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What Is the Biblical Definition of ‘Revival?’ Well-Known Pastor Steve Gaines Explains
As impressive moves of faith unfold across America — from the beaches of northeastern Florida to the shorelines of Southern California — many are wondering if the country could be on the cusp of revival.
Steve Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, and the former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, is the author of the forthcoming book, “Revival: When God Comes to Church,” in which he unpacks a biblical understanding of the word “revival” and what Christians ought to do to create an atmosphere for spiritual restoration.
The most succinct definition of “revival” Gaines has come across, he said during a recent appearance on CBN’s “Faith vs. Culture,” comes straight from the Old Testament: “When the glory of God fills the house of God.”
“The word ‘vive’ has to do with life; ‘re’ means to repeat or to have fresh life,” the pastor said. “So it means ‘to have new life’. That’s what it is. And revival is not for people who don’t know Christ. I like to say it this way: You can’t revive something that’s never been ‘vived.’ So if they’ve never been given life in Jesus Christ, they can’t be revived. That’s for Christians. So revival is specifically for the people of God.”
Gaines turned then toward a passage of Scripture he believes is often “totally misrepresented.”
In Revelation 3:20, the Apostle John wrote, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me” (NIV).
The verse, the pastor explained, isn’t addressing individual salvation, as it’s often used. Rather, the passage is referring to Jesus attempting to regain access to — or to revive — His collective church.
“He’s not knocking on the door of somebody’s heart,” Gaines said. “He’s knocking on the door of the church of Laodicea, and He’s trying to get back into His church! That’s an amazing picture: that Jesus — a lot of the time — we lock Him out of His own church. We’ve got our programs, we’ve got our stuff, we’ve got our denominations, we’ve got all this stuff that we rely on, and we’re not relying on the Lord.”
He added, “The greatest thing we can give anybody is the manifest presence of God. When they come [into the church], is God there? Is God really there in manifest presence, or is He outside knocking, trying to get into His own church? I just believe we ought to let Him have His church.”
The Memphis-based minister addressed what he believes are the main hindrances to revival, the traps that often keep God from engaging with His church.
“I tell everybody there are ‘isms’ that need to become ‘wasms,’” Gaines joked.
Traditionalism, he said, is when “tradition becomes more important than the Scripture,” formalism is when “you’re trying to make sure every little dot is dotted and every T is crossed and that you’ve got it down perfectly,” fanaticism is when “you start doing things that are not biblical” and “going beyond the Word of God,” liberalism is when “you don’t really believe everything that the Bible says, and that quenches the Holy Spirit,” and, finally, legalism is “adding to the Word of God.”
“I don’t know how many times, as a Baptist, I’ve heard, ‘This is the Baptist way,’” Gaines said. “Well, with all due respect, I’m a Baptist, but I’m a Christian first. And I don’t believe in the Baptist way if it’s not the Bible way. … I just believe that we need to make sure that we realize that we do have enemies that want to quench the Spirit of God.”
As believers’ relationships with the Lord are being restored from coast to coast, it’s critical believers have a biblical understanding of revival and are equipped to create an atmosphere for the Holy Spirit to move among His people.
To learn more about Gaines’ forthcoming book, “Revival: When God Comes to Church,” click here. Also, check out the full episode of “Faith vs. Culture” above for a health update from Gaines, who is currently undergoing cancer treatment after revealing his diagnosis in November 2023.
Sources:faithwire
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‘Jesus Is Real, God Is Real, Heaven Is Real’: Woman Dies and Visits Heaven after Heart Attack
At first, Janelle Wooford thought she was having indigestion. When her pain got worse, she called 911. Then, moments after the EMTs arrived, Janelle says everything went white, and she experienced the afterlife.
“I didn’t have pain at all. What is everyone back on earth doing? I wasn’t worried about that. I wasn’t worried about anything and I was just overwhelmed with the peace and the joy and the glory of it all,” Janelle recalls.
It all started with a heart attack that killed her. That’s when Janelle’s spirit was transported to Heaven.
“Pretty quickly after finishing eating I had a feeling that was heavy in my chest, but just felt like indigestion and didn’t really think a whole lot of it,” Janelle tells CBN. “Then I noticed pain in my left shoulder. It started to kind of go up near my jaw.”
“My breathing was getting a little harder, shallow, and all of a sudden I got real clammy and sweaty,” Janelle said. “That’s when I really started to think, well, maybe this really is something going on with my heart. I called for my daughter to come out to talk to me, and I let her know I wasn’t feeling right, that I felt like I might need to go to the hospital.”
