Brothers

There is a sharp contrast between a Christian worldview and a view of the world that is inconsistent with Biblical teaching. I've heard it taught that knowledge leads to wisdom. We should be gaining knowledge from the Word, producing godly wisdom in our hearts and minds. We can gain knowledge, but if we're not applying it, then we miss out on the principles God wants us to live by. 1st Corinthians 2 states:
12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.
13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.
14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.
15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,
16 for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?”But we have the mind of Christ.

So, we can question who is controlling our minds.  Are social media and other information on the Internet the primary determinants of what we believe?  Or are we beginning with the Scriptures and filtering the information we receive through a Christian worldview?  The world and the devil can deceive us to think that things are OK for us spiritually, when we are continuing to base our lives on the world's principles.  We have to be discerning about our spiritual intake and make sure our minds are being renewed to God's truth, according to Romans 12.

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Colossians 2 presents a clarion call to make sure that we possess a Christian worldview, and we allow that basis, found in the Scriptures, to govern how we live. Our Christian view of the world is quite the opposite of allowing the world's view to be imposed on us. We can read these words:
8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;
10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

David was raised in a Christian home.  But, he had his doubts.

A Christian Post article relates: "...the attorney and author began considering serious philosophical questions about faith, including suffering and why a supposedly all-loving God condemns people to Hell." Eventually, he was convinced of "overwhelming evidence in favor of Christianity's truth claims." The article says that David "came into a full relationship with Christ in his mid-30s."  

He says: "People think that Christianity is based on blind faith," adding, "No, no, it's based on evidence. But faith is critical. Without faith, meaning putting your trust in Christ for your personal salvation, you're not going to get there, no matter how much you believe intellectually."

These words came from an interview David did with Joel Rosenberg of All Israel News, in which he related that after becoming a Christian, "...he wondered if his brother was a Christian." About his older brother, he said, "I mean, he thought he was in my view, and he embraced it intellectually...But did he think enough about it? And did it really affect his life in the way you would think if you were truly a faithful Christian?"

I have had the opportunity to interview David multiple times in the past about Finding Jesus in the Old Testament, The True Jesus, and Jesus is Risen.  He has developed quite a platform as a commentator and author. 

But, his brother had a platform, too; but more importantly, David wanted to know where his older brother stood on matters of faith.  So, as The Christian Post states:

He started witnessing to his older sibling, even asking him straightforwardly whether he truly believed. Rush Limbaugh answered, "yes." David Limbaugh asked why his brother didn't discuss his faith more. Rush Limbaugh allegedly replied that he didn't talk about it much because he didn't think he knew enough about it. He didn't want to make something he wasn't an expert in the focus of his talk show.

That's right, we're talking about the pioneer of talk radio as we know it today, Rush Limbaugh, who obviously was sympathetic to Christian thought, but perhaps didn't totally embrace it - until cancer struck.  The cancer that took his life just over 2 years ago.  The Christian Post article goes on to say:

"With Rush, he was experiencing this hardship, and he was taken down to the lowest point, and he turned," David Limbaugh added. "He had to turn; he had nowhere else to turn. Even if he hadn't had faith in Christ before, he had such sincere, heartfelt faith."

He said his brother began talking to God daily and reading the Bible, even texting his brother for insight on certain passages, something David Limbaugh had never seen him do before.

"It really doesn't matter if Rush embraced Christ 10 years before or one day before he died," he said. "What matters is, and I can say emphatically that he did embrace Him. I would say for sure in the early part of that last year. I think he did before, but I don't know. All I can say is he had an exclamation point on it during that time. He got his faith through Christ, and he leaned on Him."

David Limbaugh was intent on making sure that his brother really knew Jesus as His Savior. That can be a watchword to each of us, as we think about praying, living, and talking in a way that we bring our family along with us into the Kingdom.  We should possess that heart for those whom God has given to us.

David himself had considered the claims of the Bible and personalized the Scriptures and acted on them, coming into a saving knowledge of Christ.  We each must take the Bible seriously and purpose to living our lives according to what we find as we study and meditate on God's Word - not merely trying to attach Scripture to our own opinions, but allowing Scripture to originate our opinions.  Rush Limbaugh was certainly known for his opinions, but, while his positions on various issues were consistent with a Christian worldview, I don't believe that worldview was consistently the origin - or delivery - of his opinions, because, as David seems to affirm, it wasn't clear that he possessed it. 

David's story is a great example of how adversity can be a tool to lead people to Christ, and we can capitalize on that.  Rush's cancer diagnosis was something God used to open his heart and bring him into a relationship with the Lord.