First Person with Wayne Shepherd

First Person: Eric Metaxas

Author and speaker Eric Metaxas, whose biography of Dietrich Bonheffer has been widely praised, tells his own life story. Send your support for FIRST PERSON to the Far East Broadcasting Company: FEBC National Processing Center Far East Broadcasting Company P.O. Box 6020 Albert Lea, MN 56007 Please mention FIRST PERSON when you give. Thank you!

Duration:: 23m
Broadcast on:: 24 Mar 2011
Audio Format:: other

Author and speaker Eric Metaxas, whose biography of Dietrich Bonheffer has been widely praised, tells his own life story.

Send your support for FIRST PERSON to the Far East Broadcasting Company:
FEBC National Processing Center
Far East Broadcasting Company
P.O. Box 6020
Albert Lea, MN 56007

Please mention FIRST PERSON when you give. Thank you!

We live in a culture that's so secular with it. The cultural gatekeepers, they don't understand this stuff and I said that's not right and I really felt a Passion to use the gifts God's given me as a speaker as a writer to speak into the culture Welcome to first person in today's guest author and speaker Eric Metexas I'm Wayne Shepard looking forward to introducing you to Eric who's biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer is rated by many as one of The top books of the past year First person comes your way each week at this time as we talk with people about their faith and its effect in their life and calling Sometimes you may recognize the name and sometimes not but you'll always hear how God transforms lives for his glory By the way, if you haven't discovered our audio archive, please visit first person interview calm and click on the listen now button for Access to all previous programs. That's first person interview calm for the archive as well as the calendar of upcoming programs Our guest today is Eric Metexas the author of several books including notable biographies of William Wilberforce and most recently Dietrich Bonhoeffer I could have talked all day with Eric about those two books and more But I really wanted to hear his story of coming to faith in Christ and how that shaped his life I love the first line of his biography. It says he's written for veggie tales at Chuck Colson the New York Times Three things not ordinarily in the same sentence and I ask him how that came to be Well, you know the easy answer which is also the accurate answer is to say this was God Directing me in my life. I know that I don't just say that but nobody could know it the way I know it I know that that is actually true I came to faith seriously in 1988 a few years out of Yale and didn't know what I wanted to do with my life and the Lord Dramatically sometimes things are genuinely miraculous for our benefit where God is trying to let us know that yes He is steering us The Lord very dramatically gave me a job with a company called rabbit ears productions I ended up writing all these children's books and working on on scripts and video scripts and things the sort of stuff I never dreamt I would do never cared to do never had an ambition to do But you see by God's grace and his design that he created me in part with these kinds of talents And so it really got me into writing children's books Which of course opened the door to veggie tales in the future I also of course worked for Chuck Colson You just said that that was a dream because I've admired him ever since I came to faith start reading his books And so that was an amazing experience to get to write about Christian worldview to think about the culture from a biblical that was a fun thing to do and You know the New York Times that's one of the few places that publishes bona fide humor And I wrote some humor for them in the 90s and and yeah I was the editor of the Yale humor magazines I've always wanted to write humor humor is a big part of my life folks who see me speak or MC know that I'm a goofball cut up even when I I ought not to be perhaps, but you know, that's uh, yeah That's my wife Well, I find it very fascinating to learn how God leads people to faith and I want to talk to about that in just a moment But hearing what you've just said and I'm thinking about your biography of Bonhoeffer and Wilbur Forest You must identify with those men in a certain way don't you about how God leads and designs a life? Well, I guess I never thought of it that way honestly wing, but I will tell you that yes, you're right. That is that is the way God wants us to live he wants us to think about about him in terms of everything and he wants us to look to him for guidance and it really is by his grace I I Realized in 1988 That I didn't know Why was on this earth? I didn't know what it was exactly I was supposed to do But I finally was given the wisdom by revelation by faith And grace to know that I didn't know but that he knew and I really radically Turned my life over to him and my career over to him specifically prayed that he would lead me with my career and and There's no question that God really does that the only problem is that we are required To have faith when we can't see clearly and there have been many times in the last 22 years when