“She’s like, ‘call 911,'” Janelle says, describing her daughter’s frantic response. “So, I did. They came in and I remember the EMT started asking me questions, who I was, how I was feeling, and I started to describe to him the pain and what all the symptoms were that I was feeling. All of a sudden, I just said, ‘My head feels funny.’ I said, ‘And my vision.’ And at that point all I saw, it was like this veil—this white, cloudy veil just kind of came down. And that was it.”
“The next thing I know is I was just in a bright, bright place and was overwhelmed with joy and peace and happiness,” Janelle said as she found herself in Heaven. “I was looking around at everything, everyone, just trying to see who all was there. It was a place of comfort. It was like a familiar place. I knew people that I loved were there, and I was looking to see what all was there and who all was there. It was just beautiful. No pain, no fear, just peace, comfort, joy. It was amazing. Why would you want to leave? I didn’t.”
“As I’m doing all that, I hear my name called out,” Janelle says, putting her hand to her ear. “I was like, ‘No thank you, I’m happy here. I’m staying here. I’m enjoying this. I’m not leaving this.’ Then I heard my name again and I’m like, ‘Oh, do I have to answer?’ I said, ‘Maybe if I answer, they’ll let me come back.’ So, I answered, and the moment I answered to my name—the minute I answered my name, it was gone. I was back right there with the EMTs, no longer in Heaven.”
“Then they just started letting me know what was going on,” Janelle says about the EMTs attending to her. “They told me I had actually had a heart attack, that they had to perform CPR and shock my heart to get me back. He said that it was about two to two and a half minutes that I had been dead, that I had no heartbeat.”
She was taken to a hospital where her diagnosis was rendered.
“I ended up having a tear in one of my arteries, a very small tear,” Janelle says. “They gave me some heart medications and said that I should be alright and that it should heal up on its own. I was only in the hospital for two days and I was able to go home.”
“I really believe the Lord let me go through this for my daughter,” Janelle says of her Heavenly experience. “So, that she can have that reassurance to know, truly know, that Jesus is real, God is real, Heaven is real and it’s all worth it. To know that whatever you go through on this earth, in this earthly life, as bad and as hard as it is, it’s worth it to know Jesus as your Savior and to trust God with all you’re going through.”
“There is nothing on this earth that can even give you a comprehension of how amazing and glorious the peace and the joy is up there. The knowledge of knowing that Heaven is there waiting on me, on everyone that trusts and believes in Him—it’s just amazing.”
Sources:BREAKING CHRISTIAN NEWS
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Evangelical pastor, family members killed after church service in Colombia
A beloved Evangelical pastor and two family members were killed in northern Colombia while outside a restaurant after a church service on Sunday.
A gunman on a motorcycle killed Pastor Marlon Lora of the Prince of Peace Villaparaguay Church, his wife, Yorley Rincon, and 24-year-old daughter, Angela Lora Rincón, in the municipality of Aguachica. Their 21-year-old son, Santiago Lora Rincón, was injured in the shooting.
Lora and his church were part of the Missionaries Biblical Churches (IBM) denomination, in which he traveled to and oversaw nearly three dozen urban and rural churches across different regions in the country, according to the United Kingdom-based watchdog organization Christian Solidarity Worldwide.
The couple’s supervisor, Pastor Giovanni Bermúdez, said Pastor Lora had earlier been concerned about potential threats made against another pastor.
“Marlon was like many of us pastors — we keep quiet about many things so that everything runs smoothly, even while we carry heavy burdens inside,” Bermúdez was quoted as saying.
Lora and his family were also cherished by the Christian community in Aguachica, according to Pastor Divanit Alfonso Calle, president of the Association of Pastors of Aguachica. Ángela worked as a communications and journalism professional for Aguachica’s public utilities company and Santiago serves as a systems engineering student.
The national government announced a reward of up to 50 million pesos ($11,000) for anyone with information about the slaying of the family, the Spanish newspaper El Pais reports.
Mayor Greisy Roqueme of Aguachica declared a curfew on Sunday night.
“We cannot allow violence to steal our hope, so I demand that the National Government, the Minister of Defense and the Public Force turn their attention to the department of Cesar, but above all to the municipality of Aguachica,” Roqueme said in a video on social media, El Pais notes.
The massacre also drew the response of President Gustavo Petro and Director of Religious Affairs of the Ministry of the Interior Alexander Jaimes.
“We express our solidarity with the families of the victims and the religious community,” Jaimes said in a statement, according to the Argentina-based online newspaper Infobae.
Anna Lee Stangl, the director of advocacy for CSW, called on the Colombian government to “ensure protection for religious leaders, who remain at risk of violence and intimidation because of their role as peacemakers in their communities.”
