Muslims are Converting to Christianity in Record Numbers

National Catholic Register ^ | Patti Armstrong

[GoldenState_Rose]

We are in a time of the first ever mass conversions of Muslims,” Father Mitch Pacwa SJ told me in a phone interview. “God is doing a mighty work among them.”

Pacwa said that mass conversions are happening even in very fundamentalist countries. There is rapidly growing number of conversions especially on the edges of the Muslim world in the western and southern parts of Africa, he said. “Africa is now growing predominantly Christian despite crackdowns,” Pacwa said.

Some of the noteworthy countries he mentioned include Iran, reported to have 3 million Christians, and Indonesia with reports of 2 million a year converting.

“In Mongolia, the president opened the country to Christians and there’s even an archbishop,” Pacwa said. “They built a Catholic school there too. If I was younger, I would have gone.” He said that the desire for a Western education was the impetus to open up the country to the Catholic Church.

There are even conversions happening in many strict Muslim countries, according to Pacwa. He did not want to go on record with particulars for fear of increased retribution. Mass conversions are also being reported among refugees that are filling up the Christian churches left empty by Europeans. Many wonder if those are authentic conversions or just a response to improving their chances for amnesty, but time will tell.

Signs of this conversion are showing up in the U.S. too, Pacwa said. “I was about to celebrate Mass at a Maronite church in San Diego and I said hi to a man who introduced himself as Achmad. I asked if he was a Christian. He said: ‘Yes, I was recently baptized.’ He said he from Morocco. Christians do not have the name Ahmad—that’s a form of Mohammad.”

[daniel1212]

7“BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED. 8“BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT.” Romans 4:7-8 NASB μακάριος ἀνὴρ οὗ οὐ μὴ λογίσηται Κύριος ἁμαρτίαν. Romans 4:8 The italicized words in greek are emphatic. It is strongly saying that the Lord will not take into account your sins. The verb λογίσηται, is an aorist, subjunctive, middle verb. The subjunctive is used in Greek to indicate potentiality. In Greek, emphatic negation is indicated by οὐ μὴ plus the aorist subjunctive or sometimes the future indicative. This is the strongest way to negate something in Greek. When combined with the subjunctive this denies a potentiality. (Daniel Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, p468). In this passage from John where Jesus is comforting Martha after Lazarus has died we see a beautiful example of this. The bolded words are emphatic pronouns. The red and the underlined is the negation we've been discussing. 23 λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· ἀναστήσεται ὁ ἀδελφός σου. 24 λέγει αὐτῷ °ἡ Μάρθα· οἶδα ὅτι ἀναστήσεται ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει ἐν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ. 25 εἶπεν αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή· ὁ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμὲ κἂν ἀποθάνῃ ζήσεται, 26 καὶ πᾶς ὁ ζῶν καὶ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμὲ οὐ μὴ ἀποθάνῃ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. πιστεύεις τοῦτο; 27 λέγει αὐτῷ· ναὶ κύριε , ἐγὼ πεπίστευκα ὅτι σὺ εἶ ὁ χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἐρχόμενος. 23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world.” John 11:23-27 NASB Jesus is making a clear unequivocal promise to her that the one believing in Him will never, ever die. For the one believing this, their eternal security is rock solid. Martha had been a believer as evidenced by her confession. Like Martha, I believe in Him. I'm taking Him at His word. The question is.....do you believe the words of Jesus in v25-26?

Indeed: those who believe in the Lord Jesus for salvation by living faith will never realize the second death, though he will given an account for how he lived out his faith at the judgment seat of Christ.

And because the just shall live by faith, which purifies the heart in the washing of regeneration, (Acts 10:43; 15:8,9; Titus 3:5) Scripture warns believers as believers against having an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, drawing back unto perdition, back into bondage, making Christ of no effect, to no profit, falling from grace, etc., (Hebrews 3:12; Hebrews 10:38,39; Galatians 5:1-5) thus forfeiting what faith appropriated .

And which seems to be the sin of having "wickedly departed" (2 Samuel 22:22) from the Lord, which David could say he never did despite his sins, and having committing the "great transgression," (Psalms 19:13) which he prayed against, and thus being unable to repent, reprobate, (2 Corinthians 13:5; Hebrews 6:1-9)

Thus God works to chastens wayward members to repentance, unto "Godly sorrow" which "worketh repentance unto salvation" (2 Corinthians 7:10) lest they be condemned with the world, (1 Corinthians 11:32)​

[aMorePerfectUnion]

x

[daniel1212]

My lawless deeds are forgiven when I take them into the confessional and subject them to the power Christ gave to the Apostles: “whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, whose sins you retain, are retained”. If you think yours are going to be forgiven without you humbling yourself before the Lord in the Sacrament of Confession or, at the very least, perfect contrition, then you are fatally deceiving yourself.

Show us even one command or example in the only wholly inspired record of what the NT church believed (including how they understood the gospels) of believers engaging in confessing sins to priests as a practice.

The only command or exhortation to confess sins is to each other which is in James 5:16, and indeed God can show mercy and grace in response to the intercession of others.

James 5:14,15 is invoked by Catholics to support required regular confession to Catholic priests, but besides presbuteros not being Catholic priests, there is no confession manifest there, much less required regular confession, but the promise of forgiveness -most likely for sins of ignorance for which the subject is being chastised for (cf. Lev. 4:1-11; Luke 12:47, 48) - in response to the intercession of holy men.

