‘Please Continue to Pray’: Tim Keller Faces ‘Complications’ from Cancer Treatment

Tim is out of the hospital and recovering at home after complications from his treatment. Please continue to pray during this slow recovery.

-Kathy Keller

— Timothy Keller (@timkellernyc) May 14, 2023

Keller, the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer in May 2020.

In March, he shared that he had to undergo a repeat of the immunotherapy treatment he received last year at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, after new tumors had developed.

Last year’s immunotherapy “was successful in eradicating 99% of the tumors,” Keller wrote at the time.

“However, new tumors have developed,” he noted. “They are unfortunately in some fairly inconvenient places, so the doctors encouraged us to go through the treatment again, this time targeting a different genetic marker of the cancer.”

He told his followers in April that he was recovering from his cancer treatment.

“Thank you for your prayers. I’m still recovering from treatment for cancer down at the NIH. I’m not out of the woods yet, as it will be a long and slow process back,” he wrote.

Thank you for your prayers. I’m still recovering from treatment for cancer down at the NIH. I’m not out of the woods yet, as it will be a long and slow process back.

Today’s lunch was a PB&J sandwich; don’t eat the crust. pic.twitter.com/GXtPwScnTr

— Timothy Keller (@timkellernyc) April 15, 2023

Keller, 72, has been outspoken about his experience with his condition since his initial diagnosis.

In 2021, Keller told The Christian Post that he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a fourth of the way through writing a book on the resurrection called Hope in Times of Fear: The Resurrection and the Meaning of Easter.

“Suddenly, we’re in lockdown, and then I found out I had cancer, and the book completely changed,” he recounted.

“Here I am, writing a book about the resurrection, and I realized I only half-believed I was going to die,” Keller continued. “I went back and realized that in some ways, I also only half-believed in the resurrection – not intellectually so much, but all the way down deep in my heart. I realized I needed to have a greater, a deeper faith in the resurrection, both intellectually and mentally.”

As he underwent treatment, Keller shared that he had to do “intellectual and emotional work” to take “my abstract belief down into my heart to existentially and experientially know it and grow in assurance, and it worked.”

“If you are willing to embrace the truth of God’s Word and immerse yourself in it day in and day out, and then ask the Holy Spirit to make it real to your heart, He will.”

Related:

 Tim Keller Gives Cancer Update, Says New Tumors ‘Have Developed’

Tim Keller Calls for Prayer following Cancer Diagnosis

Tim Keller Shares Encouraging Health Update following Cancer Diagnosis

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Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for Christian Headlines 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.