Evangelist endures “toughest year of my life” but says Jesus has healed him
The evangelist perhaps best known for the Brownsville Revival in Pensacola, Fla., Steve Hill battled melanoma for more than three years—and refused to give up despite what sounded like death knocking at his door. Now he’s preparing to run back to the battle line with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Steve Hill Ministries’ staff in June called for 48 hours of focused prayer and fasting on behalf of the evangelist who founded Heartland Church in Las Colinas, Texas, after the battle for his life intensified. What the staff didn’t tell the world at that time was that doctors had given him three days to live.
“I’ve been through the toughest year of my life,” Hill told Charisma. “I’ve been in a wheelchair for many months. Last June, the doctors gave me three days to live. Funeral arrangements were being made. Hospice was at my house for six months waiting for me to die from this cancer. Sorry, Charlie … not today. I plan on living many more years—at least Hezekiah’s 15 extra years. Jesus heals.”
Hill is no stranger to the power of Jesus to deliver. Fueled by his own dramatic deliverance from drugs, alcohol and crime in 1975, Hill has dedicated his life to spreading the gospel around the world. His passion to help those who are hurting and his pursuit of genuine, God-breathed revival have only intensified after years of missionary work, church planting and evangelistic crusades.
If anything, Hill’s battle with cancer only gave him a greater determination to preach the gospel. He says he can’t wait to get back on the front lines, calling his sword “sharp” and the fire in his heart “white hot.” He plans to shout the cross, the blood, repentance and salvation through Jesus from the housetops to close what he sees as a widening gulf between God and humanity.
“I’ve never seen such loneliness and despair. People are grasping at anything that will give just a moment of relief,” Hill says. “Christ must be offered without apology. This generation of Christians has the greatest opportunity, the most incredible tools and an audience that is craving the hard-core truth.”
Hill says Christians today must burn with the passion of Elijah and have the endurance of the apostle Paul. Trials like the one he’s been through are certain to come, he says, but he’s quick to encourage others: “Press on! These are hard times yet these are the best of times. Let’s not let the curtain close without pouring everything we have into this conflict. Victory is certain.”
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