Which corresponds to what we see in Mark 2:1-12, in which a man sick of the palsy is forgiven, which equates to being healed, as a result of the intercession of his friends who brought him to Christ, as we can do in pray. But no confession was manifest here and likely his chastisement was for sins of ignorance.

But confession to each other in general is exhorted in James 5:16, with the provision or binding and loosing being afforded to all of holy faith and fervent prayer as Elijah. Which I come much too short of.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Can wayward members gain salvation if they do not repent of their sins?

No offense meant--- I can be quite a windbag myself --- but I'm looking for a short answer here.

[Mark17]

The "good" works we do are a result of our salvation...not the cause of it.

You know I am an ex Catholic myself, so I have a stake in this too. My opinion is, some Catholics think that we true Christians, can make a profession of “faith” in Christ, then go live like the devil, because, well after all, my sins are forgiven. Wrong answer. When I was a Catholic, that was how I thought.
The Catholic mind can not wrap Itself around the concept, that repentance is required. One can not go live like the devil. Either they are NOT saved at all, or if they are, they are risking some serious chastening, up to, and including physical death. When my catholic mind understood this concept, then I became saved too. Praise God for His indescribable gift. I think it all comes down to how one interprets what the word “faith” means. 😀😆👍

[editor-surveyor]

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>> “why do some people consider the Catholic Church apostate?” <<

Because they worship man. (Mary, “saints”)
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[editor-surveyor]

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In a nutshell!
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[metmom]

Can wayward members gain salvation if they do not repent of their sins?

Salvation does not depend on membership to anything, anywhere, at any time.

One is born again, forgiven of their sins purely by the work of God based on the finished work of redemption of Christ on the cross.

That person may later go on to become a member of a local church somewhere, but that in NO WAY in the least has any affect on his salvation.

[editor-surveyor]

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>> “Salvation does not depend on membership to anything, anywhere, at any time.” <<

Correctamundo!

Salvation depends on Yeshua “knowing” you at the Day of Trumpets!
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[editor-surveyor]

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>> “ I think it all comes down to how one interprets what the word “faith” means.” <<

Faith as used in the word of Yehova is endurance in belief and love.

He gives us much help at this, as long as we keep at it.
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[Mrs. Don-o]

I think your answer must be to somebody else's question, since I did not ask anything about "membership" in some group per se.

My question was about the necessity of repentance for sin:

Can a person gain salvation if they do not repent of their sins?

[metmom]

It seems that they do not understand what real repentance actually means.

Repenting is turning away, turning away from our sin TO Christ.

When you repent, you do not continue to live in sin.

If you continue to live like that, you have not repented.

[metmom]

Not to mention that church membership is not a NT concept in the least.

The only purpose for church membership is for voting privileges in church government and usually to be serving in an official capacity in the church, and even then it’s mostly so that there is some kind of commitment to the church doctrine, someone doesn’t go around misrepresenting what the church teaches and accountability if they do.

[Mark17]

but I'm looking for a short answer here.

There is NO short answer here. Until terms like faith, repentance, salvation, wayward members, are defined properly, there really isn’t any answer available at all, let alone a short one.
Since you WANT a short answer, I will try. Can a true, born from above, Christian go out and live like the devil? The shortest answer possible, is just two letters. The answer is NO. Either they are lying about their Christianity, or they are risking chastening. I have been under chastening at times. I hated it, but it worked on me.

[metmom]

You said........"Can wayward members gain salvation if they do not repent of their sins?"

You absolutely did reference church membership.

Can a person gain salvation if they do not repent of their sins?

Only if they turn TO Christ instead of simply feeling sorry for their sin.

People can be sorry for their sin cause of the consequences of it, without having a desire to follow Christ.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Oh! Sorry for the ambiguity of "members." There's where the miscommunication crept in.

By "members" I meant "people claiming to be members of Christ". That is, people claiming to be saved.

I was not talking about "the wayward" as lapsing from church membership per se: I was speaking of "the wayward" as people claiming that they are members of the Body ---saved ---- and yet involved in ongoing, intentional, unrepented sin.

So I repeat: can a self-described "saved" person be saved without repentance from sin?

[metmom]

So I repeat: can a self-described "saved" person be saved without repentance from sin?

If they don't repent, they don't turn to Christ, hence are not saved.

Jesus said by their fruits you will know them.

Someone who claims to be saved and lives like he's not isn't.

[Mark17]

When you repent, you do not continue to live in sin.

From my previous Catholic mind, I thought that repentance meant I was supposed to be sinless. Nothing could be further from the truth. Are true believers sometimes going to fall into sin? Yes they are. We are still in our bodies of death, as Paul said. But, if a person allegedly makes a profession of faith, and there is NEVER a change in their life, I would say they are lying about it. No one will be perfect, till we are with Jesus. My sin grieves me, but I am not even close to being as sinful as I was, when I was a Catholic. I was a grotesque sinner in those days.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Thanks--- that "No" is what I was looking for.

I would say anyone can lose one's salvation by final impenitence.

[Mrs. Don-o]

"If they don't repent, they don't turn to Christ, hence are not saved."

Thank you. One who seriously sins and is impenitent to the end cannot be saved. That's clear, and it's true.