Touré Roberts - Wholeness Chat

It feels great; it feels surreal. You know, when I was writing it, God just said to finish it, and writing a book is the hardest thing for me. It’s the hardest thing you can do, particularly the way I write. I put everything into it, so when I’m finished, there’s nothing left for me, you know? I’m grateful. As the First Lady mentioned, there are three categories in which the book was rated on Amazon. To know that it’s at number one, even still two days later after its release in two of those categories, and I think it’s like number five in that third category, is absolutely crazy. It’s powerful. But what excites me more than that, more than whatever recognition will continue to come to this book, is the lives that are being changed by this book already. I mean, dozens upon dozens of testimonies from people of all walks of life—of all statuses, low to high, high to low, rich and poor—being blessed and healed. For me, that’s the reward. That’s the confirmation to me that God wrote this book through me. I’m excited, again, more than anything, about the lives that are being touched right now.

What I love about wholeness is that it’s not entirely religious, meaning it doesn’t have all these rules and isn’t dogmatic, but neither is it self-help. It’s not merely mind over matter because you have personified wholeness. How much intentionality went into how you wrote the book? I think one of my unique gifts is articulating God and His truth in ways that a person who wouldn’t necessarily describe themselves as religious can relate to. I take great pride in it because that’s my unique gift, my unique offering. I’m going to be at the bishops’ conference, the pastors' and leaders’ conference. I was just asked to do a session about spirituality versus religion, and I’m excited about that. As I mentioned earlier, I think that religion—and let me give the disclaimer right now—we’re talking about semantics because there are great people who consider themselves religious, and for them, it’s noble and worthy and valuable. I think it is. But when I say «religious, ” just so we’re on the same page, I’m not downing anyone who calls themselves religious. I’m talking about people who prioritize the rules over the reasons. Are you tracking with me? People who make the rules more important than the goal or the treasure that the so-called rules were designed to reach. Faith and God are always going to be more concerned about people than processes. Are you tracking with me? That’s why they rejected Jesus. They rejected Jesus because He didn’t model the process; He was healing people. Can I just digress for a second? Jesus was healing people—people literally couldn’t walk, and now they are walking; they couldn’t see, and now they are seeing. He was doing good—feeding the multitudes, demons were fleeing—that’s a lot. But because some at the time were so blinded by the process, they missed the promise.

I thank God for the unique ability to take divine truths and translate them into a language that even a person who has never been to church in their life can understand and ultimately be transformed by. So, yes, your question, First Lady: it was very intentional. I’ve got a great publisher, one of the best in the world: HarperCollins, and their imprint is Zondervan. It’s a blessing to be partnered with them. There were a couple of moments when I was writing the book, where I was getting some pressure to be more „religious.“ I understand the sentiment; I understand what they’re trying to accomplish. But I said, „No, I have to be true to myself, ” and the word is all up in that book. Now, I might not say 1 Thessalonians 4:13, but it is interwoven in there. I believe that the believers of this age and this era will have to find language that communicates the truths of God, and that’s very, very important. So, it was indeed very intentional.