Discover the Book - Sept. 11, 2007

Apocalyptic Evangelism—Letting All the Nations Hear at the End of Days

Part 3 continued from September 10^th

 

 

 

 

 

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.[10]  

 

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 …..  

[1] Paul once summed up earthly life for a believer with these words, ‘When Christ who is our life appears…” (Col. 3:4). 

Jesus Christ is the theme of this church,

He is the subject of this conference

Christ's work on the Cross is the message of evangelism and missions.

Christ's return is the culmination of history.

Christ's Voice is heard in all of Scripture.

Christ's Glory is most clearly seen in the Book of the Revelation. 

[2]  “nations” ethnos # 1484 ‘nation, race’; “tribes” phule # 5443 ‘tribe, clan’; “peoples” laos # 2992 ‘people group’; “tongues” glossa # 100 ‘dialect, language’. Interestingly enough the ‘Great Commission’ was specifically to the “nations” Greek word ethnos # 1484 each time Christ gave it in Matthew 24:14; 28:19; Mark 13:10; and Luke 24:47. The other tribes and people groups seems to be only in Revelation in a Tribulation context.

[3]  http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/ahmadinejad-israel-a-rotten-dried-tree/2006/04/15/1144521534197.html

[4] These sections drawn from various blogs by Joel Rosenburg blog 5.5.05

[5]  Gog’s Plan: 38:7 – Gog (not the Antichrist of Daniel 11 and Revelation 13-16, and 19 who is at Armageddon) will build a military coalition and “be prepared" to strike; 38:8 – Gog will deploy the coalition against Israel (versus the Battle of Armageddon where the whole world descends upon Jerusalem from North, South, East and West); 39:9 – Gog will use overwhelming force against Israel; he and his coalition will “come like a storm....like a cloud covering the land”.   God’s Plan: 38:2 – The Lord God will bring judgment upon the enemies of Israel, beginning with Gog, the dictator of Russia; 38:20 – The Lord will trigger a massive earthquake in which “all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence”; 38:21 – The Lord will turn Gog’s forces against one another; 38:22 – The Lord will subject Gog’s coalition forces to: pestilence, blood, torrential rains,  hailstones, fire from heaven (not the sword from His mouth in Rev. 19 and disintegration in Zechariah 12-14); 39:6 – The Lord will “ send fire upon Magog” itself and others (no mention of this in Rev. 16, 19); 39:9 – Israel will capture her enemies weapons and burn them for 7 years (vs. Armageddon ends normal life for Earth); 39:12 – It will taken 7 full months to bury all the bodies of Israel's slain enemies (no mention of this in Armageddon passages);  39:17-20 – Birds and beast will feast on the bodies of Israel's slain enemies (yes in both passages). 

[6]  http://joelrosenberg.blogspot.com/2005_05_01_joelrosenberg_archive.html

 By Ali Sina [7]  http://www.faithfreedom.org/oped/sina31103.htm

[8]  Friday, March 25, 2005 THE BIG (UNTOLD) STORY IN THE MIDEAST [NOTE: the following story appears this Easter weekend on www.LeftBehind.com]

[9]  http://www.faithfreedom.org/oped/sina31103.htm  

[10]  Time Magazine Tackles 'Radical' Christian Evangelists in Muslim Nations Joel C. Rosenberg Monday, April 21, 2003