it's been Extremely difficult and so that those are the places where you cling to faith where you cling to the Word of God And you say he said this and I don't feel that this is true But I know it is true and I'm going to behave as though it is true And guess what in retrospect, you always see it's true It just that right at the time you don't but he has clearly led me by twists and turns and Uses difficulty uses pain use all the things everything in life We turn it over to God over and over and over again. He he can use it and he wants to use it and that's And in my life, I can see that he has in the lives of the these great saints that you just mentioned It's extremely clear that that God led them that both of them would not have been who they were without Devoted faith to Jesus Christ anybody who would try to paint either of them as somebody who was just a humanist or something Doesn't understand at all what what the case was and I think both my books reveal that with the fact I mean either fact it's not my interpretation. I like The connection there because it seems to me that these men and so many others and even you and I I mean our lives kind of unfold Once we turn them over to Christ, we don't know, you know, what does Proverbs 69 say, you know We plan our way, but God directs our steps. We don't know. It's ahead. No, we just trust him and they did as well Well, you know, that's the beginning of wisdom You know to know that he is God and I'm not and to really have this awesome sense that He created the universe to really think about that and that he has a plan for my life to to resist that is To be a fool and God forbid that that we would be fooled and that we would resist him who loves us and who has a plan for us It's just You know, it's the reason we're here, but I you see it so clearly in retrospect I see it with the Bonhoeffer book in spades. I mean I cannot tell you I truly can't nobody can understand it the way I see it how Ridiculously clear that his to me that God called me to write this book even that he created me to write this book It sounds like a dramatic both of things selling dramatic statements, and I guess they are except for the fact that it's so clear to me It's incredibly clear to me. I'm embarrassed almost. Well, it's not about you. It's not about you Well, I'm saying you can hear it that way, but that's not how I mean it not even slightly right I'm tempted to ask so many questions about Bonhoeffer We'll have to do it another time you all the reviews are just spectacular about the book that you've written this biography Bonhoeffer pastor Martyr profits by well, we'll just leave it at that today that everybody needs to read this book, but You don't want to qualify that literally everybody. I think everybody needs to read it. Okay All right now, I know your theology is solid, but part of your conversion even UFOs Is that what you were going to talk about? I'm talking about this dream that you had that was instrumental in coming to Christ Yep, there's no way around it. It's kind of like how much faith did Lazarus have You know, he was a corpse. So he didn't have any faith. How much did I participate in my conversion experience? Well, all I can say is I was unconscious. I was sleeping God Spoke to me in a dream if people want the specifics because it would take more than the time We have but at my website. There's a short video that tells this whole story It's my my website is my name Eric Metaxis.com if you go to ericmetaxis.com and scroll down a bit There's a something like conversion video or something. It's an amazing story truly amazing But the the short version of it is that I was lost a friend a man who became a friend was sharing with me the scripture and praying for me and an answer answer a lot of my intellectual objections But it's kind of like, you know, you can get to the cliff, but you can't jump across the canyon You know, I felt like he got me to the edge of the cliff But at some point God's grace has to intervene God reaches down when we're ready and in this dream All I can tell you is I went to sleep kind of wondering if all this stuff was true hoping maybe it's true But pretty sure that you couldn't know and I woke up without any doubt that it is true that Jesus is Lord The Bible is true. I mean all the stuff that you can't really prove Somehow God just spoke it to me and I woke up. It's like going to sleep single and waking up married I was a different person that's 22 and a half years ago and I thank God for it That's what happened to me. Don't you love it when God stretches us like that? I mean, I've been in parts of the world where dreams are Almost a common occurrence in bringing people to faith in the Muslim world And I just heard the testimony of a North Korean orphan teenager who came to Christ because of a dream It's happening a lot in the Muslim world And as I say we don't know God communicates differently to everybody he speaks the language of our own personal hearts He knows our personal stories. So God is the same just like a parent is the same But the parents speaks to each kid a little differently if you're two years old or you're 