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."
Teaching love and forgiveness will always win out over teaching hatred and murder and suicide-for-sex.
"And .. "Purpose Driven" isn't a series - it's one book."
Obviously you haven't read "Purpose Driven Church"...and it is not just a book, it is a philosophy that many churches are blindly following, looking for the easy way to attract new members. The sermons from Warren's website for pastors who are lazy and merely download sermons at http://www.pastors.com
are watered down and soft peddled.
Now isn't THAT a loving attitude? You failed to attribute that famous quote to Rod Parsley.
Well, he's only two behind the KJV which has 17 translations. Which of the 17 do you use?
Thank you. My "purpose" in life is to try to enlighten those who are being led down this destructive path.
Amen!
That 15 translations INCLUDES the King James Version, so does that mean that Warren needed 31 translation to achieve his goal of twisting the Scriptures?
I think my reply #33 where I said, "there is no fruit" seems to be the one item where there is no argument. I plan on using that from now on, especially in our local church where this "purpose drivel" has torn the congregation apart, just as it has in many others.
What specifically are you saying? How is it watered down? I haven't read the book so I don't know. I've heard praise and criticism, but I would really like to know specifically what you are talking about. Where's the problem exactly?
make that #36...
The method used in making a church "Seeker Friendly" is to make the sermons more soft, to appeal to a wide group of people through compromising the Gospel message. There is not much talk of sin, salvation, or the Blood of Jesus Christ to atone for sin. It is about doing things that "feel good" and "personal relationships" etc. Do yourself a favor and do some research and you will find what I am talking about.
I am very familiar with the whole seeker-friendly movement and I agree with your assessment of it. When the church acts as though they can improve on the gospel -- make it more loving -- they are insulting and denying the truth and love within the TRUE gospel. That's how I see it. It is an insult to the high price Christ paid on the cross.
Wellll, I'm one who likes the Amplified and the . . . and the . . . and the . . . and the . . . and the . . . versions.
I think God's Word is so robust that the different flavors ad depth and breadth to His Truths therein--as does studying it in a different language.
And, as you may observe, my biases are decidedly against what comes across to me as a narrow, prissy, rigid, starchy, lifeless, intellectualized vs real, etc. etc. "Christian"/perspective. I have the bias that such a perspective most outraged Jesus, too. That's how I read The Gospels. And, given the huge amount of shrill noises of such on the rel forum . . . I can be more than a little trigger happy to try and shoot holes in anything that remotely reminds me of such.
You appear to have a set of biases and trigger finger on the opposite end of such issues. I don't have any trouble seeing you as a dear brother. But I think we both have fiercely strong convictions about these matters. And, we both likely feel that our convictions are fiercely Biblical and fiercely reality based.
Of course, my biases are 100% right and yours are 100% wrong. /sar
AMEN!
I own the Pupose Drive Life. I just haven't read it yet. My son has. I'll have to ask him what he thinks.
I can believe that. I appreciate it, too.
Love it.
I thoroughly agree.
BTW, are you an expert in such matters--having a terrible time getting rid of CASH TOOLBAR spyware etc. with even several removal software packages. Terribly tencacious stuff. Comes back immediately from wherever it's bits are lurking in my system.
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