In video obtained exclusively by The Brody File, Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio provided a stirring and moving explanation of the Gospel along with illuminating the significance of Jesus Christ in his life in front of dozens of Iowa pastors during a closed-door meeting in Iowa last week.
It is a MUST WATCH video. Rubio is Roman Catholic but he and his family also attend (from time to time) Christ Fellowship, a non-denominational evangelical church in the Miami area.
“I didn’t learn about the Catholic Church until I went to a non-Catholic church (Christ Fellowship) and became infused in the Bible and became infused in the written word of God and then, and only then did the liturgy of the church start even making sense,” Rubio told the pastors. “I am fully, theologically and doctrinally aligned with the Roman Catholic Church and we attend it. But we retain our relationship with Christ Fellowship and I’ll tell you why: because they preach from the same Bible.”
As for presenting the gospel, he didn’t hold back and thoroughly enjoyed talking about Jesus.
“Imagine the fear of knowing you’re about to be scourged, nailed to a cross, hung naked, humiliated, spit upon, rejected by your friends,” Rubio told the pastors. “There is nothing that we will ever face that He did not face times infinite amount. To me, that is the personal relationship. It’s a personal relationship with a God that knows anything we faced because He faced it more than we are able going to be able to face it.”
He continues: “It (your faith) has to be infused by the Holy Spirit because the gift of the Holy Spirit is transformative… it’s not just about having a relationship with Jesus, it’s about allowing the Spirit to infuse you, to completely control you and guide you.”
Rubio uses Peter’s life as an example of being infused with the Holy Spirit.
“Peter was a deeply flawed man, impulsive, angry, given to judgment. God turned his weakness into his strength. Peter saw Jesus walk around and he dove at Him, lunged at Him because that’s how impulsive he was. They came to arrest Jesus in the garden, first thing he (Peter) did, pulls out the knife and cuts Malchus’ ear off. Impulsive," he explained. "But once he was infused in the Spirit, that impulsiveness was used as a tool for God’s plan. All the gifts that God had given him that at one time were a liability God turned into strength. And so that’s where the Spirit comes to play in our life. We are all gifted with different things, and they could very well be a weakness today, but God can turn that into strength.”
The Brody File had exclusive access inside this meeting with pastors in Iowa. He held two private closed sessions, one in Cedar Rapids and one in Des Moines. Between the two meetings, he probably spoke to about 100 pastors or so.
The meeting was arranged by the influential American Renewal Project. Their purpose is to return America to its Judeo-Christian principles and is currently in the process of recruiting hundreds of pastors to run for political office around the country. Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee and Bobby Jindal are some of the presidential candidates that have spoken at their events.
You can watch the video below along with a partial transcription.
Rubio’s explanation of the gospel is a thing of beauty and after he was finished, he left pastors in the room thoroughly impressed with not just his head knowledge about the Bible but his heart as well. He changed some minds after those sessions with pastors. He showed an authentic faith walk and these pastors liked what they saw. Watching this below will not disappoint. This man knows his Bible and theology for sure.
I’ll have a complete report on our inside access with Rubio and the pastors this Wednesday on The 700 Club. My story will air nationwide and will also include clips from my one-on-one interview as well. Rubio is really starting to make a concerted outreach to evangelicals and evangelicals are definitely intrigued the more they hear him speak.
There are two versions below. The longer version is first and includes his faith upbringing. The second version is Rubio’s gospel presentation only.
MANDATORY COURTESY: CBN NEWS/ THE BRODY FILE
Longer version complete with Rubio’s faith background and the issue of doubting God. (You’ll need to watch the entire clip to get the full transcription and impact.)
Shorter version complete with Rubio’s Gospel presentation:
Partial Transcription:
Question from evangelical pastor: You're in a room full of Christians and you mentioned God and you mentioned the King of Kings but tell us about your experience with the Lord Jesus Christ using that name…and also tell us what you’ll do to ensure our right to use that name in public.
Marco Rubio: I’ve always been interested in theology, even as a child. One of the reasons we left the Mormon Church and went back to Catholicism was at my instigation. I became interested in the theology of the Catholic Church, learned about it as well as a 13 year old can before the Internet, and decided I wanted to go back to it for a lot of different reasons.
And yet I still didn’t fully understand my faith and I’ve said this publicly, I think too many Catholics don’t fully understand their faith. The result is I didn’t learn about the Catholic Church until I went to a non-Catholic church and became infused in the Bible and became infused in the written word of God and then, and only then did the liturgy of the church start even making sense.
I started to begin to understand the richness of the church and so today I am fully, theologically and doctrinally aligned with the Roman Catholic Church and we attend it. But we retain our relationship with Christ fellowship and I’ll tell you why: because they preach from the same Bible.
