Discover the Book - Aug. 1, 2007

Apocalyptic Evangelism—

Letting All the Nations Hear at the End of Days

Part 3 continued from July 31^st

To close this conference I’d like to invite you to respond in two ways.

Fist, if you will resolve to give yourself to prayer, to filling up your bowl in Heaven by as many prayers prompted by the Spirit of God, then I’d invite you to stand with me tonight with bowed heads and start praying for God’s Kingdom to come and His will be done on earth.

As you continue to stand and prayerfully wait before the Lord with bowed heads I’d like to invite you to also go.

If you have never made a public declaration of your willingness to go and do whatever the Lord wants you to do, to be His servant, His missionary all your days—anyone or any age who has felt the Lord’s tug at your heart to go for Him—I would invite you to come right now and declare that willingness to GO by kneeling here on the steps. This for anyone who has never made a public declaration of your willingness to GO. Quietly slip out and come and just kneel why all the rest of us pray for God to touch and move hearts.

Now if you have already made that choice and have said yes to the Lord would you come and pray for and alongside of these who have come? Just to stand with tem and reaffirm your willingness to go and do whatever God wants you to do.

Hitler said if a lie is repeated often enough and long enough, it would come to be perceived as truth. One such lie often repeated is “Islam is the fastest growing religion”. 

Despite the fact that Muslims by virtue of being poor and uneducated are much more reproductive than others, Islam as a religion is not growing but dying fast. 

More and more Muslims are discovering that the violence evinced by some of their coreligionists is not an aberration but is inspired by the teachings of the Quran and the examples set by its author. Muslims are becoming disillusioned with Islam. They find out that the mechanistic ritual of praying five times per day, reciting verses that they do not understand and indeed mean nothing, getting up at taxing hours of the morning and abstaining from food and water until the sunset are not means to becoming more spiritual but are instruments to control their mind. These enlightened Muslims no more heed to the fear mongering verses of the Quran that threaten to burn them and roast them in the fires of hell if they dare to think and question the validity of that book.  

Every day thousands of Muslim intellectuals are leaving Islam. They find Islam inconsistent with science, logics, human rights and ethics. Millions of Iranians already have left Islam. The enlightened Muslims of other nationalities are not far behind. This is the beginning of a mass exodus from Islam. It is a movement that is already in motion and nothing can stop it. 

However the exodus from Islam is not reserved to the intellectuals but also the average Muslims are finding that Islam is not the way to God but to ignorance, poverty and wars. They are leaving Islam to embrace other religions especially the Christianity. ^[1]

STATUS CHRIST'S CHURCH IN WORLD OF ISLAM 2006

One Arab Christian leader told Franklin Graham that based on his research with churches and ministries throughout the Islamic world, he now believes more than 1.5 million Muslims worldwide have trusted Christ since 9/11. Such numbers are difficult to verify, but the trend is clear. "More Muslims are becoming followers of Jesus Christ today than at any other time in history," a prominent Arab Christian leader told me recently, on the condition that I not mention his name or organization. "It's not something we talk much about openly, but it is very exciting and very important."^[2]

Things have actually gotten so bad that recently a noted Islamic scholar was interviewed on the infamous Al Jazeera network. Perhaps it is best to listen to the truth coming from the mouth of the horse. The Internet site aljazeera.net published an interview with Ahmad Al Qataani أحمد القطعاني An important Islamic cleric who said:

“In every hour, 667 Muslims convert to Christianity.

Everyday, 16,000 Muslims convert to Christianity.

Ever year, 6 million Muslims convert to Christianity." ^[3]

So what is really going on in the world of Islam? Here are just what the local Arabic newspapers are reporting country-by-country:

MORROCCO: In July of 2005 Josh MacDowell was invited to speak at an open stadium filled with 80,000 young people. He preached the Gospel. Later the newspapers reported that there are 25-40,000 Moroccans who have become followers of Jesus Christ. Even if they exaggerated the numbers, it only shows how fast the church is growing in this North African Moslem country.

ALGERIA: Newspapers in Algeria reported that the 80,000 followers of Christ in that land have so alarmed the government that in March of 2006 the government passed into law a regulation banning any Moslem from converting to Christianity and or even learning about Christianity and a complete ban on any gathering of believers in the entire country.

