Posted on 03/29/2005 5:31:58 AM PST by Quix
More Hope in a dark time
Meri Burlingame Mar 29, 2005
More hope in the midst of the storm---------
Joel C. Rosenberg is the New York Times best-selling author of The Last Jihad (about the demise of Saddam Hussein) and The Last Days (about the demise of Yasser Arafat). His next novel, The Ezekiel Option, comes out in August 2005, from Tyndale. An evangelical Christian from an Orthodox Jewish background, his grandparents escaped from Russia. Joel has served as a senior advisor to Steve Forbes, Rush Limbaugh, former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Deputy Prime Minister Natan Sharansky
The Big (Untold) Story in the Mideast
by Joel C. Rosenberg
posted 2/24/05
Despite unprecedented press coverage of Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Middle East since September 11, 2001, one big story is not being told by mainstream media. Scores of Muslims are converting to evangelical Christianity and will be celebrating their first Easter this year, even amidst widespread persecution and the very real threat of death.
Over the past few months I interviewed more than three dozen Arab and Iranian pastors and evangelical Christian missionary leaders in the U.S. and the Middle East. The picture they paint is one of Christianity being dramatically resurrected in the lands where the Bible was written.
One Arab Christian leader tells me 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."
In Afghanistan, for example, there were only 17 known evangelical Christians in the country before al-Qaeda attacked the United States. 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 Lukeâ€was even shown on television in one city before police shut down the entire TV station.
"God is moving so fast in Afghanistan, we're just trying to keep up," one Afghan Christian worker told me, requesting anonymity. "The greatest need now is leadership development. We need to train pastors to care for all these new believers."
In 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, say Iraqi pastors and other evangelical leaders who have recently visited the war-torn country.
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.
Western Christian organizations are also trying to care for their persecuted brothers and sisters in Iraq, shipping in food, medicine, and other supplies to meet pressing needs. One such group, Samaritan's Purse run by Franklin Graham, son of the Rev. Billy Graham reports that they have "airlifted 16 tons of medical supplies and equipment into Baghdad to refurbish a teaching hospital completed construction of one clinic and supplied medicine for several others, and sponsor[ed] a church that provides food to poor families, Muslims and Christians alike."
As a result of such efforts and many others that for security sake must go unmentioned, 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.
Similar stories are being reported in countries considered most "closed" to the gospel, from Central Asia to Sudan. In Kazakhstan, for example, 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.
In Sudan despite a ferocious civil war, genocide and widespread religious persecution, particularly in the Darfur regionâ€â€literally tens of thousands of Muslims have made decisions to become followers of Jesus Christ just since 2001. 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, though two evangelical leaders asked me not to mention the specific numbers out of concern it could lead to still more persecution.
Other Arab Christian leaders tell me that the immense controversy last spring over The Passion had an intriguing if unintended and counterintuitive effect in the Middle East. Charges by American Jewish groups that the film was anti-Semitic caused enormous interest among Muslims to see the film for themselves. Soon The Passion was being shown in theaters throughout the region, and popping up on tens of thousands of bootlegged DVDs, including in Saudi Arabia and Iran where it is typically illegal to buy or sell Christian materials. While it is difficult to accurately assess the impact of the film, I can report that in Lebanon, some 310 people are known to have made decisions to become followers of Christ after just one showing of The Passion.
A wonderfully inspiring book published last fall by Brother Andrew (of God's Smuggler fame) and Al Janssen of Open Doors International takes those interested in what God is doing to reach Muslims on a powerful and unforgettable journey that reads like the 29th chapter of the Book of Acts. Light Force: A Stirring Account of the Church Caught in the Middle East Crossfire (Revell) is chock full of amazing anecdotes you will never read in the New York Times or the Washington Post.
My wife and I had the privilege of having lunch with the authors in Southern California where we peppered them for more details. What struck us most was Brother Andrew's boldness and incurable confidence in a God who can open doors to reach the most unreachable. Over salads and iced tea, Andrew humbly shared story after story of how he personally shared the gospel with Yasser Arafat, with Islamic Ayatollahs, and with Palestinian terrorists exiled to Lebanon. He also told us his unforgettable experience of preaching the gospel to 400 Hamas leaders in Gaza City, which he relates on pages 182-190 of his book.
"I can't change the situation you face here in Gaza," Andrew told the Hamas leaders. "I can't solve the problems you have with your enemies. But I can offer you the One who is called the Prince of Peace. You cannot have real peace without Jesus. And you cannot experience Him without forgiveness. He offers to forgive us of all our sins. But we cannot receive that forgiveness if we don't ask for it. The Bible calls this repentance and confession of sin. If you want it, then Jesus forgives. He forgave me and made me a new person. Now I'm not afraid to die because my sins are forgiven and I have everlasting life."
