Why Hulk Hogan Is Fighting for the Gospel
By Movieguide® Contributor
WWE champ Hulk Hogan is sharing how he learned to let God take “the wheel” over his life.
“I was always a believer, but I didn’t completely surrender,” Hogan explained on an episode of TBN’s PRAISE. “I thought I could drive better than he could. I thought I could make the decisions better than he could. You know, he takes his hands off the wheel and says, ‘Okay, you do it better. Go ahead and do it.’ So…I get tired of crashing and burning.”
“At this point with a 40-year career behind me and that whole platform, I understand now that was just a temporary situation to set me up for this next run. Because in the wrestling business, everything’s a run. You know how long were you main event guy, like four or five years, like some guys, or how long did your career last, like two or three years.”
Now that his wrestling career is over, he’s on his “new run”
Hogan admits though he’s made many mistakes, he learns from them, and God “turns them into greatness.”
“Knowing of Jesus and knowing Him are two different things. At this point, knowing him and being one with Him, I think all these scars and all these things I’ve been through,…I’ve been made an example of for people to think ‘I’m not correct or I don’t have my act cleaned up, or I can’t do this,” he explained.
“I think all those people that have excuses for being in the wrong place at the wrong time or not being good enough, you don’t need to be cleaned up. Come to him. He’ll clean you up,” he said.
So all of those low and difficult places in his life have helped him become who he is. He wouldn’t do over his choices.
“The funny thing is, across my back, I’ve got a huge tattoo from shoulder to shoulder that says ‘immortal’ on it. And it’s not the ‘Immortal Hulk Hogan’ it’s cause…I got to a point in my life before I met Sky, before I had the baptism, where I had enough. I was sick and tired of myself…my real self and the ego,” he said.
“I decided to turn back to my faith, and one of the things I did was put that crazy tattoo on my back, ‘immortal,’ man. I accepted Christ as my Savior. He died for my sins, and I’ll live forever. And a lot of people think ‘Oh, it’s the Immortal Hulk Hogan.’ But ego-tripping Hulk, it was for that reason that I did that. I should probably add something to it, John 3:16 over to the side or something, clear things up, “ he joked.
The WWE star is thankful for his faith and the believers that God put in his life.
Ron Howard, who manages Hogan’s Beach Shop, inspired Hogan.
“He walked in my gym one time, and I had a stack of [White Claws] in my gym,” Hogan explained. “He goes, ‘Who do you serve?’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘Do you serve the Lord or do you serve that?’ I went ‘Okay, you don’t have to tell me twice. I got it.’”
Howard previously struggled with alcohol before finding his faith.
“He was a huge influence on me. When I saw him get correct, I’m like, ‘That’s impossible. There’s no way almost-famous Ron Howard is going to get correct, but he did,” Hogan said.
“You know, he straightened out his marriage, his life and just everything. So to watch him get correct was something else. It was an extra push for me, you know, to regroup and get on track,” Hogan said.
What’s important to Hogan now is sharing the Gospel.
“It’s the only truth there is. Everything else is just temporary. Everything,” the wrestling star said.
“The fame, the money, the ego, the physical look, everything’s just temporary, and once you get that and you realize that, it’s so important that you make people understand that’s the only truth there is,” he continued. “Moving forward, that’s the foremost thought on my mind — is to be a messenger for my Lord and Savior. That’s going to take me where I need to go.”
The WWE champion just got baptized last December.
About his baptism, he said, “Total surrender and dedication to Jesus is the greatest day of my life. No worries, no hate, no judgment… only love.”
Movieguide® recently reported on Hogan:
Putting one’s faith in Christ “just seems like such an easy choice for everyone, if you’ll just surrender and accept him as your Savior,” Hogan said on CBN’s 700 CLUB.
Hogan recognizes that any impact he has on others is simply by God’s work in him.
“That God presence in us, you know, that still small voice. What Terry brings to the table is a meat suit…a meat suit filled with the Spirit of Christ, and it’s a testing ground for me,” he explained.
Despite Hogan’s story about giving God importance over alcohol (White Claws), he still heavily promotes beer on his social media.
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