12 years old the parents can speak differently God knows us Individually he's our father and he speaks differently. So he spoke to me in the stream doesn't mean he's gonna speak anybody else that way But that's how he spoke to me and we also we need to have the wisdom to know when it's God and when it's not And this is a clear case of this was clearly God But this doesn't mean to say that every time you have a dream. It's God people need to have discernment Real discernment you get that from knowing the word and spending a lot of time with Emotionally healthy Christians who understand the differences and who can who can help you because you know You can get into some dark deep waters if you don't understand that kind of stuff Yeah, everything's measured against the word, isn't it? I want to talk to you about here you are You've always been a thinker. You were educated at Yale. You've got this intellectual approach to life and then Christ comes along Was the intellect a hurdle at all for you and coming to faith? I don't think so. I think what was the hurdle? was the secular Climate of Yale University and of the people that I had befriended people in Manhattan where I live now It's a very secular culture. It's a culture that sneers at Serious Christianity or that ignores it or that mocks it and I think that that was the main hurdle for me You're hanging around people for whom this stuff is crazy and really Was inoculated against it because I thought well, it's just not even worth looking into intellectually It's just crazy stuff and you know people who believe that obviously are you know simple people who haven't really thought deeply about stuff But the reality is that I hadn't thought deeply about it and that the more I thought deeply about it the more I realized I was wrong that this is intellectually tenable and that I was so ignorant that I didn't even know what I was rejecting and that's why I wrote the Everything about God books, which now there are three so I guess it's a trilogy, but these are kind of a like a repeat of this intellectual process that I went to have all these questions and I think if people just Look into it rationally. They would at least be shocked at what good answers there can be even if you don't agree with them I think people are shocked when they say you know what I didn't know that I never heard that and it's interesting to me We live in a culture that pretty much keeps us away from all of this great Information and I think that if people have that great information even if they don't become Christians They will have a much deeper respect for people who are Christians because they can't dismiss them so easily We'll learn more from this author and speaker Eric Mc Texas coming up on today's edition of first person Next time you'll meet a young woman who lost her arm to a shark attack, but she's still a champion We can't let fear stop us from doing what God has called us to do And we just got to trust in him and he will guide us every step of the way I guess that's just what I try to do is just trust in God and give every little frustration or doubt to him And he'll take care of it. You'll meet Bethany Hamilton whose life story is told of the new movie soul surfer next week here on first person Once Eric Mc Texas had placed his faith in Christ There was no turning back for him and I asked him about that Well, I thought it was it was late enough in life and it was around my 25th birthday and I thought okay What have I been waiting for I've wasted years? It's funny because when I was doing the biography on Wilberforce I saw the same thing he came to faith I guess around 26 and he really felt like what have I done? I've wasted this time living for myself like a fool and you know You kind of want to make up for lost time and that that's how I felt like it once I knew that this was really true It's like that's it. Let's go. You know, let's let's try to To live it and see what God has and you know, it's never too late never too late We know the scripture tells us that even to think that way is you know to be buying into the enemy's lives God can redeem all things if I give him my life today He can make a week count for, you know, 50 years. It's it's amazing By the way, we caught you on a busy morning Every morning's busy in New York, isn't it? Well, we live on Lexington Avenue and you can hear the buses out there I think people probably can hear them coming and going but yeah, it's busy. It's busy. It doesn't need to be busy In our home, but out there when you get out there into the streets. It's a busy city. Yes, it is It's an influential city and I can also say I feel like God has called us to New York City because it's influential And it's so secular it needs believers to be here There's a lot going on in the Christian world in New York City people wouldn't know about that There's a Christian college called the King's College. There's a Christian school. My daughter goes to the Geneva school There's so many wonderful things going on here that just a few years ago 15 or 20 years ago did not exist So it's very exciting to see what God's doing in New York City. I have to