Hearing the story, I had to confess to Brother Andrew that it had never dawned on me to pray for much less preach the gospel to Hamas leaders. But isn't that what Jesus tells us to do, to love our enemies? What made the story all the more remarkable was that rather than lynching Andrew for trying to convert them to Christ, the Hamas leaders invited him to speak to other Muslims.
"Andrew, I believe you know that I teach at the Islamic University," said one. "To my knowledge, we have never had any lectures about Christianity. While you were talking, I was thinking that it would be helpful for our students to know about real Christianity. Would you consider coming to the university and giving a lecture about the differences between Christianity and Islam?"
Even the Palestinian Christian leaders who accompanied Brother Andrew to the event were taken aback. "I think my God is too small," said the head of the Palestinian Bible Society. "I never thought that a Christian could speak to radical, fanatical fundamentalists. But even if someone did have a chance, it never occurred to me that they would actually want to sit and listen to the gospel. Today God showed me how big He is."
Such are not stories being told by the mainstream media, but they are important stories nonetheless the good news of a great God. He is risen! He is risen indeed!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meri Burlingame
PO Box 63
Onalaska, WA 98570
renewedhope@tds.net
I know that feeling! THX.
Which would you choose?
Death of this temporary body or death of your eternal soul?
I am certainly not one to deny the power of Christ! Of course that is true. They could. Many probably have. But, as I stated above, China is very different from an Islamic society.
My deep objection is to the parenthetic addition to the title--it is manifestly untrue.
You are wrong.
There are untold numbers of those branches of Islam converting in family blocks and even community blocks. MIRACULOUSLY because of spontaneous dreams and visions of JESUS by key family members or several family/community members.
They learn from the vision or dream that Jesus is God. But then they have to find a Bible somehow to learn just who Jesus is because they lack enough education to have a clue.
This sort of phenomena has been increasingly happening all across the Moslem world for years and is very under reported.
Again, you need to do more homework before allowing your biases to set up rock hard.
Thanks for your elaboration. This has certainly been a concern of mine, too. Especially in central America.
Prayers worthy!
Franklin Graham runs Samaritans' Purse and was one of the first evangelicals in Afghanistan. They'll take money.
We spent some time working at the Samaritans Purse center in Boone over the Easter Break. It's amazing what is happening through them.
So what do they see in regards to Islam in South America?
I think you have failed to examine Franklin Graham's integrity sufficiently.
Also, the integrity of Operation Blessing is absolutely top flight.
I'm somewhat relieved that your biases may be less intense than they first appeared in this thread, to me. I still think they color your assessment more than you think they do.
Also, I don't think you've done sufficient homework for some of your strongly felt opinions.
2 believers CAN become 256 in less than a week easily in many cultural contexts.
WELL PUT.
Okay. But, really, it's not bias.
Actually, I'm convinced the addition to the title is not only true but conservative and well below current truth in the matter.
I think you might feel differently if you had personal friends and associates involved in such outreaches or even on-site close to such outreaches.
100's of cases have been reported through various channels sufficiently frequently and consistently showing clearly that this is but the tip of the iceberg about God's miraculously reaching into Islamic culture via dreams, visions and soverignly reaching individuals, families and communities.
Blessed to read it. Could you elaborate in a way which would shed some helpful light on integrity and effectiveness issues?
I totally agree with your last statement. One just needs to read Paul. And, frankly and ashamedly, I state that I know nothing of Franklin Graham or Operation Blessing. Peace.
Peace, indeed.
I can't know absolutely certainly what %of your assertions come from bias. But I speak of how they appear/sound/come across, TO ME.
Thanks for your charity and candor. Much appreciated and admirable.
Inspiring stuff.
FR never lacks for cynics. Especially in this subject area.
What is TROP TM? Sorry for my ignorance.
Feels so, to me.
And I love to share good things. Especially to share GOOD NEWS.
THX.
The effectiveness is amazing. Samaritans Purse creates hospitals and clinics all over the world using donated medical equipment. Operation Christmas Child sends shoebox gifts all over the world to children. My daughter has sent several hundred in the past few years and she gets several letters a year from the kids. They are distributed through pastors in the areas. The most common question is "Why are you doing this?". It is Grace in action. The children receive a book in the gift in their language that tells the Gospel story. This may be the only time these people hear anything about Christianity. The way they receive it is the real evangelism.
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