What Preachers Can Learn from Rush Limbaugh’s Predicament

The first time I heard Rush Limbaugh on the radio in New Orleans nearly 20 years ago, I was embarrassed. I thought, “What a terrible preacher — yelling and screaming.” Little did I know!

In time, I came to enjoy the fellow’s rants as much as the next person. He was a showman, sometimes spoke the truth, often crossed the good-taste line in the interest of entertaining and making his point. He was clearly an egotist of the first order, and it was fun to see him drive liberals up the wall.

I could never take a full three-hour dose of the man, but it had nothing to do with his political views. His “preaching” style was unbearable. He got on my nerves. He loved the sound of his own voice too much. It took him forever to make a point. He would begin talking on some subject and interrupt himself to chase a rabbit, then interrupt the interruption. I was one of the conservatives and it irritated me. No telling what the liberals were thinking!

My opinion is that Rush Limbaugh has had his day. What made him strong has now done him in. (I’d teasingly say that I’m writing his obituary here except for the fact that that task has been done countless times over the past 20 years and he’s still very much with us!)

What I mean is he has outlived his usefulness. Look for more radio stations to drop him as they realize his support base has deteriorated and it’s now safe to do what they’ve wanted to do for ages: cancel him.

He has no one to blame but himself. And that’s where preachers can learn an important lesson.


Rush Limbaugh thrived by opposing. He was in his heyday during the Bill Clinton administration, found life more difficult during the George Bush years, and then was thrilled when Barack Obama won the election last November. Finally, he would have someone to oppose again. (Editorial cartoonists know the feeling. A great guy in the White House and everything going well provides no subjects for great cartoons. But scandals? Those are red meat!)

If a person makes his living by opposing, he’d better have firm ground to stand on and a positive message somewhere in the mix, otherwise, he will alienate the very people he wants to win.

The ground Rush has been standing on has been shrinking until it’s now the size of a shoebox. Okay, soapbox.

That’s why he decided to throw a hail-Mary pass a few days ago and declare that he wants Obama to fail. A hail-Mary pass in football means you are going for broke, putting everything on the outcome of one risky play.

“I hope he fails.” That’s what he said on his January 16 radio broadcast. He repeated, “I hope Obama fails.”

The nation — I’m talking conservatives, liberals, everyone — was shocked. Now, he went on to elaborate that since Obama’s agenda is to turn the country into a Socialist government, that’s what he meant that he wants him to fail. He wants liberalism to fail.

But that is not what was communicated, it is not what the nation heard, and it is what has finally severed the umbilical cord that has tied conservatives to him for so long. The courageous ones — and there are some left, thankfully — are finally saying “enough is enough.”

That word, incidentally — “Enough!” — is emblazoned across the front of the March 16 issue of Newsweek. A black rectangle, evidently representing duct tape, has blacked out the mouth of a bloated head image of Rush, with that word inside the blackness. One wonders if they enhanced a photo of Limbaugh to make him appear that fat on the cover. A few years ago, he had slimmed down considerably. If the photo is genuine, then we might conclude that his appetite for food matches his yearnings for notoriety.

The Newsweek issue contains a lengthy article from a well-known conservative on why Rush Limbaugh is wrong. David Frum points out that in saying, “I hope (Obama) fails,” Limbaugh has played right into the hands of his critics. He gave them the sound-bite they would have killed for. Now, their task is to make people believe that Limbaugh speaks for the entire Republican Party. Accomplish that, and the GOP will be marginalized for the next generation.

I’m a citizen of this country and, for what it’s worth, a history-political science major in college, so I have thoughts and opinions on all these things. But for our purposes here, I am simply trying to point out to pastors the hazards of going negative almost exclusively. Some people will eat it up for a while, but you can’t live on such a diet. They will suffocate from the negativism and eventually abandon such a preacher.

“Pastor, you need to preach on sin more.” Every pastor has heard that.

It’s a wise man of God who knows just how negative to get and how much more important it is that he stay positive. The word Gospel, after all, means “good news.” The message Jesus Christ brought to earth is not that we are a bunch of low-down good-for-nothing sinners who deserve to burn in hell forever. That may have been true — or not, depending on how you parse it — but that was not His message.

