The New Beginning of Luis Palau
The State of Oregon lost one of its most influential citizens yesterday, and this is how I will remember him.
Yesterday, renowned international evangelist Luis Palau died at the age of 86.
It’s impossible to quantify Mr. Palau’s impact on the world. His ministry spanned 61 years. He lead rallies in major cities across the world, and his radio sermons were broadcast for many decades throughout Latin America. He’s the man most often compared favorably to Billy Graham. It always tripped me out that such an influential preacher lived 20 minutes outside Portland in the suburb of Cedar Mill.
Where Brother Palau chose to put down roots shaped him, his family, and his ministry considerably. He was a different sort of evangelist, operating outside the traditional corridors of American Christian power, avoiding the siren’s call of political sway, intently focused on the global church. He had serious local impact, too. In choosing to be Oregonian, Mr. Palau held deep meaning for many of our region’s believers. The amount of people I know who worked with Luis or were directly inspired by his Gospel teaching is in the hundreds. Here’s what my friend Bao posted on Facebook yesterday:
I remember attending a conference in Portland when Luis spoke. He held in his hand a stack of paper that was a list of people groups where there was still no access to the Bible. He started flipping the first page in the stack of conjoined dot matrix printer paper, and they cascaded to the floor...endless. We left for the mission field a year later. His love for the Gospel was so evident and so inspiring.
I understand betting on notable preachers to be good people is a fraught practice. It always has been, seeing that we aren’t designed to put our faith in men. Still, for every scandal, there’s a vaster, less publicized list of honorable servants genuinely seeking the path of Christ. My encounter with Mr. Palau was brief, yet my impression was of a man whose center was Jesus and whose life blossomed light as a result.
About that brief encounter: in August of 2019, I interviewed Luis and Kevin Palau for a podcast at Stark & Main. (I also read Palau: A Life on Fire to prepare, which is a wonderful memoir.) That interview is one of the highlights of my life. We spoke about the cancer diagnosis and the impact of Portland on his faith and ministry. We also talked about death. About nine months previous, Luis had heard the dreaded words “6 months to a year.” That terrible diagnosis can be a gift, though, and I’m grateful his friends and family and the whole world had Luis with us for a few more years. To close this post, I’ll include one of my favorite passages from that interview.
Godspeed, Luis Palau. Thank you for your work and the way you listened and for showing so many how to follow Jesus.
Jordan: I was just rereading your chapter on death and facing the Valley [of Death] and it's been very impactful in the couple of times I've read it. You mentioned both feeling uniquely attacked in this time and also that you are anticipating, that you've got this great anticipation. Will you talk through a little bit of that dichotomy?
Luis Palau: Yes. My father died when I was 10 years old. To me, death became real. My dad was gone and he wasn't coming back. He happened to be a believer in Jesus Christ with all his heart, lived for Christ. He was only 34 when he died and he died singing a song, clapping his hands, quoting St. Paul in Philippians, "I'm going to be with Jesus which is better by far.” That made an impact I never forgot.
I bet you—I'm not a betting man—but if you hear my sermons—which will really put you to sleep—for the last 60 years, I'll bet you that in every campaign, the closing night, I would talk about death and heaven. Mostly Heaven because it was real to me and has been. When the announcement came, "You have incurable cancer," I thought, "Now let's see how this is going to work."
I had total peace, to be very honest. How interesting to be able to put to the proof what I've been preaching on for 65 years or something, telling people and seeing many die at peace. At the same time, I felt what you mentioned, an attack. Intellectually, it was like somebody actually talking into my ear and saying… It was an interesting thing. Many Christians are shocked when I tell them, but I warned them it'll probably happen to them too.
I then realized [the story of] when Jesus Christ on the night [before] he was crucified, He said, "The Prince of this world is coming but he has no ground in me." If Satan attacked Jesus Christ, the creator of the world, on the night before he was going to be crucified, he'll surely attack us little wimps who are nobodies compared to Jesus Christ. What I consider a strange attack was “What makes you think that you are going to Heaven? What if you are one of those that Jesus said, ‘Lord, we spoke about you in the public squares and we healed people in your name’ and the Lord says, ‘Depart from me, I don't know you.’“ And it was like Satan said to me, "What if you are one of those?" and I thought, Gee, what if I am one of those? I preached to millions of people, what if I…? It was a temporary thing. I began to read in the Book of Hebrews, chapters 7, 8, 9 and 10, over and over. I almost have it memorized by now. Not quite but almost, and a great peace came over me. I said, "Satan, your attack is real. Yes, I should be condemned but I am rescued by the death of my Lord Jesus Christ. I have eternal life. So, out of here in His name." He hasn't come back. [laughs]
It really was a real attack. I do believe the Bible teaches such things happen, especially with the illustration of Christ himself. Anyway, to me, the assurance of heaven is a glorious thing. It's as real as anything else that has happened in my life and the Bible promises. Even non-Christians, you know how sometimes people say, "He thought he died and gone to heaven"? These are people who don't even believe in God or Heaven!
There's a tendency in the human heart to believe there has to be some glorious place up ahead and there is and it's called Heaven. Lately, I've been speaking in churches about dying and knowing your way into Heaven and I call it two airports: Heaven and Hell. The one is not recommended. They crash every time they try to land in Hell. But heaven is a glorious place that is real. It's perfect. It's everything that you dream of when you think of perfection. That's what it is, then more than that, even! So it's a glorious thing and people need to know and we ought tell them.
What a privilege to have had that interview! And what a sweet testimony. So glad you got to have a quality conversation with him!