A work of the Spirit? Why are more intellectuals turning to God?

A work of the Spirit? Why are more intellectuals turning to God?

The spiritual journey of some of the world’s most influential thinkers.

Last week I talked about the Christian revival we are witnessing in the West. Of course, Africa, Latin America, and Asia are also experiencing spectacular Christian growth, but the West is an interesting case.

One argument for revival is the number of public figures who are coming to Christ or praising Christianity. In this video I want to elaborate on their voices and talk about how we see a powerful work of the Holy Spirit in many surprising places—the hearts of people in the technological and intellectual worlds.

A number of secular publications are giving a voice to people who are newly discovering the Christian faith. Even the New York Times is publishing articles on intellectuals and celebrities who are turning to Christ. 

Peter Savodnik of the Free Press had a lengthy and excellent article which he entitled, “How Intellectuals Found God.” He interviews people from various walks of life and gathers a lot of interesting comments:

From Niall Ferguson, the great British historian, whom I have featured in previous videos: “You can’t organize a society on the basis of atheism…It’s fine for a small group of people to say, ‘We’re atheist, we’re opting out…but, in effect, that depends on everyone else carrying on.” In other words atheists and other unbelievers are parasites, living of the bounty of a cultural created through the sacrifices of Jesus Christ and His followers.

Ferguson talks about the spiritual journey of his famous wife, Ayaan Hirsi Ali. “I thought we were done…. I thought she was going to die. I’d almost completely despaired of finding a way out of all the accumulated traumas of her life.” But then she put her faith in Christ. Hirsi Ali told Savodnik:

“It’s been a year, 15 months—and I still feel almost miraculous…

I’m actually very grateful for whatever it was that was ailing me,” Why? because it led her to God. “My life now is much richer, more fulfilling, than before.”

In February 2024, Joe Rogan, host of the most popular podcast in the world, was discussing the sorry state of America’s youth with New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, he said simply: “We need Jesus.”  He is surely right but what is remarkable is that an unbeliever like Rogan is coming to that conclusion.

I cited Peter Thiel is my last video. Thiel, the billionaire creator of Paypal, has become quite the evangelist. The New York Times had an article describing Thiel speaking at a birthday gathering of over 200 of the very rich from the technological community. The Times said, “Mr. Thiel, the Silicon Valley billionaire and right-wing kingmaker, delivered a talk about miracles, forgiveness and Jesus Christ. The guests were enthralled.” In an event last May in San Francisco Thiel “talked about how Christian theology informs his politics and which of the Ten Commandments he finds most meaningful. [he cited] The first and last: Worship God, and don’t covet what others have.”

Savodnik interviewed Paul Kingsnorth, a leading writer and intellectual from the United Kingdom. Kingsnorth was for many years an atheist. Then he became a Buddhist. Then he became a witch—he entered into the religion of Wicca. Then after all this he became a follower of Jesus Christ and is now an avid spokesman for his new faith. Savodnik writes that in January 2021, Kingsnorth was baptised at a monastery, in the River Shannon. According to Savodnik since then, he has become one of the most important and thoughtful voices of the newly converted—the new theists, if you will.

Savodnik interviews Jordan Peterson, quite possibly the best-known public intellectual in the world. Peterson had always avoided saying whether he believed in a higher power. Now, sporting a jacket emblazoned with the Calvary cross, he was pushing back against the new atheists. “I would say God is hyper-real… God is the reality upon which all reality depends.”

Peterson says his wife has become a devout Christian. He, himself, has not become a believer but it seems like it’s only a matter of time.

My favorite left-wing writer is Matt Taibbi, formerly of Rolling Stone magazine, who now possesses his own Substack column and has tens of thousands of followers. He is wrestling with what all this means. He writes, “Lacking the vocabulary to consider issues of good or evil, or conscience, or one’s eternal soul, secular audiences have been easy prey for academics and media opportunists seeking to shovel nonsense into those inner chasms.”

In his year-end column on 2024 he writes, “It’s a lot to keep track of, particularly if your inner happiness depends on making sense of it all. Not normally one for predictions, my guess is 2025 will see a non-ironic return to the spiritual, on the part of demographics that haven’t visited that territory since the sixties or seventies. People need…inner peace, and having discovered politics holds no answers, they’ll move on…Anything…would be an improvement over the way we’ve been living.”

These are a few of the more fascinating stories from our wider culture, a culture in which our God is at work in a mighty way. He proves over and over again, in every culture and in every era, that He is quite capable of bringing anyone to Himself. It’s almost as though God saves some people just to show us He can do it.

I think we need to be cautioned by Justin Brierly’s statement: “Christianity is not just a useful lifeboat for stranded intellectuals. If it isn’t literally true, it isn’t valuable. Whether Jesus Christ actually rose from the dead matters. It sure mattered to St. Paul. “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.”

