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Islam Now The Fastest Growing Religion In The World

3 April 2015 4 Comments

This is what happens when the Church stops evangelising.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/02/living/pew-study-religion/index.html

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  • Bruce McIntyre says:

    Sad but true, it is also what happens when the Church stops looking outward and seek to look inward at what can we do to satisfy self.

    # 5 April 2015 at 5:15 pm
  • Julian Batchelor says:

    We need a great move of God now Bruce…

    # 5 April 2015 at 5:57 pm
  • Len Savill says:

    Here is a bit of context to the statement Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world

    From First Knight: Themes of Islam and Christianity posted by Joseph Kanz.
    Yesterday, I was listening to a lecture from Ravi Zacharias, the excellent apologist and evangelist. He was sharing a discussion he had with a Muslim individual who pointed out that Islam was the fastest growing religion in the world. Zacharias responded to the effect that it was the fastest growing forced religion in the world and that if the leaders would take their feet off the neck of their people, its growth would cease. Indeed, in many countries, compliance with Islam is the law and failure to comply results in death. Indeed, if someone converts to another religion they are killed if they do not manage escape.
    …The essence of Islam is submission–indeed the word Islam means submission. Many “converts” are added through forced compliance. In Islamic countries, failure to comply with Islam results in death. Conversely, Christianity is a religion of freedom. Christianity does not force converts. Indeed, we know that it cannot. Christianity is a religion of love. John 13:34-35 says “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

    # 5 April 2015 at 8:17 pm
  • Julian Batchelor says:

    Hi Len, I can’t agree with Ravi at all. By observing Isis and the other radical and extreme elements of Islam, it’s easy for Ravi to make a case. However, the radical extreme end of Islam is a relatively small compared to the whole of Islam and in no way representative of all of Islam.

    In NZ, Islam is booming and there are no threats to submit. I have travelled through the middle east and in talking to the ordinary man on the street, I found no evidence of threats or forced submission or threats of death. One would have to conclude that Ravi’s response was little more than sour grapes, or grasping at straws. In fact, it’s more than that. His answer is representative of the whole of the Western Church which is to continue to make Biblical sounding excuses for its failure to evangelise and to justify the same.

    I believe Islam is growing for two reasons: 1. they are evangelising and 2. they are radically committed to their cause. We all know Islam is a false religion. However, this is not how it’s being perceived by the lost world. When the lost world observes Islam, they see a group of radical people who believe in their God so much that they are prepared to die for him and give their lives for him i.e. fly planes into buildings. This is what is attracting the lost to Islam. Did you know what Islam recorded its biggest spike in memberships straight after 9/11?

    When the lost world observe us, they observe no such commitment. They perceive us as believing nothing, and standing for nothing. So much so, we can’t be bothered telling anyone else about it. We’ve lost our saltiness, just as Jesus said.

    If Ravi admitted all this, and that we are a religion which has stopped evangelising, he would have to start evangelising himself, which is something 98% of Christians, including Ravi, simply don’t want to do. How do I know he doesn’t engage in evangelism? I met Ravi in Christchurch at a conference about 15 years ago and asked him outright if he engaged in personal evangelism. I remember distinctly that answer was long winded. I knew he didn’t engage in personal evangelism. He is like so many leaders – they talk about it, preach about it, write about it, exhort others to do it…….BUT they don’t do themselves!!

    As for you quoting John 13, I don’t think the 98% of the Church who are living a non-evangelistic lifestyle are living this out at all. Think about it. If we truly loved our fellow Christian, (and I am speaking to christian leaders now) we’d love the people under our care enough to lead them into doing the priority of the will of God which is to evangelise the world. To lead fellow Christians into doing His will is to lead them into loving God (John 14:21) and loving their neighbour. But 99.9% of Christian leaders are not doing this. On the contrary, 98% of Christian leaders are subtly teaching the people under them in their churches how to disobey God in the priority, concocting elaborate and Biblical sounding excuses, justifying why they don’t do evangelism themselves, which is what Ravi in his answer above did so masterfully. But in reality, Ravi is effectively giving the Western Church yet another excuse not to evangelise.

    Worst of all, because he is a prominent leader, most listening will swallow what he says hook, line, and sinker, and not give his argument another thought. They will smugly clap, smile, justify themselves, and go back to their non evangelistic ways.

    What Ravi has done is taken their eyes off the real issue, and made Islam the scape goat.

    Ravi, of course, wouldn’t be aware that this is what he is doing.

    Behind all this, of course, is the enemy (Ephesians 6:12) which is what my book is all about.

    Thank God you and Matt and others in Go International are part of the solution! :)

    Here’s a link to the latest updated and edited version of my book Len: https://drive.google.com/drive/#folders/0B7xzcZRi29iKYVJzQlQ4TVltSHc

    Feel free to distribute this to others so that they can be made aware of what is going on.

    # 6 April 2015 at 5:32 am

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