Posted on 05/07/2005 8:05:03 AM PDT by churchillbuff
What is the fastest-growing religion on Earth?
Most news reports suggest it is Islam.
But a new book makes a compelling case it is a new, or, perhaps, old form of biblically inspired evangelical Christianity that is sweeping through places like China, Africa, India and Southeast Asia.
In "Megashift," author Jim Rutz coins a new phrase to define this fast-growing segment of the population. He calls them "core apostolics" - or "the new saints who are at the heart of the mushrooming kingdom of God."
Rutz makes the point that Christianity is overlooked as the fastest-growing faith in the world because most surveys look at the traditional Protestant denominations and the Roman Catholic Church while ignoring Christian believers who have no part of either.
He says there are 707 million "switched-on disciples" who fit into this new category and that this "church" is exploding in growth.
"The growing core of Christianity crosses theological lines and includes 707 million born-again people who are increasing by 8 percent a year," he says.
So fast is this group growing that, under current trends, according to Rutz, the entire world will be composed of such believers by the year 2032.
"There will be pockets of resistance and unforeseen breakthroughs," writes Rutz. "Still, at the rate we're growing now, to be comically precise, there would be more Christians than people by the autumn of 2032, about 8.2 billion."
According to the author, until 1960, Western evangelicals outnumbered non-Western evangelicals - mostly Latinos, blacks and Asians - by two to one. As of 2000, non-Western evangelicals outnumbered Westerners by four to one. He says by 2010, the ratio will be seven to one.
"There are now more missionaries sent from non-Western nations than Western nations," he writes.
This trend, says Rutz, has been missed by Westerners because the explosive growth is elsewhere.
Hundreds of millions of these Christians are simply not associated with the institutional churches at all. They meet in homes. They meet underground. They meet in caves. They meet, he says, in secret.
And what is driving this movement?
Miracles, he says.
"Megashift" attempts to document myriad healings and other powerful answers to the sincere prayers of this new category of believer, including, believe it or not, hundreds of dramatic cases of resurrections - not near-death experiences, but real resurrections of actual corpses.
"When I was a kid in Sunday school, I was really impressed that 3,000 people were saved on the Day of Pentecost," he writes. "I thought, 'Wow, that'll never happen again!"
But, Rutz says, it now happens around the globe every 25 minutes.
"By tomorrow, there will be 175,000 more Christians than there are today," he writes.
The essence of Rutz's book is about how Western Christians can tap into what he sees as a mighty work of God on Earth.
"Very few people realize the nature of life on Earth is going through a major change," he writes. "We are seeing a megashift in the basic direction of human history. Until our time, the ancient war between good and evil was hardly better than a stalemate. Now all has changed. The Creator whose epic story flows through the pages of Scripture has begun to dissolve the strongholds of evil. This new drama is being played out every hour around the globe, accompanied sometimes by mind-bending miracles."
So wonderful to have some blessed fruit reports vs all the naysaying OPINIONS.
RANT ON. Not my reality.
AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. --Matthew 24:24 (King James Version)
The true life fruit report above
was NOT feeding wimpy stuff endlessly.
Did you miss it?
Quix...Please be open minded enough to know that not opinions that oppose your own beliefs are necessarily "naysaying" or negative.
It grated on me too .. so through the help of the Holy Ghost - I wrote a new pageant - "And .. the Angels Sang".
There were 2 elements GOD added to the Nativity: The righteousness of Joseph - and how GOD trusted him to care for Mary and to teach Jesus the scriptures.
And .. secondly .. When the wisemen came to deliver their gifts - it was GOD's provision (in advance) to allow the family to flee into Egypt to save Jesus from being slain - and to provide for their living for 2 years.
Every child got to participate and they loved it.
Satan himself will confess that Jesus came in the flesh.
If you follow Warren in lockstep, you will feed cotton candy.
Hopefully there are those who don't, and feed the whole Word.
My pastor didn't. My pastor saw it as a lazy shortcut to get new people in, without having any plan to keep them. He pastors a church with a revolving door.
I look more for a certain flavor of attitude and repeated sort of thing.
'agin' it' is hard to miss.
So, I guess you are supposed to
RIP THAT EXHORTATION RIGHT OUT OF YOUR BIBLE
and never apply it as Jesus intended.
Help yourself. I'll keep it in my Bible and apply it in my life.
And, I suspect that happens way over too frequently.
But I don't blame Warren for that at all.
In fact, Warren cautions against such junk.
When truth is met with opposition, I am convinced that it must be hitting close to home with many people. Several on this thread have indicated that they have observed the same phenomenon. Not everyone has had a pleasant experience with this new-age regurgitation.
I have a son who is a product of Rhema Bible Training Center. He and his wife are Children/Youth Pastors.
I've probably read almost every book that Hagin ever wrote and I never found anything that I thought was the least bit off-message.
GOD doesn't "sabotage" programs - they are sabotaged by lack of understanding on the part of the persons doing the programs. When something doesn't work - some people are reluctant to examine it and admit it was a mistake and go on to something else.
And we are not to just go preach the gospel, we are to make disciples. The Gospel is not to got to the whole world so everyone can hear it, it's to go to the whole world so all can encounter Jesus and be changed.
One reason I dont say much about the new seeker churches is for the reasons you stated. I attended one for a few months because my son loved the sunday school and I enjoyed all the friendly people. I also noticed that I could attend any number of Bible studies where I was feed meat. I was actually very impressed with them compared to some at "better" churches.I even started going to one that was at the same time as the service.
It may be that Warren't intentions were good. Hundreds, if not thousands, of pastors who think like mine did are responsible for scattering thousands and maybe millions of sheep before this fad runs its course. And we know what the Bible says to shepherds who scatter the flock...
I could say the same thing against your side of the issues.
If it is truly born of God, why would people be so hurt and be scattered? Why is there such discord? That is what I meant earlier by saying "Where is the fruit?"
I don't recall blindly accepting anything--for several decades.
It appears to me that the blindness is extensively on the other side.
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