However, Brierly says,” God moves in mysterious ways…I see signs that he is moving in the minds and hearts of secular intellectuals. Many of them are recognizing that secular humanism has failed and, against all their expectations, seem to be on the verge of embracing faith instead.”

Praise be to God. Of the increase of His Kingdom there is no end. May that God bless you this day in a mighty way.

More: Why will Western Christian culture triumph? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIoFlyBfz8Q

Peter Savodnik of the Free Press interviewed a number of public figures, asking them why they have turned back to God. https://www.thefp.com/p/how-intellectuals-found-god-ayaan-hirsi-ali-peter-thiel-jordan-peterson?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Matthew Crawford: “A lot of very thoughtful people who once believed reason and science could explain everything—why we’re here, what comes after we’re gone, what it all means—are now feeling a genuine hunger for something more,” he said.

He said the story we’ve been telling ourselves for the last 100 years or so, of endless progress and secularism and the triumph of reason, is now “at some kind of tipping point.” Our great “religious reawakening” is just people “finding their way back to something that they never expected to find their way back to.”

Justin Brierly; Is a Christian revival underway? https://thespectator.com/topic/christian-revival-underway/

The women’s rights campaigner Louise Perry has been advocating for a return to traditional Christian morality since writing her book The Case Against The Sexual Revolution.

Holland, Peterson, Musk; all coming toward Christ: https://www.realclearreligion.org/articles/2025/01/17/cultural_christianity_could_decide_the_fate_of_a_nation_not_of_souls_1085509.html

“But what I think Christianity has clearly very successfully done is to articulate ways of understanding the world that go with the grain of something very deep within human nature,” Holland said.

That grain, so deep within human nature, expresses humanity’s longing for objective truth, for meaning, for purpose, for a hierarchy that orders the world — for God. 

Holland’s personal grappling with Christian truths reflects a potential cultural shift back to Christian values. This summer, the June pride month seemed quieter. In July, a previous president credited God for sparing his life from an assassination attempt. 

“It was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening,” President Donald Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “We will FEAR NOT but instead remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness.”

Ayaan Hirsi Ali argues that a Christian revival is underway and she is part of it:

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/a-christian-revival-is-under-way/

I hope I have imparted to my sons a love of my adopted spiritual home so that they are spared my wandering through the wilderness. But what is encouraging is that religious revival has taken root among the young. 

A critical article about Elon Musk actually reveals some very interesting revelations: https://futurism.com/elon-musk-teachings-christ

"Jesus taught love, kindness and forgiveness," he wrote in a late 2022 tweet. "I used to think that turning the other cheek was weak and foolish, but I was the fool for not appreciating its profound wisdom."

The remarks highlight Musk's rapidly changing political and social alignment. Following his acquisition of Twitter, the billionaire has repeatedly made it clear that his ideology has shifted to the far right. He's also spent much of the last two years evangelizing the teachings of Christianity.

Matt Taibbi:  

https://www.racket.news/p/goodbye-to-2024-americas-craziest/comments

James Wood in First Things: https://firstthings.com/a-new-evangelical-harvest/

Rogan, along with many other high-profile atheists, has slid into the category of “cultural Christian.” Many of these figures express a new openness to Christianity, oftentimes for its civilizational resources, recognizing the Christian roots of the values that built the West.

It seems that God’s providence is at work because and not in spite of the leftist overreach of the past few years. The most unlikely people are waking up to the civilizational madness and spiritual emptiness unleashed by opposing nature and God.

Some of Christianity’s biggest critics are becoming Christians: https://www.christianitytoday.com/2024/09/christianity-biggest-skeptics-becoming-vocal-converts/

Nearly a decade later came Tom Holland, an award-winning British author and ancient Greek and Roman historian. At some point in his studies, Holland recognized the difference in values held by the ancient world compared to those he held instinctively. He realized Christianity is the reason we take for granted that it is better to bear suffering than to cause it—and why we assume all human life is equal in value.

As an avowed atheist throughout his adult life, Holland shocked fellow academics in 2016 when he too penned an article in the New Statesman titled “Why I was wrong about Christianity.”

Larry Sanger, a founder of Wikipedia, on his journey to Christ: https://wng.org/sift/tech-guru-larry-sanger-discusses-converting-to-christianity-1739218653?mkt_tok=NzEwLVFSUi0yMDkAAAGYlJS1WcMLKOkimY-K7owT_7ha4xPXIhdJ_8M3fvBta0Swb3GO9VypsiQwZRN9_fB0BKINnGytJJz84GG31Aw7-r1kzZDc_wfpv2bhaRZX-p-k8Q

From the New York Times, an amazing article on a ministry reaching San Francisco’s technological elite: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/business/silicon-valley-christianity.html?searchResultPosition=1

Paul Kingsnorth’s testimony in the Free Press: https://www.thefp.com/p/paul-kingsnorth-christianity-faith