Comedian, actor, and podcast host Russell Brand recently shared that he finds Christianity and Jesus Christ more important as he gets older.
"The reason I wear a cross is that Christianity and, in particular, the figure of Christ is, it seems to me, inevitably becoming more important as I become more familiar with suffering, purpose, self, and not-self," Brand said in a video posted to X on Saturday.
According to The Christian Post, he also shared that he has been "reading the Bible a lot more," as well as reading Rick Warren's The Purpose-Driven Life. Growing up, Brand says that Christianity did not appeal to him because it came off as either "really irrelevant and old-fashioned and sort of dusty" or too modernized.
However, Brand’s Christianity has changed now that he has achieved "a certain amount of adulthood" and has come "to recognize that you need, I need, a personal relationship with God."
"It occurred to me that instead of always talking to myself inwardly, I could replace one of those voices with an indwelling God. It says in Galatians it's our job to die so that as Christ died on the cross, he might be reborn in us," he said, alluding to Galatians 2:20.
As reported by The Christian Post, several Christians expressed their support and encouragement for Brand in response to his video.
Pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest Christian Fellowship, based in Riverside, California, responded to Brand’s video by noting that he also was once put off by Christianity until he heard the Gospel.
"The word 'Gospel' means 'Good news,'" Laurie wrote in part. "We are all sinners, and we have broken God's commandments and fallen short of His standards. But the good news is that God loved us so much He sent His only son to die on the cross for our sins and then rise from the dead. Jesus is alive and ready to come into your life, Russell!"
"If he's not a Christian already, he may get there soon. The important question he needs to answer for himself is not whether Christianity is useful, but whether it's true,” Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon wrote.
Last month, Brand shared that he has been reading the Bible as well as C.S.’s Lewis book, The Problem of Pain, which looks at suffering in a Christian context.
Brand’s continued interest in Christianity comes months after he faces allegations of sexual misconduct. Back in September, four women claimed that the actor sexually assaulted them between 2006 and 2013 during the peak of his film career, according to a joint investigation by The Times of London and Channel 4.
Meanwhile, another report from The Sunday Times alleged that Brand assaulted a girl who was 16 years old amid an allegedly "emotionally and sexually abusive" relationship. Although another woman told The Times that Brand raped her in his Los Angeles home in 2012, she never filed a police report.
In response, Brand has dismissed "very serious criminal allegations" and asserted that while he was "very, very promiscuous" in the past, all of his sexual relationships were "always consensual."
Last year, during an interview with Tucker Carlson, Brand shared, "Like many desperate people, I need spirituality. I need God, or I cannot cope in this world. I need to believe in the best in people."
He admitted that he "didn't have enough self-discipline to resist the allure of stardom" and "fell face-first into the glitter, and I'm only just pulling myself out now."
During a 2018 interview with Relevant Magazine, Brand said that he believes "the teachings of Christ are more relevant now than they've ever been."
Photo Courtesy: ©Getty Images/Amy Sussman / Staff
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