“As the government continues its post-conflict negotiations with the armed groups, including the National Liberation Army (ELN), which is known to target religious leaders in areas where it operates — such as the Aguachica region — we urge the government to recognize victims from the religious sector within the framework of the individual peace accords,” Stangl said.
In October, Colombia’s Ombudsman’s Office reported an increase in violations of religious freedom rights by 31% between 2023 and 2024, which includes “discriminatory treatment towards churches and religious denominations, as well as death threats against religious leaders and authorities.” Death threats increased by 50% between 2023 and 2024.
The murder of Pastor Lora and his family continues a troubling trend of deadly violence impacting Christians in Colombia in recent months, according to CSW.
In November, Ever and Gerson Garcia Velez, brothers who attended church at Valle Del Cauca, were killed by three men on their own farm. On Nov. 11, Pastor Salvador Zapateiro Mercado was killed in circumstances in Cartagena. In August, the home of a pastoral couple was set ablaze by neighbors upset with the services they would hold outside their home.
Colombia ranks as the 34th worst country in the world when it comes to Christian persecution, according to Open Doors International’s 2024 World Watch List.
“[C]hurch leaders continue to be harassed, extorted and murdered due to the violence around control of territories between armed guerillas, drug gangs and other armed groups,” Open Doors warns. “Christians in these areas who dare to speak publicly about corruption and violence face attacks for their bold witness. Similarly, church leaders who oppose criminal activities in their sermons also can be targeted.”
Sources:Christian Post
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Pastor Jack Hibbs urges Christians to ‘armor up’ in 2025
Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills is calling on Christians to “armor up” spiritually as they enter the new year.
In his final message of 2024, Hibbs, reflecting on the current cultural climate, encouraged his congregation not to be “unwise” but to understand and embrace the will of God in their daily lives. Drawing from a famous passage in Ephesians 6 in which Paul urges followers of Jesus to “put on the full armor of God,” Hibbs said doing so is essential to standing firm against the spiritual battles Christians face.
“Every day with Jesus is going to be one of, ‘Let’s armor up,’” he said. “So we’ve got to wake up first, and then the next thing we do after our big toe hits the ground is we armor up. We put on the armor of God.
“Christians, listen carefully, you can’t go outside without the armor of God.”
Hibbs reminded the congregation that the challenges faced by believers are not merely earthly struggles but spiritual warfare. He highlighted the importance of prayer, reading Scripture, and remaining vigilant.
“We are in a war,” he said, stressing that “the enemy doesn’t mind us going to church; what he’s upset about is when the church gets hot for Jesus and hot for the Word of God.
“Then the enemy gets all bent out of shape,” he added.
The pastor also shared a memorable analogy, comparing spiritually unprepared Christians to participants in the reality show “Naked and Afraid.”
“Yes, if you are naked you should be afraid, very, very afraid — but how much more so for the Christian?” he asked. “Do not go out into this new year without your spiritual armament on, you will be naked. That’s why you’re afraid.”
Hibbs emphasized that spiritual preparedness is not just about church attendance but actively engaging with God’s Word and living out one’s faith daily. He referenced Romans 12:1, where Paul calls believers to present their bodies as living sacrifices, an act of worship that reflects total dependence on God’s mercy.
He also noted that prayer is integral to maintaining spiritual armor, a principle that even non-Christians understand.
“Everybody prays when something’s wrong,” said Hibbs. “Even the atheist will pray when something’s wrong. The problem is no one’s listening, but for us as believers, pray! That’s part of being armored up.”
Drawing attention to the spiritual warfare described in Ephesians 6, Hibbs explained the theological significance of the armor of God: the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit, and the belt of truth. He emphasized that each piece is designed to protect believers from the “wiles” of the devil and the spiritual forces of evil that threaten their faith and purpose.
He concluded the message by underscoring that faith, according to the Bible, is “a verb, it’s active” and that “faith never sits still.”
Hibbs illustrated this point with an anecdote about his grandson at the mall, who, while trying to go up an escalator, was “going down” instead, exerting “twice the effort in the opposite direction” and getting nowhere.
He compared the visual to a “backsliding Christian” who, though heading toward Heaven, is “not walking with God” and is instead “going backwards.”
“You’re on the escalator because you’re going to Heaven, but you’re not walking with God, you’re going backwards,” he said. “If you’re backsliding in here, if you’re backsliding right now, where you going? Not going anywhere, but boy, are you sweaty.”
Hibbs concluded by quoting John 14:31: “But that the world may know that I love the Father and as the Father gave me commandment, so I do you. Arise and let us go from here.”
“That is our marching orders for this year,” Hibbs said. “Every day, arise, let us go from here because God’s Will and plan is for us to be ahead every day, amen? And none of us want to miss that, in Jesus’ name.”
Sources:Christian Post
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