‘TV, fame and success couldn’t satisfy me, but falling in love with God changed everything’

I’ve always believed there’s more to life than what we can see. So I’ve had this burning desire to find answers. 

There were atheists in my family growing up, which gave me an in-built bias against Christianity. I started exploring all sorts of other things instead, like Eastern religions, meditation and worshipping nature. I was looking for the exotic. Christianity felt too ordinary. 

I thought the answer was being known for being an antiques guy on the TV. But it all felt a bit meaningless. I was not happy or satisfied. What’s the point in buying a new car, making some money, getting a new TV show? It doesn’t matter how famous you are, how rich you are, how good-looking you are or how popular you are. It makes no difference to anything. I always had this niggle in the back of my mind: What’s it all for? It was a constant journey for 50 years.

Surprised by joy  

[My adult daughter] was going through a terrible time. She was deeply troubled and depressed. Doctors and therapists attempted to cure her, but nobody could help. When she found Jesus, her life was transformed. I watched her change over 15 months. I call it a miracle, because she changed from a very unhappy person to a deeply joyful person. 

In December 2024, we spent Christmas together, two weeks in close quarters and talking lots. She kept telling me it was Jesus. 

Because I write history books I thought, I’ll apply the same methodology to Christianity. I’ll do some research, and I’ll write up some notes. That afternoon, I started diving down some very deep rabbit holes that I did not know existed. And I didn’t stop for eleven months. 

Looking at the evidence

Every day, whether I was filming or not, I’d be in my hotel room researching and writing. I wasn’t expecting to come across so much evidence. 

I started with: “Who made the universe?” Someone said to me: “Oh, it’s so complicated. There are so many different opinions.” Well, within about five minutes, I realised there are only two opinions, and only one can be right. The universe was either created by a mind and intelligence much greater than us, or it was an accident – created out of nothing for no reason. I very quickly came to the conclusion that it could only have been created by a mind. It doesn’t make any logical sense for ‘nothing’ to create everything. 

I investigated the resurrection. The facts, the documentation and the eyewitness accounts are indisputable. I came to the conclusion that the resurrection was a true historic event.

The turning point 

Then, I was watching Professor John Lennox on YouTube. The interviewer asked him: “Could you be wrong about Christianity?” He said: “Yes, I could be wrong, but I don’t think I am, because of the evidence I’ve seen throughout my life.” He gave the example of a young girl who was one of his students six months ago. She was very unhappy, terribly depressed. He saw her only recently, and she was full of joy. He said: “What’s happened to you?” She said: “I found Jesus.” And he said: “That’s the only proof I need.” 

That hit me so hard that I broke down. Because yes, there is a mountain of hard evidence for Christianity. If people want the historicity of it, it’s there to be found. But the real truth is in the spiritual transformation. That was when this information in my head – this belief that Jesus is real – fell into my heart, and I fell in love with God. It was dramatic beyond description.

I’d discovered what my daughter discovered – I became born again. Now I too am a changed person. 

I wake up and the first person I speak to is Jesus. The last person I speak to at night is Jesus. He’s there constantly. Having God in your life makes you laugh. It gives you joy, because you realise that God is the most important thing in the world. Once you realise you love God more than anything else, everything falls into place.

The meaning of life

Sometimes I think to myself: Gosh, I wish I’d found this earlier. Having Jesus in my life is so life-enhancing. It’s unbelievable. No amount of material wealth could ever, ever buy it. I’ve been searching all my life – careers, travelling, attempting to become famous, writing history books – always searching for something, and not discovering anything that was satisfying, until this remarkable person called Jesus entered my world.

I’ve become a very loud born-again Christian 

The fact that I’ve become a very loud born-again Christian means people are getting fed up of me talking to them about it! But I’m not going to stop. Some people have predicted it may well affect what I’m doing on television. And you know what? If I lost all my TV work tomorrow, it wouldn’t bother me for one second. I won’t lose a wink of sleep. This sounds dramatic, but I feel now that I don’t work for myself. I don’t work for the BBC. I don’t work for anyone other than Jesus. 

Why did no one tell me? 

I want to explain to people you don’t need to be special, you don’t need to be clever. It doesn’t matter where you come from, what age you are. There is something in life that is plain to see once you remove the blindfold, and it will transform your life. I think it’s an obligation for all Christians to at least drop those seeds into people’s minds. Don’t keep this great thing to yourself! 

I don’t understand why more people don’t know this! I don’t understand why nobody told me this before! I feel a sense of a responsibility to gently tell people that there is so much more to life than worrying about jobs and relationships and what people think about you. There’s a responsibility for all of us to spread what we’ve discovered. Jesus is described as the good news. I mean, that sums it up beautifully, doesn’t it? It is good news.  

David Harper was speaking to Lydia Bennett on Premier Christian Radio’s Faith, Hope and Love programme. To hear the interview in full, visit premier.plus

The God Conundrum: An easy guide to life, the universe and everything by David Harper (Independent) is out now