Tim Keller, Famed Pastor and Best-Selling Author, Shares Heartbreaking Diagnosis
The Christian community has recently had to grieve the loss of one of its giants, Ravi Zacharias.
He touched countless lives before being taken home on May 19, shortly after being diagnosed with Sarcoma.
Now another well-known figurehead of the Christian faith has gotten a cancer diagnosis.
On Sunday, Timothy Keller shared the sad news with his followers on social media.
“Less than 3 weeks ago I didn’t know I had cancer,” he wrote on Twitter. “Today I’m headed to the National Cancer Institute at the NIH for additional testing before beginning chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer next week back in New York City.”
The diagnosis was very nearly accidental — except, of course, it was no accident. Keller referred to the discovery as “providential.”
“I feel great and have no symptoms,” the 69-year-old continued. “It was what doctors call an ‘incidental pickup,’ otherwise known as providential intervention.
— Timothy Keller (@timkellernyc) June 7, 2020
“I have terrific human doctors, but most importantly I have the Great Physician himself caring for me. Though we have had times of shock and fear, God has been remarkably present with me through all the many tests, biopsies, and surgery of the past few weeks.”
Keller is both the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, New York, and president of Redeemer City to City, which is a church-planting outreach focusing on urban culture, according to his Facebook page.
“The Reason for God” and “The Prodigal God” are two of Keller’s best-known works, and he has been referred to as a “pioneer of the new urban Christians” according to his Facebook bio.
— Timothy Keller (@timkellernyc) June 7, 2020
Keller seems to be facing the diagnosis with a solid amount of faith and trust, and he said that if people are so inclined to pray for him, he would request a few specifics.
“If you are willing to pray for me,” he wrote, “here are things to pray for:”
“For God to use medical means or his direct intervention to make the cancer regress to the point of vanishing.
“For Kathy and me, that we use this opportunity to be weaned from the joys of this world and to desire God’s presence above all,” he added.
“For my family to be comforted and encouraged.
“For the side effects of treatment to allow me to continue writing and speaking.”
At the bottom of his post, he wrote: “Running the race set before me with joy, because Jesus ran an infinitely harder race, with joy, for me. (Hebrews 12:1-2).”
Hopefully the cancer was caught in time to be controlled and Keller will still have many more years on this Earth to do the Lord’s work.
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