only hope that he ministers to Rush in these last days, helping him truly understand the gift of faith and everlasting life.
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A couple of years ago, well before his cancer diagnosis, Rush Limbaugh gave a very clear presentation of the Gospel on his show. It was very encouraging to hear him say this.
He has, many times, talked about God being the Creator and the foolishness of believing that Man can do do anything to alter “Climate Change!”
I have always wondered about this, although I don’t listen to him anymore but tune in to his competitor off and on from 12 to 3 PM weekdays, but I heard him about 15 years ago give, what would pass for a pretty lame description of the gospel, and then I found out he was raised in the apostate United Methodist Church, which made me very concerned for him. I certainly hope I am wrong and wish him well and hope he has become born again, or if not, the Lord will draw him to himself, according to his will.
One of the things I’ve noticed since I started listening to conservative talk radio with Rush back in the early 90s, and especially these days when it comes to the Patriot channel on Sirius XM, as well as “National Review” magazine, that they are all dominated by Roman Catholics, which is very troubling because they can’t see that their so-called church opposes the gospel 180 degrees. One outlier would be Mark Levin, who is on Patriot from 6 to 9 PM who is Jewish and not messianic. While I agree with their political views, in the end, that doesn’t save anybody.
For decades, if Rush was a Christian, he certainly did not demonstrate or articulate any exuberance in addressing the gospel of faith alone or the person of Christ when callers brought it up. He often would reply with a more generic “God” affirmation. He certainly never seemed to used the expression “saved”.
None of this is proof he wasn’t but why now are his utterances more profound? Well, we know why.
It is true that his program was socio/political in nature but it was, at times, religious and again, his forcefullness in speaking about a personal relationship with Christ (I would still rather hear that he has believed on Christ who died for his sins) was always absent. Perhaps he was a weak and truant disciple and knew he was ill-prepared for a theological discussion.
This made me view him with suspicion, as if his career and ambition were priority, if he was a believer, than fidelity to speaking clearly about being saved and Christ being the only way. It made me measure his judgments which were still, quite good.
All that aside, he was been a socio/political beacon of American constitutionalism which has given rise to the greatest freedom, opportunity and prosperity in history. His efforts are our debt. And now his testimony seems most clear than ever. May God bless and edify.
Suffering from cancer and facing a grim diagnosis is not something I would wish on anyone. Limbaugh has had more than his share of bad times with his health, including a long struggle with his hearing. I certainly hope his “personal relationship with Christ” is real, given what he is going through.
I’m not one who believes that a person’s “personal relationship with Christ” can be defined by the denomination they belong to or the actions they take in life that might not be consistent with someone’s interpretation of what it means to be a Christian. The Bible doesn’t say “believe in the Lord Jesus Christ” and have all your doctrine correct, or join the right church or vote the “right” way. A personal relationship with Christ is based solely on repentance and faith in Christ’s sacrifice which gives grace. Perfect behavior or right doctrine or where you go to church is not a criterion.
I’ve heard him say, on many occasions, in one of his speaking engagements and it’s in his books, that there’s nothing wrong with distorting facts to gain support for a political position as long as its conservative. In other words, it’s OK to lie for a cause and because the liberal, drive-by media does it so why not? That and his lack of attention to the details of important facts lead me to turn the radio to music when his program comes on. It doesn’t cause me to question his faith.