A Note from the Founder
It has been said that writing makes an exact person. I wish it were as easy to agree with that statement as it is to believe it. The truth is that even in writing you have to be selective about what to include and to discard.
Recently, I have been immersed in writing the manuscript for the book From Oprah to Chopra. It’s a book that looks at the spiritual hungers and fulfillments supposedly offered by a westernized Eastern mysticism—a hodgepodge of psychology, belief, and language in order to tailor-make your faith. Sadly, these are the moods that have shaped the West’s spiritual journey over the last thirty years. Whether it is Richard Gere singing the praises of the Dalai Lama or thousands listening to the latest guru phenomenon from India, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the consensus is that “East Is In.” No, please, the latest spiritual guru and I are definitely not related, although I shall be glad to be left an inheritance from him. Although I say that tongue-in-cheek, at the same time that our youth are disillusioned with Christianity vast empires are being built today on esoteric spirituality. Why that has happened is a subject all its own. It is not accidental for me to be addressing the two themes in my latest book, Has Christianity Failed You?, which has just been released by Zondervan, and From Oprah to Chopra: Almost Right, which will hopefully make its entry onto the market early next year.
My research in the latter theme has necessitated a great deal of thought to the spiritual hungers that we all face, this irrepressible longing for the spiritual that has been fashioned within each one of us. No matter where one goes, it is impossible to miss the expressions of a longing to be connected with the mystical and at the same time, a search for the truth. This tension is the cause of so many new-fangled expressions, each offering a new way out. Ironically each, in a very subtle way, displaces God and gives the individual the prerogative. It appears to me that the Garden of Eden is lived out every day within somebody’s heart. “Did God really say this?” “Why can’t I decide for myself what is right and what is wrong?” Those are always the questions, aren’t they?
At RZIM we are committed to meeting people where they are and dealing with the questions they are asking, questions that reveal what they are really thinking. Answering questions they are not asking and leaving unanswered the questions they are asking is precisely the reason many of our youth are disillusioned with Christianity and are looking for the spiritual in some escapist form. Trying to meet these needs keeps our calendars very busy and full. In the last six weeks I have been in Italy, Macedonia, Armenia, Romania, and Thailand. In each setting, responding to different situations and cultures, my attention has been raised to a greater commitment to our calling. The questions we are consistently asked from the floor are grim reminders of how intense a struggle our young people are facing. If it was tough to remain true to the faith of our fathers during the early stages of the cultural wars in the nineteen sixties, what we face now is even more intense. And if we were to judge the state of morality and values by what we see everywhere around us, we would be inclined to mourn the battle as over and lost. But if we judge the state of human hearts worldwide by what people are feeling inside themselves and therefore, on the questions they are asking, we must realize how hungry our audiences are in every situation, in every country.
In my ministry letter coming shortly I mention the open forum I did at Boston College School of Law and the incredible meeting in Washington, DC. Our entire team is seeing similar responses in their ministries. I want to thank you for making it possible for us to be in such places and for the support you give us so sacrificially. We need your support and we need your prayers. We are committed to speaking, writing, dialoguing, and engaging culture in its hungers and its beliefs. Please pray for us and stand with us. We are grateful to you.
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