“if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

2 Chronicles 7:14

It would be wonderful to confidently declare that America is on fire for God and in the throes of a Great Revival. But premature and inaccurate to do so.

A Great Awakening among those professing to be disciples of the LORD Jesus Christ is required to ignite the flame to create the fire for God in others.

Revival appears to be happening. There is certainly more talk about it. According to various sources, Bible sales have greatly increased. Young men are said to be going to church. And on and on we hear or read things.

Here’s the thing — not to put a damper on matters or be perceived as doubting — by the fruit borne we know. it has been said, and is probably close to being accurate, that almost every home or residence in America has a Bible in it. Most of those, the overwhelming majority, go unread and are never opened.  It’s as if spiritual wisdom and discernment are somehow going to seep into the individual spirits of those residing where a Bible exists by its mere existence.

As for increased church attendance? Great. As long as the churches being attended are truly Bible-preaching, Bible-believing, Bible-teaching, Bible-centered, sound doctrine churches. Which fewer and fewer are in such a time as this.

One of the main laments naitonwide, from folks truly seeking the truth, seeking the LORD is, “Where can I find a good church to go to!?” because the one, or ones they have been going to are lost, under the direction of worldly influence, entertainment centers designed for show and no substance, feel good centers where it’s impossible to find the Holy Bible, God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit — at least the Holy Bible, God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit of the Holy Bible.

I sincerely hope and pray this week-long reading of the whole Scriptures creates in U.S. a true repentance, a true humbling, a true turning to the Light and pushing back greatly upon the darkness which has been cast over this land like a heavy choking toxic black smoke.

Unless the pursuit of God is real, unless the heart is pure in its yearning to know the LORD and not merely going through the motions, pretending, doing something to be trendy, for show as others watch and listen — unless the individual spirit is humbled, contrite, submitting to the LORD Jesus Christ, Yeshua Hamashiach, acknowledging that He is God, that He was fully truly man, while truly fully God on earth. To live among us. Sinless. To sacrifice Himself on the tree of shame, to shed His spotless blood, to die taking upon Himself all the sin of all men and women to truly repent and have Him become LORD of their life, to conquer death and walk out of the tomb three days after being crucified, to be seen over the next 40 days by over 500 witnesses, to ascend physically right in front of select disciples — unless the individual knows this, beleives this, asks the Holy Spirit to take their heart and mind and renew them to live for Christ it’s all for naught. A sham. Theater. Going through the motions. Being religious and publicly pious without true repentance, without being born again.

Revive what?

More things done for show to make many feel good? To add to the illusion, increasing the delusion?

It must be real. Repentance. Not just marathon Bible reading. Nice gesture, but until and unless the words of the Word pierce the heart and soul to open a cold, dead heart to the truth and ignite the flame of faith in Jesus in that heart, it isn’t real. It won’t last. It won’t get a soul eternal life.

Performance is not what it’s about.

Not by works.

By a truly changed heart, mind, and spirit within an individual.

By their faith in God, in Jesus, in the Holy Spirit, in the whole Word of God. Not to merely be read aloud. To be lived out, which speaks volumes as the born anew person goes through their daily life.

Or it should.

Don’t misunderstand. I am sincerely hoping a genuine great awakening occurs and then a true great revival happens. But merely talking about such, writing about such, marathon Bible reading, merely hoping or talking it up, doesn’t make it so.

It’s real, or it’s not. There is no middle ground.

Let’s make it real and talk less, write less about it being real, until such time we see the fruit of it being real.

Read on…

Ken Pullen, Monday, April 20th, 2026

America Reads the Bible: How a Crisis Opened my Eyes to a Nation on Fire for God

This Tuesday, President Trump will be reading 2 Chronicles 7:11–22 from the Oval Office.

April 19, 2026

By Susan D. Harris

Reprinted from American Thinker

This Tuesday, President Trump will be reading 2 Chronicles 7:11–22 from the Oval Office as part of “America Reads the Bible,” a weeklong event commemorating 250 years of the Bible in America.  The event features 500 participants reading Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation.  It’s an amazing endeavor that the nation is ripe for, because I believe that a revival has already begun.

We are long past due for the kind of revival that sees thousands of people pouring into the streets, filling stadiums, and banging down church doors to praise their God.

But it won’t just be about singing and praying; it will be a fight for survival as the ship of state desperately weathers the storm waves that have been assailing it.

Many of us felt the reality of those raging waves during the memorial for Charlie Kirk.  Yet instead of being overwhelmed by traumatic grief over the loss of one of America’s most influential Christians, God stilled the storm and lifted us above the pain into a profound place of peace and joy.

Across the land, people are showing a fresh hunger for the Bible and the things of God.  Let me share a personal story that illustrates this.

I recently went through a severe health crisis that could have ended badly.  I don’t mind admitting I suffered a great deal.  After a two-month illness that suddenly worsened, I was admitted to the hospital through the E.R.  For nearly a week while awaiting surgery, pain and uncertainty filled my days.  My only real distraction was the occasional YouTube video on my phone.

