Lakepointe Church Pastor Josh Howerton believes a renewed movement of God is taking shape across the United States as what he called a “prodigal nation” begins turning back toward its Heavenly Father.

Howerton, whose Texas megachurch attracts roughly 30,000 attendees each week, shared his views during an episode of “The Shawn Ryan Show” released Monday. When host Shawn Ryan asked why Christianity appears to be “the one religion that is totally acceptable to disparage,” Howerton responded, “That’s exactly what the Bible said was going to happen.”

The pastor described hostility toward Christianity as evidence of a larger spiritual conflict. “There’s this tacit assumption throughout the entire Bible that Satan is really over all of the world’s systems,” he said, “and that’s why everything in the world aligns against one thing in particular: Christianity, Christ and Christians.”

Howerton added, “I think Satan is so real and so evil.”

Although he said the devil has gained considerable “momentum on the field” by influencing modern culture, Howerton argued that evil ultimately exposes itself through excess. “The devil always overplays his hand,” he said.

Howerton also pointed to what he described as signs of spiritual change within the United States, declaring that “the tide’s turning.” Referring to conversations with “every pastor I talk to,” he said church leaders are seeing unprecedented numbers of people accepting Christ and being baptized.

“The obviousness of darkness has become so smack you in the face” that many people, particularly young men, have “awakened to the reality that there was a non-ignorable dark force in the world,” Howerton said.

“If there’s a darkness, there must be a light. And that light has a name, and his name is Jesus Christ. I honestly think that’s a lot of what’s going on.”

Ryan agreed, linking the renewed interest in faith to widespread mistrust of major institutions. He said there has “never been more distrust in U.S. institutions, world institutions, our government,” largely because “we’ve been lied to a lot by pretty much both sides of the political spectrum.”

He added that leaders in both political parties have disappointed the people who “stood behind and propped up” them. “We can’t even figure out what gender people are anymore,” Ryan said. “There’s just nothing to really ground yourself in anymore anywhere except the Word.”

Ryan said people are increasingly turning to Scripture as they search for something reliable, adding, “We’ve put our faith in men, in human beings.”

Howerton similarly warned against placing ultimate trust in political figures. “There’s some things that I hope a human leader will do,” he said, “but at the end of the day, I’m not going to trust a king. I’ve really got to put something in the king of kings.”

“I feel like we’ve got a bit of a prodigal nation,” Howerton said, comparing America to the biblical son who eventually realizes, “Everything else didn’t work, but I know I can go home to dad.” He added, “We tried everything else, and it didn’t work. I wonder if I could go home to my Heavenly Father.”