throw that in I like talking to you because you answer questions before I ask them because I wanted to ask you about why you feel Called to New York City and you just answered that it's good. It's where God has placed you Tell me about Socrates in the city Socrates in the city is a speaker series that I started ten years ago We just had our 10th anniversary celebration with Chuck Colson who came and spoke for us and about once a month We have an event usually a speaker usually in a fancy New York private club and it's a very elegant evening It's a real blessing for believers to get their minds fed But it's also a blessing in that you can bring Friends who are maybe not believers Who will themselves enjoy the evening because it's it's fun. I mean first of all my introductions are always Intentionally humorous Because I think it should be fun. This should not be a ponderous intellectual exercise So we should have a lot of fun and and then we hear from a brilliant speaker and you can really see people Thinking gosh, you know, I've not heard anything like this. I mean to hear an ask Guinness or somebody else to sure really draw them In a way towards thinking more deeply about the big questions of life That's actually why we took the title Socrates in the city because he said the unexamined life is not worth living Well, let's examine the big questions. Let's hear from people from a biblical worldview Well, you know, what would they say? But it's really meant to be very inviting and you can bring anybody and as they say anybody can come At the the Socrates in the city website. It's just Socrates in the city Dot-com and we've got events if you check it you can get on the mailing list But it's something we've been doing we've done it twice in Chicago And we'll probably be doing one in the Dallas Fort Worth area and we will probably be streaming these Live so that anybody can watch it within the next couple of months We're just opening that door to make that happen for anybody in the country can be with us Well, I haven't attended yet I plan to but my favorite introduction that you talk about the humus introduction to do is when you introduce yourself That's waggy. Yeah, folks can see that one on my website that's Eric with back to calm if you look I was it was the 10th anniversary. I'm sorry with the 65th anniversary of Bonhoeffer's death and it was the day that my book came out So this is last April and the Socrates in the city board said Eric you should be the speaker You know, you always introduce the speakers you're never the speaker But once in ten years you get to be the speaker, but you have to introduce yourself. So if people Either go to my website or the Socrates website. They can see I do a ten-minute introduction of myself Which is pretty darn wacky and then I kind of pivot and I'm the speaker for them I thought very strange, you know, make sure you're wearing your helmet because you can get her brilliant introduction of yourself by the way All right, we touched on it earlier, but let's talk some more about calling Someone once said that, you know, we live lives that are undeserved, but they are designed by God Talk to me about how what you feel called to do well when I Was at Yale. I was I knew I wanted to be a writer. I Was not walking with the Lord in any real way, but I wanted to be a writer I was the editor of the humor magazine. I loved humor comedy, but I didn't know what I was gonna do with myself well when I Really came to faith in the summer of 1988 and again, that story's on my website, but when that happened suddenly I Felt a passion to speak into the culture because I said this culture is Not allowing people to hear these amazing stories I always felt if I'd heard some of the stuff that I was hearing now as a believer if I'd heard that when I was at Yale and before you would have changed my life But we live in a culture that's so secular with it the cultural gatekeepers who live in New York City live in Hollywood They don't understand this stuff and they just tend to ignore it And I said that's not right. There are people perishing because they're not hearing this stuff They aren't hearing about the story of William Wilberforce about the story of Bonhoeffer They're not getting good apologetics on why the Bible is too It's just it's kind of reduced this religious sphere and if you're not already in that sphere You probably won't get it and I said that's not right and I really felt a Passion to use the gifts God's given me as a speaker as a writer to speak into the culture To bring these things into the mainstream culture I don't mean into the church because I do feel called also to bring them into the church But I mean specifically to try to speak to the wider culture and so every book I write I Hope that you could give it to just about anybody. It's not just something that a believer would read I did I don't write Christian biographies. I write biography But there are biographies about Christian figures whose faith is very very strong and powerful But I write them as mainstream books because I want the mainstream to read them And I think that especially with the Bonhoeffer