07/15/2020 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – The nation of Cuba has a complicated history, but the lesser known story of revival in this communist nation is nothing short of miraculous.
After threats from the authorities drove many lukewarm Christians out of the Church, those who remained were dedicated believers willing to risk everything for Christ.
As a result, the Gospel has swept throughout Cuba, pointing countless new believers to Christ. To support those who are faithfully spreading the Gospel in restricted nations, please click here.
Transcript:
In last week’s video, I left you saying, “Look, I’m going to come back next week and tell you a story about revival and a real world story that came out of the persecuted Church.” And this story comes out of Cuba. And it’s one of my favorite things I like to talk about it. I spent a lot of time in Cuba and I absolutely love the Church. They’re an extremely vibrant Church, powerful anointed Church. And I was so curious and I finally got someone to tell me the history, the spiritual history, of Cuba. And it starts back in the late 50s.
So Castro is rising to power. He’s leading the revolution. And when he was talking to the Church, he’d say, “Look, you don’t have to worry about us, the communists. We were going to create utopia together. We’re your friends, etc.” As soon as he got power, you know what happened. He did what Marxists always do. And the hammer came down and he started imprisoning and torturing and killing pastors. And so a whole bunch of pastors fled. And even before that. And there’s no judgment there. Look, if I’m in Cuba with my family and I’ve got foresight and I have enough money to get out and I can see what’s coming, I’m probably getting out.
But the guys that were left, they weren’t the super charismatic, super powerful speakers, super great communicators. Those guys got locked up or run off. I mean, so many pastors had to figuratively, and sometimes literally, a gun to their back. And they said, “Do you really want to be a pastor?” And so many guys said, “Look, I think I need a better vocation.” So again, so many pastors dropped out. Who’s left? It’s not the super charismatic or powerful; it’s just the guys who were faithful and praying. And some of them honestly didn’t have any other choice, but they stayed in the business, the business of being a pastor. They didn’t have to. And they said, “Where can I go? I can’t leave my flock and I can’t leave Jesus.” And they suffered. And the Church suffered. It suffered for the next 30, 40 years terribly. And so decades of terrible oppression. But the Church is praying and praying. And now what happens to a Church when all the people that are there for the wrong motives get out and you get intense pressure and people cry out to God and they’re fueled by God? They have nothing else. What happens to a Church like that? Think about it. Oh my gosh. It’s a powerful and anointed Church.
So guess what happens. In about 1989, the whole country just explodes with a hunger for God. And the pastors will tell you, they said, “Look, our little house churches …” And house churches, by the way, most of the time it’s a shack. I mean, it’s a shabby little thing in the eyes of the world. But then people were lined up to get into these churches. And the pastors actually had to issue tickets and they’d have a time limit. You had to come in and at a certain point you had to leave so there’s room for other people. And the government came, the secret police came, and threatened the pastors and said, “We’re going to imprison. We’re going to kill you if you don’t shut this down.” And so sometimes they’d close the church and only open it at night. But they couldn’t stop.
And the communist officials were coming in the back door saying, “We know God is real, but we know nothing about Him. Teach me. I want to find God.” And miracles everywhere. And this was going on. And this went on for a couple of years straight. And then it kind of went in waves. It still does. So there’s places it pops up. And again, just great hunger for God. That’s revival.
And I had an interview. I’m trying to think what not to say here. But I had an interview with somebody, an official, a high official, and they told me this. They said, look, at the beginning of this thing in 1989, their nomination had 17,000 people. Now, I show up 17 years later. It’s years ago. I show up 17 years later. So they started with 15,000 people. 17 years later they had 350,000 people. Okay? That’s revival. That’s revival. It’s not a church growth program. It’s nothing. But what it is, is revival. It’s people who they get desperate and they don’t want to live like they’re living anymore in their country. And they get so sick of the state of their country and they cry out to God and they say, “We have nothing left.” And this is the secret for all of us, honestly, in our spiritual walk. We have nothing left. Because we’re beggars without Him. We have nothing. We’re poor and we’re pitiful and we’re blind. And when we come to that realization and cry out and say, “Lord, I want to see. Lord, I want to be clothed,” then he clothed us. He gives us a sight. He gives us sight from the spirit and He clothes us. Clothes us in His spirit.
This is revival. And I think this is what we need for our country. And I would urge you to start praying for it. It can come. It can come and it will come. It’s happened many times in our country, in our culture. It comes in waves. We haven’t seen it for probably 50, 100 years. But when it comes, it’s like nothing you’ve ever seen. So pray for it in your own heart. Pray for it in our country now. And I’ll be praying with you. God bless you guys.