The message from Heaven is that there is a Savior, His name is Jesus, and God is now forgiving sins on the basis of what Jesus did on Calvary. By repenting and believing in Jesus Christ, people may be born into the family of God and live forever. That’s the good news. Or the heart of it. There’s more, of course. The New Testament is filled with it. We recommend a daily reading of hefty portions of that Word.

In the meantime, let us be careful whom we pattern our ministries after. Not everyone being successful is the right role model for a follower of Jesus Christ.

24 thoughts on “What Preachers Can Learn from Rush Limbaugh’s Predicament

  1. Rush may serve your purpose to make a point about preachers but I think you are dead wrong about him being no longer useful. He is more popular than ever. His appearance of being a pompous egotist is part of his personna–mainly to irritate liberals. Attacks on him have been personal (including the piece by David Frum) and not credible attacks on his ideas. He is not altogether negative–just against those things that he believes are disastrous for our country.

    But, I do agree that he sometimes is a bit too much to listen to for three hours.

  2. I agree with Bob, and knew this one would generate some good comments.

    Seems to me, the message that was “communicated, what the nation heard” was the message that the mainstream media wanted us to hear. In the grand sceme of things, very few actually heard what Rush said in the context he said it — but we’ve ALL heard what he said in the context that those who despise him (and conservatives in general) wanted to communicate.

    Newsweek — as radically liberal as any “mainstream” magazine could possibly be — is a prime example.

  3. I would suggest watching the interview with Hannity where Rush made the statement that was, is and continues to be taken out of context…there was a statement before THE statement…something to the effect of “if he wants to introduce a social adgenda, THEN yes, i hope he fails”. NOTE: the social had an ist behind it…but the checker would not post because it spelled the word that is in that word…wow! that’s just crazy!!!?)

    Rush is actually on his game better than he has been in a LONG time…of course he has more incompetence to point out…and he doesn’t have to make anything up…just watch the mouths of the current administration…dark humor for sure…House, Senate, all of em!

    I would think you would want to look before and after the statement in question for ALL the facts…have you ever been critized for something you didn’t say or anyone ever take a word or phrase or portion of a sermon to “demonize” you Brother Joe?

    and if Rush spurs positive change in the GOP…puts it back to being Republicans…not democrat lookalikes…then Bravo Rush!!!

  4. LOL Wes! Sorry about that. If you had any idea how much spam this site gets, you’d understand why we have to block anything and everything that sounds like the drug that rhymes with “See Alice”…

  5. Joe,

    From another “Red Neck” Conservative who grew up about 50 miles from your home in Alabama,attended Birmingham Southern for one quarter before spending time in the Navy during WWII. Joe you are absolutely wrong if you feel Rush was in error to say he hoped Obama failed. I heard his speech and he followed his comments with an explanation that what he desired was to see Obama’s Liberal agenda fail. Joe, so do a lot of us who are concerned about the well-being of our Nation. Especially with the unbridled give away plans that have are being forced on us. You need to be aware that the Democrats have lied, slandered, and abused George Bush. You might not realize it but James Carvill ( a great Democratic Leader?)was conducting a meeting of Liberals (at the very moment 911 ocurred) trying to develop ways to ensure George Bush’s failure.

    So as they would say in Navoo,Alabama,what’s good for the goose is good for the Gander.

  6. For Marty…I wasn’t really upset…I was amazed that the checker found words in the words! I must admit that’s pretty cool! and in those yet to be spoken famous words of some great philosopher…”that spam…just a bunch of baloney!” Blessings, Wes

  7. Joe, you “riled’ a lot of people on this one. One mistake you made and others have pointed out is that you are reading the wrong publications -Newsweek.

    If you watched the CPAC convention speech a few days ago, you would know his intentions. Rush is a conservative and he is very passionate about that. He is not a preacher and the lesson for us here is for our passion for the Gospel to be as intense as his passion for the conservative movement.

    He is concerned for the temporal, present life for others as we should be for the spiritual, eternal life of others. He wants people in this present life to be successful as we should be wanting people to become Christians.

