On February 17, 2021, Rush Limbaugh, “America’s Anchorman”, lost his battle with lung cancer. Mr. Limbaugh had been hosting his Rush Limbaugh Show for over thirty years at the time of his death, and will be greatly missed by the millions of people he influenced over the years.
I don’t listen to a lot of podcasts or talk shows, so I never really heard much of what Mr. Limbaugh said on his show. I was watching, however, with most of the nation on February 5, 2020 (in the world before COVID lockdowns–sigh) when President Donald Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our country’s highest civilian honor.
Though I haven’t listened to his show, I recently read two of his books, Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims and Rush Revere and the First Patriots. (For those less cultured than myself, Rush Revere is a time traveller who rides a talking horse named Liberty to different events in American history, yelling ‘rush, rush, rushing to history!’ as they go.) Yes, they’re fiction, and yes, they’re probably aimed at individuals a little younger than myself (I read them to my little sister, so I guess that makes it better–maybe?), but they’re good nonetheless. One of my favorite scenes in the book was when Rush Revere was standing with William Bradford on Plymouth Rock:
“I have tried to be like this granite boulder, steadfast and immovable,” said William. “It has not been easy. But God has made the impossible possible…Though the winds may blow and the storms may rage, the rock does not cower in fear. Do you know why?”
I waited for William’s response, eager to know the answer.
He continued, “It is fearless because it knows where it belongs.”
I paused before I said, “And you know that the Pilgrims belong here at Plymouth Bay.”
“Yes,” William said, nodding. “And each of us can be fearless and strong like this rock when we know, without a doubt, where we belong and what we should do. God helps us to know these things. I knew we would make it to the New World. I knew we would find a home like Plymouth Plantation. I knew, eventually, that I would need to give each family their own piece of land and allow them the freedoms to enjoy the profits of their labor. And I know, today, that this land will prosper and become a great nation. And it will remain a great nation as long as we are one nation under God.”
There’s a lot of truth in that statement.
But that aside, I believe there are three main lessons that we can learn from Rush Limbaugh.
1 . History is Important
One thing I noticed while reading Mr. Limbaugh’s books was that he felt very strongly that history should not only be taught and preserved, but understood. On this, I absolutely agree with him. As George Santayana wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
To say it another way, “Learn from your mistakes.” But if we don’t know the mistakes that past generations have made, how are we to avoid making the same mistakes? If we don’t know what has already been tried, how do we know what does and doesn’t work?
Answer: we don’t. Therefore the cycle of failure will continue.
This is why history is so important. This is also why so many radical leftists want to erase history, so that this generation and those in the future won’t be able to look back and see the past failures of anarchy and socialism. In George Orwell’s 1984, the Party employs thousands of people to constantly rewrite newspaper articles and books in order to erase what has been written or said about the past and the present; now, all it takes is an Internet connection.
Our history is vital to our survival as a civilized people, both as Americans and as humankind. We must remember it, preserve it, understand it, and teach it to our children and grandchildren. We have an obligation to our ancestors to remember what they accomplished, and a responsibility to our posterity to preserve that knowledge for them.
As Cicero put it, “To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?”
2 . Humanity as a Whole (and Media in Particular) is Hateful
When I heard Wednesday afternoon that Mr. Limbaugh had passed away, I looked it up online to verify. What I saw was horrifying, but sadly, not shocking. Below are screenshots of two of the first articles I saw.
All the articles I read were about the same. They gave his wife’s statement, threw in a short bio, and then went to work telling everyone how horrible of a person Rush Limbaugh was.
I don’t have a problem with holding people accountable for what they say and do. That’s why this makes me angry. When someone lets one person off the hook and then viciously attacks another based on the person’s beliefs, that is not only inconsistency—it’s discrimination, a symptom of hatred. In a world where the MSM gives a free pass to historical figures like mega-racist Charles Darwin and the eugenically motivated Margaret Sanger, as well as present-day violent mobs such as BLM, can they not have a little respect for the dead?
Mr. Limbaugh literally died a few hours before these articles were posted. A human being, made in the image of God, has passed from this world to the next, from time into eternity–and all these people can say is how bad he was? No condolences. No compassion or sympathy for his family. Just “He was a horrible person.” Basically, that’s the MSM saying “We’re glad he’s gone.” I mean, how hateful do you have to be? If you don’t believe in the radical corruption of mankind, just open up Facebook or Twitter and you’ll have mountains of evidence for total depravity before you can say “Google.”
3 . Death Visits the Great and Small
Rush Limbaugh, in the words of his wife Kathryn, was “larger than life.” And yet death took him just as it will take all of us. Some of us linger for a while, others are snatched up in a moment, but we will all die just the same.
With all the distractions around us, how often do we pass by eternal things to pursue the pleasures and fleeting joys of this world? It’s so easy to forget that this world is temporary, here one day and gone the next.
Death rules this fallen, broken world with an iron fist. It takes no bribes and it hears no pleas for mercy. It comes like a thief in the night, with no regard for our careers and our plans and hopes for the future. While we’re alive, we’re able to thrust these kinds of thoughts into the darker corners of our minds, but as we creep nearer to the edge of eternity, we tend to retrieve those notions and fears and mediate on our own fragility. But these thoughts aren’t bad — they’re necessary, if we’re to prepare for the death we know will inevitably come.
“Through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” In this way, “death reigned from Adam,” making subjects of all humanity. When Adam sinned, every person on earth sinned with him, and because we’re all tainted with the poison of sin, we all die. Our own sins (our lies, thefts, lusts, and blasphemies) also condemn us to death and hell, which are the just sentences for our crimes against God. No one escapes this condemnation. We “are all under sin…there is none righteous, not even one.”
Romans 3 and 5 clearly state that all men sin, and also that there’s only one way to be cleansed of that sin and made righteous before God. This one Way is Christ Jesus, who took God’s wrath — the wrath we deserved — upon Himself on the cross. In doing so, Christ became our substitute, and now God can justly justify sinners by laying His Son’s righteousness upon us as our own, just as He poured His wrath upon Christ on our behalf. Those who obey Christ’s command to repent and believe will be saved, and by His cleansing blood their sins shall be made “whiter than snow.”
But we’re not only forgiven of our sin and saved from hell — we’re also redeemed from the fear of death. Christ rose again to give believers eternal life, defeating death as completely as He conquered the sin that brought it into this world. Death has been swallowed up in Christ’s victory, and when we have the hope of eternal life within us, death loses its power, because “the sting of death is sin,” and when Christ took our sins He also took the sting of death for those who believe.
And when we have no fear of the judgement after death, death itself becomes only a door to life — an everlasting life we will spend in the presence of the great and holy God who redeemed us. “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:22)
I don’t know if Mr. Limbaugh was a Christian. I hope that he was. But either way, his passing is a reminder to us that no one is exempt from death, and should move us to make sure we’re prepared for our own.
I sincerely doubt that any of Mr. Limbaugh’s family members read my blog, but I would like to offer them my condolences and let them know that I am praying for them. As they work their way through this season of life, let’s keep them in our prayers and remember these lessons that Rush Limbaugh taught us, in his life and his death. As we all go rush, rush, rushing into eternity, let’s remember our history and how fragile we really are, and that the only way of salvation from eternal death is through Christ alone.
SDG <><
Top photo: Wikipedia
*Author’s Note: I will be posting twice a month now, instead of trying to publish every week. Thanks for reading!*
Annsley
semperscripto.com 
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