May 20, 2021, 1:00 p.m. ET This personal reflection is part of a series called , in which writers respond to a single question: What do we believe? The new evangelical Christianity that emerged out of the cultural tumult of the 1960s and 1970s was vividly supernatural. It was born out of the fear that Americans were turning away from Christianity, and it promised a God who was intensely present, always loving and almost magically invincible. Preachers promised that ordinary people could heal and prophesy in Jesusâ name. (Here they might quote John 14:12: âWhoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing.â) Churches like Bethel Redding, in California, founded schools of Supernatural Ministry. Throughout the country, Christians went on prayer walks to cleanse their cities. They began to sniff out demons and exorcise people.