‘You Have to Leave Now’: Evacuees Hear the Voice of God Just Before Disaster Strikes

While the California Carr fire rages on, Christian prophetic leader Pastor Shawn Bolz shared with CBN News a spiritual perspective on how God is moving through this tragedy.

"I felt like the Holy Spirit said 'pray Romans 8:28 over these fires and over these people,' which is 'And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose,'" Bolz said.

CBN News' Heather Sells is in California covering the wildfires.  Watch for her reports on CBNNews.com and on Monday's The 700 Club. Check local listings. 

He said he's been hesitant to share what he's hearing from the Lord because there have been so many wildfires and natural disasters, but he believes a spiritual revival will be birthed from this catastrophe. He compares the Carr fire to the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake which caused an urgency in Christians to bring salvation to people in the city and then led to a great awakening in America and movements like the Azusa Street Revival.

"God began to use this crisis as this beautiful picture of how to spread His very nature and respond in His nature to what man was going through because it was so painful," said Bolz.

Redding is home to the well-known Bethel church led by Pastor Bill Johnson. Bethel pastors frequently preach a message of revival in America, and Bolz says many faith leaders have called the city of Redding a place of innovation where God will do something new for the entire church at large.

"I believe that Redding specifically, and Shasta County and Whiskey Town, they're destined for a move of glory in this next season just like we saw in 1906," continued Bolz. "They just received a major hit and we know that God is going to use it for the good of putting them on the map in a good way as well." 

Bethel's congregation includes about 10 percent of the entire city of Redding. Their church buildings have thus far been spared from the flames, and they've opened their doors and partnered with the city and Salvation Army to distribute food and much needed supplies to members of the community.

"They've made a commitment to the city that every single house that's burned down, they're going to make a financial response to," says Bolz. "If you give to them they're going to give directly to where it's needed the most."

Bolz says he's already hearing stories of miracles happening in the midst of destruction.

"I've heard individual stories of people who were saved miraculously who heard from the Lord 'you have to leave now' and when they left, their house burned down," recounted Bolz. "That was one of the saddest ones – family who left right in time and they weren't being evacuated, no one told them there was an evacuation at that time. The fire, I think, was a lot further away and God spoke to them, 'get out of your house,' and they were able to get out."

"They weren't able to salvage anything but they were able to salvage their life which is the most important thing," continued Bolz. "There's so much profound interaction from God where he's saying I'm going to spare people and help people. There's such a limited loss of life which is part of the miraculous feature of this fire is that it went into a whole city, burned down hundreds of houses and very few people have died which is just miraculous in itself."

Bolz says he's proud of the incredible ways churches all over the area are stepping up to help in anyway they can.

"We have a promise in the Bible that God will cause everything that's evil towards us will not prosper and he'll cause it to serve us," proclaimed Bolz.

***To hear more from CBN News' Correspondent Abigail Robertson's interview with Shawn Bolz, click play above.***