    His goals are for the present, ours is for the eternal. Yes, we live in this present world and should make it the best we can but our focus should be on the eternal.

    I often wonder what an influence he would be if he did become an evangelist.

    Dr J

  8. Joe. . .I’m with you all the way oh this one. I stopped listening to Rush the day he declared himself “the voice of God”. To me, he is “Mr. Irreverent” and “Mr. Irrelevant”.

  9. If you’re reading the Newsweek magazine, it’s no wonder you would see Rush the way you do. They are the left-wingers’ and they tainted what Rush said. I HEARD him say….he wanted OBama’s POLICY’s to fail. As a political science major,and then a pastor too, I find it hard to believe you don’t see who’s trying to destroy this country. I praise Rush for speaking the truth in spite of what the main stream says about him. We need him, and yes……..even a preacher needs to speak more honestly about the facts of the Bible. I believe that the ministers of today should have more courage, like Rush, and preach what the Bible says….that there IS a Hell. Otherwise, why would we need Saving Grace.It’s part of the message. sas

  10. Joe, I agree with you 100%. And I admire the courage it took for you to write this to an audience of overwhelmingly conservative readers. That’s part of the problem you spoke of: Not only do we pastors far too often “go negative,” we almost always do it in a way that is “preaching to the choir.” Our people enjoy hearing about all the evil people out there in Hollywood and Washington. They love to hear a message denouncing atheists and homosexuals. But a good preacher afflicts the comfortable, talking about the sins we conservative folks struggle with, like arrogance, lack of compassion, and spiritual laziness. Like you, I used to find Rush entertaining. It’s fun to hear someone bash the silly notions on the other side. But then I realized that’s the problem with political discourse in our country: We just erect straw men and knock them down. We don’t even attempt to persuade anyone of the rightness of our views. Before you can persuade, you first have to respect the person you’re trying to persuade. Rush is part of the problem in this country, not the solution. And, as you said, we preachers need to learn that lesson.

  11. I found the statement that Rush “hopes his policies fail” to be shocking. Does Rush now want to bring down our government because a Republican isn’t our president? I stopped listening to Rush about five years ago. Rush has made many statements that are just plain FALSE. If he doesn’t check his facts, he has no credibility and he is NOT “speaking the truth”.

  12. This one is just too much fun to stay out of. I can handle Rush for about 5 minutes at a time so he gets a bit of my listening while running errands.

    As an Economist by training and a capitalist by trade I am very concerned about the direction we are headed as a country. We are close to having more people receiving from the government than paying into the government and our politicians continue to press it further in that direction as it gives them power over votes. The farther toward the “So” word we go(don’t want to get caught in the filter) the farther down we will spiral economically, as has been proven time and time again world-wide.

    Also: One should never put too much faith in what Newsweek or Time have to say. They are 2 of the most vocal supporters of “Global Warming” and in the 70’s they were 2 of the most vocal on “Global Cooling” and the imminent “World food shortage”

    Keep up the good word and thanks for getting us riled up a bit from time to time.

  13. Well, Brother Joe, the good thing about this column is that you are reaching out to AND hearing back from folks from Michigan to Muscle Shoals. Looks like this one stirred the gumbo pot with a BIG BOAT paddle. Lots of folks hate Rush Limbaugh. I don’t hate him, but I wish he would clean up his mouth and quit claiming to be a gift from God. I hope they don’t cancel him because that will mean censorship for one side and free rein for the other, sure as shootin’. I have been glad that someone is speaking out for the conservative agenda which is in total and complete disarray. I try to read BOTH sides of every argument and pray before I vote. It helps me to recognize the enemy when I read those “other” magazines and know who or what it is that I am fighting or supporting. In my opinion, it is our nation who failed in electing the reigning president…He is certainly a promise keeping president and his policies and executive orders are scaring me to death. Left-wing and left-handed, he is signing and signaturing us over and out. Our only hope is for the Lord to rain down the lessons we need to learn…then rescue us and set us in the right direction once again. Truth is, this situation in our country is a spiritual problem rather than a political one. My greatest prayer is that I can be the best ME I can be during these days while we wait. +B+B+

  14. Joe, I’m defending Rush!!! He has powerful messages which happen to express my thoughts and feelings, Agree that he’s somewhat pompous and egotistical, but believe he’s an asset to our cause and purpose. His speech was taken out of context and I hope it will be proven to the advantage of those of us who call ourselves Conservatists.