book it's been an unbelievable Reception in the mainstream culture the Barnes and Noble Listed it as one of the top nonfiction books of last year Curcase reviews listed it as as one of the top nonfiction books a year because they recognize it's a biography. It's not a Christian book That's very important I think as believers that we speak to the wider culture whenever possible That's to me part of the success of veggie tale that you can give a veggie tale video to just about anybody and they'll love it because Most people would resonate would respond to that kind of thing. That's that's where I feel called You know and I also expect I'll do more TV and things like that because I think we need voices in the culture Christian voices that are nonetheless able to speak the language of the culture that aren't speaking some kind of Christianese Which is just reduced to the religious fear. So that's that is really who I am That's a big part of my life. You mentioned a couple of educational institutions Christian educational institutions there in New York City What are your thoughts about preparing for a life like you have now in terms of education? How do you advise young people? Well, it all depends. I would say that people need to know up front that most Secular institutions are aggressively secular I would think twice and three times and four times before I sent my son or daughter to a place like Yale University Just because you get it's going to take a very very particular person With traditional values and with with strong biblical values and faith to negotiate a place like that I would I doesn't mean that I wouldn't but you know Princeton is of course much better in that area But I would I would say that sending one's kid to a really good Christian college would probably be the first choice again We all have to know who are our kids and what is God calling us to and what is God calling our kids to it? There's not a one-size-fits-all answer But you know to go to the Kings College in Manhattan to go to Wheaton or to any number if I could mention so many I would say that you know if if you're confused that's probably the way to go You have to be careful God delivered me out of my experience at Yale But my time at Yale led me away from God led me into confusion and nihilism and depression and we have to understand that They're very aggressive forces of secularism in the academy. That's just the way it is But maybe you needed that well, you know again That's one of these things you can't answer that question the Lord allows us to go through stuff But it's kind of like you know if my daughter needs to suffer to get closer to Christ I'm not going to try to make her suffer It's one of those things where it has to be God and I think that that's where my life took me in the Lord redeemed it But I do think that but let me say this when I say Go to a Christian college or something like that. It doesn't mean hide from the world on the contrary I think that it's one of the reasons I mentioned specifically Kings College, you know, you need to go to a place that's preparing You for the world and that is in the world, but not of it I think that a lot of times you get the false choice of I'm gonna go to a college That's not of the world and it's not in the world It's hiding from the world or I'm gonna go to college that's in the world and over the world Those are both bad. You want to go to a college that's you know in the world But not of it a place where you're going to be able to be trained to think about what this world is like not to hide from it That's that's a real challenge And I think it's a challenge for believers to know that balance how much do I protect my kids? And how much do I allow them to see what's going on in the world, but you know, we need to do it carefully and We need to know again who our kids are every kid is different and we need to to take that seriously some kids can march off to a Secular or an Ivy League school and they're going to change the school God's going to use them at the missionary But more often than not most kids would go in that place and they will be affected in the other direction So we need to have we need to have with them about that Eric told me he plans a television program someday to influence culture So let's pray for him you'll find a link to Eric Metaxas in his website at first person interview calm Our website also contains an audio archive of all of our past interviews So if you're a newcomer to first person you can always go online to first person interview calm Click on the listen now button and choose from any of the interviews on the list first person interview calm Well next week our guest will be an inspiring young woman who is one of the world's top surfers Even though she had an arm taken off by a shark attack when she was only 13 years old Bethany Hamilton whose story is told in the new movie soul surfer will join us next time that movie premieres in just a couple of Weeks all across the country Now with thanks to my friend and producer Joe Carlson. I'm Wayne Shepard join us for the conversation next time I'm first person You You You (gentle music)