Posted on 02/08/2016 8:03:51 AM PST by Biggirl
Recent reports suggest that over a thousand converts to Christianity from Islam currently live in Italy, but hide their conversions for fear of retaliation from the Muslim community against themselves and their families.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Matthew 10:33 - but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
Part of conversion is counting the cost of following Christ and being willing to pay it.
True, of course. But you'll remember that early Christians met in the catacombs and used a fish symbol as a code because of the physical danger involved in being a Christian in early Rome. Once discovered they were quite valiant in facing torture and death, they did evangelize, but they did also try to avoid discovery by the people who would kill them.
give them a gun ... watch the confidence explode
Meeting is secret is not hiding your conversion. The early church is full of martyrs (and the apostles especially) - not those who run and hide.
If you feel you have to hide your conversion then, rightly so, many believers should question your conversion.
I am a cult deprogrammer and have a transition ministry. I deal with helping people transition out of cults and into Christianity (Mormonism, SDA, JW, Islam, atheism, Scientology, etc) and in all of the cases there is a fear of reprisal - either from the group or its members. Loss of job, loss of friends, loss of family, loss of marriage, loss of life, so this is a topic I deal with on an almost daily basis. And one of the things I help them work though is counting the cost - and following through that what we gain in Christ is more important than what we will lose by publicly confessing him. Another area is teaching them how to witness to their loved ones still in the cult.
Kick the muzzys out and you won’t have this problem.
This is the key to the question of what Obola’s religion is. Islam imposes ferocious penalties on apostates, up to and including death. Obola has always claimed to be a Christian, but Mudslimes throughout the world enthusiastically supported his efforts to capture the presidency. If he were a Christian, instead of a Mudslime claiming to be a Christian, they’d have done everything possible to defeat such an evil apostate.
There are many ex-muslim converts who are martyred, as you probably know, as well as Christians living among muslims who are likewise martyred. Christians living in many muslim countries like Saudi Arabia typically meet in secret and do not advertise their meetings. Its the only way. And others, like the Assyrians, emigrate to the west when they can. I remember the Afghan who was under a death sentence who they finally got out and relocated to Italy.
The point of the article is that converts could at one time find safety in the west, and that is no longer true, particularly in Italy. You or I could be openly Christian in Italy, because no one would imagine we are converts from Islam. I could be an open Christian in Saudi Arabia, but I can’t meet openly... An arab or iranian Christian pretty much anywhere is in another circumstance. He needs to blend in with non-arabs as quickly as he can to find safety. The US is still pretty safe, I know some Copts and Assyrians, but in the countries accepting mass numbers of “refugees”, they are being openly assaulted.
In Saudi Arabia they would publish in the english press a list of the people executed that week, every week. Usually a goodly number. Some for drugs, some for murder, and always several for blasphemy. “Blasphemy” is denying the prophet.
The key thing about blasphemy is that under their law you can always retract the blasphemy up to the moment of death, and save your life. So I was always mystified at the numbers of people who, in a muslim culture, would go to their death refusing to retract. Most non-muslims, for that matter, would say whatever they have to say to live another day, and hope to square it with God later.
Thats when it dawned on me that these were converts. In a place where you absolutely cannot evangelize, God still finds converts who are prepared to go to their deaths. They don’t look for it, but when it finds them they do not back down.
bump
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.