  15. You know why I love your column? Your ability to stir your readers to think, act and react. I personally think Rush Limbaugh is one of the greatest entertainers of the last 30 years. He is living proof that one can pull themselves up out of the malais of job failure and become a firm fixture in the daily lives of 20 million Americans. He has his fans and his detractors, but then again so does Obama. It seems to me that Obama wants us to ignore the opposition to his agendas. I agree that we must pray for our President, but I won’t pray for his policies that are contrary to Biblical thought (removing abortion bans and the protection of federal workers from retribution if they refuse to perform abortions). None of us need the feds in deeper in our pockets than they already are. And the tax cuts! What is it 13 dollars a week…that is not a tax cut or a stimulus…I think we need Rush and Michael Reagan and a whole host of others to rise up and call this exactly what it is and that is the Marxing of America. It has already failed in Russia and the other former soviet states; why are we now thinking it will work here?

  16. Joe,

    I think you would do better at trying to convert Rush than cancel him. We really need his voice on our side. There are already too many on the other side and if they get their way with the fairness doctrine we are in trouble!

  17. Actually, Mr. Limbaugh first said it on his show of Jan 16th. He said he was going to respond to a “major American Publication” that was asking a cross section of prominent folks to write in 400 words or less what their hope was for the incoming President. After relating what he thinks Obama intends to do, he says (from the transcripts): “So I’m thinking of replying to the guy, “Okay, I’ll send you a response, but I don’t need 400 words, I need four: I hope he fails.” (interruption) What are you laughing at?” He then went on to point out that libralism is what got us to this point, blah, blah, blah. Even though his party controlled both houses for 12 years and the whole shebang from 2000 to 2007. He explained his remarks on Hannity much later. That would be the “I think it’s ok to torture and I’m a Christian” Hannity.

    I printed and read Mr. Limbaugh’s hour long speech to the CPAC and honestly didn’t read any “ideas”. Republicans are currently in a “just say no” frame of mind (thanks Mrs. R., that one worked out so well) and seem to have nothing else to offer.

    I’m not a political science major and hate the necessity of “party” politics but, I have a feeling that if the Republican Party wants to follow the likes of Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Reilly, and the charming Ms. Coulter, they will be doomed to wander in the wilderness for a while.

    I do hope they stay out for a little while. We’ll need some time to repair that pesky Constitution.

  18. FROM JOE—

    Wow. Marty sent this out Wednesday night, I stayed home Thursday and worked on my taxes, and turned on my office computer Friday morning and found 18 comments! The most we’ve had in a while. Say anything you want to about God and people take it in stride. Say something against their politics and boy, you’ve stirred up something! (That’s another lesson for preachers! Stay outa politics! ha)

    What amazes and sort of tickles me about this is those of our readers who think if I read Newsweek (which I’ve done for 40years ever since they gave us a good rate when I was in seminary), then that has poisoned my thinking. As though I have no mind of my own, and as though that’s the only thing I read. It isn’t, and it hasn’t.

    Thanks for chiming in. Everyone still loving one another?

    Joe

  19. “Everyone still loving one another?”

    Let me get back with you on that one….lol

  20. No comment on Rush. However, as a pastor, I find that expository preaching which allows the text to determine the message always balances out the positive with the negative. If preaching the text it keeps the preacher honest and will avoid the temptation of skipping text that deal with topics such as hell. Some preachers avoid the hard demands of the Bible.

  21. As one who has read your Newsweek for nearly 40 years, and has witnessed how it’s changed over the years, I can’t help but wonder why you still give them your money…

    😉

  22. Well, it is certain that Brother Joe struck a cord! Some pretty passionate responses!

    I hope that we are as passionate about the Gospel.

    After reading all of the responses, it is pretty clear to me we have a nation divided rather than united on many fronts.

    the Gospel can unite us. PMM

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