Just prior to my hospital stay, I had stumbled upon a YouTube livestream of a 72-hour continuous Bible reading from a church in Oklahoma.  I was intrigued — I had never seen anything like it.  Yet these kinds of Scripture marathons are not new.  They have taken place in Protestant and nondenominational churches for years, often tied to holy days or special seasons.  I later learned that Seedline International has helped organize public Bible readings across multiple states.  This event, which President Trump is participating in, “America Reads the Bible,” just came on my radar as well.  Planned in honor of America’s 250th birthday, it’s described as “a spiritual celebration of our nation’s founding ideals and a call to rediscover the truth that still anchors us today.”

When I first turned on my phone in that hospital bed, the Oklahoma livestream popped right up.  I was surprised to feel a wave of peace come over me.  In my little world, I’d felt as though a bomb had detonated; all feelings of normalcy had been obliterated.  But these faithful believers, calmly and steadily reading God’s Word hour after hour, brought me back to solid ground.  When I was awake in the middle of the night suffering, they were still there.  It felt as though they were there just for me, and that somehow, we were all going to make it through.  That livestream became a powerful reminder of the unshakable power of God’s Word and His promises.

Not long after I was home, post-op and praising God to be recuperating, I decided to find out more about that church.

Sunnybrook Christian Church is an independent Christian Church located in Stillwater, Oklahoma, not far from the spectacularly beautiful campus of Oklahoma State University.  It’s a midsize church averaging about 1,500 on any given Sunday (with 2,100 souls attending this past Easter).

I spoke with missions outreach minister Justin Ebert and asked him about their 72-hour Bible reading.  He said he was inspired by a similar Bible read-through he’d seen years before at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri. Everyone agreed that Holy Week would be the perfect time to do it.

A couple of weeks prior, they’d asked church members to sign up if they wanted to read.  So many people signed up that some had to be turned away.

Sunnybrook’s YouTube channel has about 750 subscribers.  Views for the 72-hour Bible reading were impressive.  Ebert tallied the numbers: over 5,000 views; 2,100 hours of watch time; and at its peak, 96 people were watching simultaneously.

Obviously, some of the viewers were associated with the church.  Some people said they turned it on while they were driving, and “a couple of ladies left it on all night because they liked the idea of having the Word read over them while they slept.”

The rest of the viewers were people like me who stumbled across it.  Ebert called us “the people who fell somewhere between an algorithm and the Lord’s divine intervention.”  He revealed that these viewers hailed from “both coasts” of the United States to Japan, Wales, Africa, and Poland.

And while viewers were being blessed by the reading on YouTube, Ebert said it was also having a profound effect on the church members.  “The feeling was indescribable,” he said.  “There was a spirit in the air, and an unexpected joy that brought us together.”  He admitted that the word “revival” was mentioned several times.

Does he believe a nationwide revival is coming?  “It’s hard to say.  I don’t do a lot of research on the state of the church.  I know there’s places like Barna Group and Pew that do that … but all I really have for reference is what I’m seeing around here and what I’m hearing through word of mouth. … I keep hearing things like ‘the church is in big trouble’ … but I have a lot of hope for the church right now, and I’m seeing a lot of things that encourage me. … For instance, we have Oklahoma State University, a 25,000-student campus, and our college ministry is growing like a wildfire.  People are coming to faith almost every Sunday.”

When the last verse of the 72-hour Bible reading was read at Sunnybrook church, people began cheering.  Instead of their usual Wednesday night meeting, they held an impromptu celebration.  They sang, prayed, and read more Scripture.  They just wanted to stay and soak in the feeling of God’s presence.

When Ebert was done telling the story, I couldn’t help but think of the Babylonian Jews returning from exile, asking Ezra the scribe to read to them from the Book of the Law of Moses.  The crowd standing before the Water Gate in Jerusalem consisted of men, women, and children who were old enough to understand.  We’re told that when he opened the scroll, all the people stood up.  They listened for hours, shouted some “amens,” lifted their hands in worship, bowed down with their faces to the ground, and wept openly as the Word of God touched their hearts.  I find it amazing that worship has manifested the same way for thousands of years.

Neither the secular news nor the pollsters are going to tell you revival has begun.  Yet we know we are witnessing amazing things like the organic 2023 Asbury revival, college campus awakenings led by UniteUS, and the largest single-day baptism in U.S. history — with over 7,750 people baptized in the Pacific Ocean at Huntington Beach, California last year.  And so many more stories — like unexpected joy and peace being transmitted around the world from a church in Stillwater, Oklahoma.  America is spiritually on fire.

So let’s join President Trump with continuous worship and keep the fire burning.  Whether it’s live Bible readings on YouTube, sharing testimonies on TikTok, or organizing a flash mob prayer group, let’s build the momentum for the revival we already know is happening.

Susan D. Harris can be reached at www.susandharris.com.