Marco Rubio: As far my relationship with Jesus Christ the best way I've been able to describe it to people that are not believers is God became a man, came down to earth and died for our sins. He provided the ultimate sacrifice because up to that point we lived under the law and the law meant that we had to sacrifice an unblemished lamb to cover our sins, not erase them.
God was the ultimate sacrifice. It was His own son. In essence, He was willing to do what He didn’t ask Abraham to do, almost asked Abraham to do but at the last second spared Abraham that pain. God was willing to sacrifice His own son and just imagine how painful that was and He became a man and the reason that He had to become a man was not just the element of becoming a man and dying for our sins as the ultimate Pascal lamb that as a result didn’t cover our sins but completely erased them, but also because He’s a God that understands us.
He has felt everything we've ever felt. He has wept. He wept in pain because a friend that He loved died. He felt compassion for people. He probably had the flu or the cold. He felt pain in his flesh not just on his crucifixion but multiple times throughout His life. He was a human being in every way and yet He was free of sin. So, there is nothing that we’re going to be asked to do in life that He didn’t do himself.
One thing is to be a distant God that sits on a throne removed from the everyday suffering of man; another is to be a God-Man who actually lived as we lived, who felt all the pain and all the hurt and all the emotions and everything we’ve ever felt. Jesus had fear, not fear in an unbiblical way but He knew what was about to happen to him and He prayed that if it was possible could this cup pass?
How many times have we made that prayer? And obviously it wasn’t facing crucifixion. It could be like, ‘God, if I could get out of this ticket. I just got pulled over. If you can get me out of this ticket this one time, I won’t speed again.’ Well, imagine the fear of knowing you’re about to be scourged, nailed to a cross, hung naked, humiliated, spit upon, rejected by your friends. There is nothing that we will ever face that He did not face times infinite amount.
To me, that is the personal relationship. It’s a personal relationship with a God that knows anything we faced because He faced it more than we are able going to be able to face it. There is no fear, no emotion, no worry, no anxiety, no obstacle, no adversity that He didn’t face before we did, and in fact, much more so.
And so that’s how you have a personal faith and then it has to be infused by the Holy Spirit because the gift of the Holy Spirit is transformative. Peter was a deeply flawed man, impulsive, angry, given to judgment. God turned his weakness into his strength. Peter saw Jesus walk around and he dove at Him, lunged at Him because that’s how impulsive he was. They came to arrest Jesus in the garden, first thing he (Peter) did, pulls out the knife and cuts Malchus’ ear off. Impulsive. But once he was infused in the Spirit, that impulsiveness was used as a tool for God’s plan.
All the gifts that God had given him that at one time were a liability God turned into strength. And so that’s where the Spirit comes to play in our life. We are all gifted with different things, and they could very well be a weakness today, but God can turn that into strength. And so it’s not just about having a relationship with Jesus, it’s about allowing the Spirit to infuse you, to completely control you and guide you.
And the end result of all this is what in Catholicism, we have this thing in our liturgy ‘peace be with you.’ A lot of people think ‘peace’ means like, ‘peace’ (Rubio throws up the peace sign), like the hippie peace, or peace like no one’s shooting at each other, or peace like everything’s happy. That’s not peace.
True peace is it doesn’t matter what’s happening. The winds could be swirling and Jesus is asleep on the boat, not worried about a thing, that’s peace. The peace is in knowing that two things are going to happen anytime you face adversity: One is God is going to shield you from the adversity; he’s going to protect you from it. And the other is God’s going to make you go through the adversity, but He’s going to give you what you need to get through it.
And if you honestly believe that, and that’s hard to believe. You can’t force yourself to believe it. You have to pray for that. That is a gift. That is a fruit of the Spirit. If you honestly believe, if you truly become to have that, then you have this supernatural peace that can only come from the Spirit.
I know I’ve gone too long, now I sound like the preacher so let me close with this, I apologize, but I rarely get to talk about this at campaign events. The thing about that peace that’s so important is, I honestly believe, it was a major contributor to the growth of the early Church. The early Church grew in a pagan world, and despite the fact that everyone knew if you become a Christian, they feed you to lions; you know Nero set them on fire like torches. Terrible suffering. And yet people kept joining.
And I am convinced, this is not necessarily deeply biblical, but I am convinced, you may disagree with me, but I am convinced that one of the things that got so many pagans to become Christians is they looked at the Christians and said: ‘What is up with these people? They’re being fed to lions and they’re singing for joy. They’re being led to their death, and they’re happy. There’s something wrong with these people. I need to find out what’s going on with them. Why is that they have so much peace because we keep praying to our Gods, and we never have peace. What is it about these people?’
And when that peace is true in you, people want to know about you. They’re curious what is it about you? What does that person have because I want some of that, and that’s how you bring so many people to the faith. It really is.