SUDAN: Despite a ferocious civil war, genocide and widespread religious persecution, particularly in the Darfur region-literally tens of thousands of Muslims have made decisions to become followers of Jesus Christ just since 2001. Newspapers there report an incredible revival in the south with some stating that as many as 1,000,000 have come to Christ since the year 2000. At present there are 3,500 Anglican pastors ministering to congregations that number close to 5 million. We met a delegation of Sudanese in May that invited us to come and be a part of their tent meetings, book fairs, revival services and Christian conferences as well as full churches! A seminary to train new pastors is run in a mountain cave. Hundreds of churches have been planted, and thousands of small group Bible studies are being held in secret throughout the country.

EGYPT: Twenty thousand believers gathered for a day of prayer picked up in the Cairo newspapers in May 2005. They gathered at what has become known as the garbage dump church or the Muqattam Mountain Cave Church where a born again Coptic pastor preaches to thousands every Sunday. Recently a Campus Crusade person lived in Cairo for two months and attended this church and interviewed believers that had been saved through this ministry. Their report is incredible. But here are the hard facts. The Egyptian Bible Society reports that for the past 5 years the following have been the sales of Bibles—750,000 audio cassette Bibles in Arabic distributed annually; 250,000 full Bible in Arabic distributed annually; 400,000 New Testaments in Arabic distributed annually. That means in just the time since 9/11 Egyptians have consumed 7 ½ million copies of God's Word!

AFGHANISTAN: There were only 17 known evangelical Christians in the country before al-Qaeda attacked the United States in 9/11/01. Today, the number of Afghan Christians is in the thousands and growing quickly. Church leaders say Afghan Muslims are open to hearing the gospel message like never before. Dozens of baptisms occur every week. People are snatching up Bibles and other Christian books as fast as they can be printed or brought into the country. The Jesus film-a two hour docudrama on the life of Christ based on the Gospel of Luke-was even shown on television in one city before police shut down the entire TV station.

IRAQ: Mainstream media attention is focused almost exclusively on the violence of the insurgents. But despite numerous church bombings and attacks on Christian leaders, an evangelical revolution is underway in Iraq and interest in Christianity is at an all-time high. Over one million Arabic New Testaments, Christian books, and gospel publications for children have been distributed in Iraq by various ministries since the end of major war operations. Bibles are even being printed inside Iraq today. Even still, demand outpaces the supply.

As a result of such efforts and many others, thousands upon thousands of Iraqis have already made decisions to become followers of Christ, and many others are coming to Christ every week. What's more, some 162 new Iraqi believers recently began ministry training in an undisclosed section of the country to become pastors and lay leaders. But Arab Christians note there are 700,000 Iraqi believers in need of encouragement, and millions of Muslims who need the love of Christ. It's a war of ideas, they say, and it's not just about capitalism and democracy.^[4]

KAZAKHSTAN: There were only three known evangelical Christian believers before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Today there are more than 15,000 Kazakh Christians, and more than 100,000 Christians of all ethnicities.

I could read equally incredible news reports from the lands them selves for IRAN, SYRIA, LEBANON, JORDAN and so on. But rather than prolong this report—let me let the leading Islamists tell us what is happening.

Listen to the transcript of this interview.

Maher Abdallah: Dear viewers, peace of Allah be upon you, greetings and welcome to a new episode of the program Islamic Law and Life.

Our topic this evening will be Christianization …To discuss this topic, it is my pleasure to introduce today a man who is an expert on the issue of Christianization in Africa…. Sheikh Ahmad Al Qataani; the president of The Companions Lighthouse for the Science of Islamic Law in Libya, which is an institution specializing in graduating imams and Islamic preachers.

Sheikh Ahmad, welcome to you on the program.

Ahmad Al Qataani: Greeting to you.

Maher Abdallah: If we start by inquiring about your strict stance against the Christian missions in Africa, don’t the followers of every religion have the right to seek new converts, exactly as you train and graduate young Muslims to propagate Islam?

Ahmad Al Qataani: … Christianization means the following: preparing plans, and executing these plans and evolving these plans to change Muslims into Christians by taking advantage of the ignorance and poverty (of the people) and whatever necessitates from similar circumstances.

Maher Abdallah: Fine. This is a big and dangerous phrase. Taking advantage of poverty, of ignorance, of lack of education, of some need is something that a Muslim can also be accused of. So if you don’t back up what you say with examples, with references, your words remain in the air without much weight to them.

Ahmad Al Qataani: As to how that happened, well .there are now 1.5 million churches whose congregations account for 46 million people. In every hour, 667 Muslims convert to Christianity. Everyday, 16,000 Muslims convert to Christianity. Ever year, 6 million Muslims convert to Christianity. These numbers are very large indeed …..

Maher Abdallah (interrupting): Hold on! Let me clarify. Do we have 6 million Muslims a year converting to Christianity?

Ahmad Al Qataani: Every year …..