Posted on 09/11/2018 8:13:39 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
André Malraux predicted that the 21st century would be religious, or it would not be at all. Sociologists note that, even in secularized societies, people thirst for things spiritual. Despite the aforementioned social and cultural visibility of Protestantism in Northern Europe, however, the Lutheran and Anglican Churches there are dying... In Sweden, 4 percent of Lutherans attend services regularly, while the corresponding figures in Norway and Finland are below 2 percent.
By contrast, the Catholic Church is experiencing a mini-renaissance in Northern Europe. There are currently more practicing Catholics than Anglicans in Britain. In Scandinavia, there are about 600,000 Catholics, roughly 3 percent of the region's population (a proportion similar to that of Catholics in Asia). Certainly, part of this has to do with immigration. Since the European Union expanded to include less prosperous former East Bloc states in 2004, Scandinavia and the British Isles have been deluged by immigrants from the Catholic nations of Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, and Lithuania.
While Mass is celebrated in Polish or Serbo-Croatian across Northern Europe, the region's indigenous population is also being drawn to the Catholic Church. In the past decade, the number of British seminarians has grown fourfold. This cannot be explained by immigration (young Polish immigrants who enter seminary usually go home) or by short bursts of enthusiasm, such as that after Pope Benedict XVI's visit in 2010, as this upward tendency has been ongoing for ten years.
Currently, Scandinavia is one of the most vocations-rich regions in the Northern Hemisphere. The Church has 103,000 members in Sweden and 17 seminarians.
Meanwhile, one of Scandinavia's best-known Christian leaders — charismatic pastor Ulf Ekman — recently converted to Catholicism along with his wife.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholiceducation.org ...
Their church still harbors the insidious evil of their conspiracy to undermine Christianity. They harbor molesters, groomers, recruiters and evil-doers.
Finally, some good news, in spite of the attempted take-over by the Lavender Mafia!
The Lutheran bishop of Stockholm is openly lesbian.
Interesting that the most secular and liberal countries of Surope also happen to be the ones most historically touched by the Reformation.
Meanwhile Catholic countries like Hungary and Poland are holding the spiritual fort of the continent together.
Europe*
You cannot trust the so-called revival. They have not purged the evil hidden within their ranks or their hierarchy.
“17 seminarians
1. That’s it?? For a whole country?
2. Are the 17 gay? Does anyone know??
The godless church is dying. Europe is a mission field for believers whether catholic or evangelical. It is wide open.
Neither are shining examples any more.
So the process begins.
I think when you compare the devotion of *laypeople* it is that of the Catholics which stand out in Europe.
In terms of clergy: The most devout figures tend to hail from places in Africa.
The devotion of laypeople is what blinded them while their children were seduced and corrupted.
High Church /non-Evangelical Protestantism has a rich and glorious heritage and is the de-facto official religion in most Northern European countries.
The problem with Evangelicalism is that its lack of traditions make it too divorced from the histories and cultures of these places. And Europe right now needs to recover both.
I think you’re confusing “devotion” with “imprudent obedience to human authorities”. They’re not the same thing.
Thru the Bible
Praise and Prayer Needs
Praise God for a great report from TWR-Europe about a recent baptismal service at a church in the Netherlands. One of the people who got baptized, a man named John, gave his testimony. He told the congregation that one of the things that brought him to faith was the fact that he was listening every day to the Dutch-TTB broadcasts, De Bijbel Door. Pray for John and the countless saints around the world who can also say that listening to TTB played a part in their coming to faith in Christ. May many more hear the gospel of grace and believe!
Please pray for our German producer, Rev. Woytschak, as he undertakes the great work of voicing TTB and sharing Dr. McGee’s teaching of the whole Word with his countrymen.
Pray for the newly-produced German programs to be used by God to get people deeper into His Word. Also pray for German-speaking people all over the world who will be listening via the Internet.
https://ttb.org/global-reach/regions-languages/languages/swedish
https://ttb.org/global-reach/regions-languages/languages/norwegian
https://ttb.org/global-reach/regions-languages/languages/lapp
https://ttb.org/global-reach/regions-languages/languages/finnish
What are the stats on Mosque attendance?
Re: mosque attendance
This article is more recent:
“Mongolia, Sweden and Algeria: the unlikely centres of Catholic conversion”
The hope should be that the Muslims who stay eventually convert to Christianity.
The problem with Evangelicalism is that its lack of traditions make it too divorced from the histories
(Matthew 15:3) Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God?
(Matthew 15:6) In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition.
So what is Jesus saying? You could interpret as all traditions are bad OR that they need to be TESTED WITH GOD DIRECT WORD.”
If you are speaking of worldly traditions, never mind...……….
To read later.
ConPro, thanks for posting such interesting articles!
“Spain literally saved the Catholic world from total defeat by the Protestant north.
Yes, that Inquisition torturing and killing men and women Christians was just what God wanted!
“They’ll know you by your love.”
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