Movies, Bible sales point to revival

By Milo Haskour –

Among signs of growing revival, there are Bible sales and a boom of Christian movies.

Last year, there were 400 Christmas movies produced, 80% of which talked about Christ as a major component (or the major component) of the movie, says Dr. Ted Baehr, CEO of Movieguide.

Of Bibles sold, 2.4M units moved in September in the United States – a 35% increase over the same month in 2024, according to Circana BookScan which monitors book sales. Bible sales buck the current trend of downward sales of books in general, which are declining.

These two separate facts astonishingly point to a single driving force: demographic change. The atheism and wokeism of the previous generation is being overtaken by a generation that returns to faith. So much for sound the death knell on Christianity.

A very recent release, Light of the World, led by former Disney animator Tom Bancroft, made $5.38M in its September box office debut. Meanwhile, House of David Season 2 reached 22M viewers on Amazon Prime, and on Netflix, Testament the Story of Moses reached 13.5M viewers and reached #1 on the channel shortly after release. Mel Gibson has postponed the sequel to the Passion of Christ, but we’re waiting with baited breath.

“It’s an avalanche of Christian content,” says Billy Hallowell who reports on Hollywood for CBN.

Watch for Sarah Oil and Nuremberg, both on Nov. 5.

“Faith and values is the new wave” of productions, Dr. Baehr says. It replaces the pagan values of the previous generation of movies. Dr. Baehr says faith and values movies net better profits than the edgy movies that many artsy guys want to make.

It is interesting to note that Gen Z, particularly young men, have been noted as driving the current movement of returning to God. And picking a movie is driven by young men because it makes for an affordable date, Dr. Baehr adds.

In regards to Bible sales, numbers spiked in September after Charlie Kirk was assassinated, a disturbing and diabolical act of violence that apparently was carried out by a transgender extremist, as much violence these days is.

If the killing of the president of Turning Point USA was heinous, it only became worse to see myriad progressives celebrating it and calling for the assassination of other conservative figures. For the vast majority of Americans, the outflow of evil was disturbing.

It would seem that the unsettling scenes played on our screens drove many new people to the Bible.

“September brought a wave of troubling events—violence, geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty—underscoring a pattern: In times of crisis, more people turn to faith for comfort and support,” said Brenna Connor, an analyst at Circana BookScan.

“They started to think about what they believe and why,” said Mark Schoenwald, CEO of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. Interest is particularly high among people in the 18-to-34-year-old demographic

Erika Kirk said at her husband’s memorial service Sept 21, “This past week, we saw people open a Bible for the first time in a decade. We saw people pray for the first time since they were children. We saw people go to a church service for the first time in their entire lives.”

James Borrero, owner of Cornerstone Christian Bookstore in Vineland, N.J., is watching right in front of his eyes what the analysts are saying.

“Ever since the Charlie Kirk shooting there has been an awakening, not only with Bibles but with all Christian-related items,” Borrero said. “Even people like my father who never knew about him were affected by his death.” 

Related content: Faith explodes in 2025, Revival comes to Europe, Christianity spreads through the Amazon region. Sources: Wall Street Journal, CBN, others.