Christian Inroads into Moslem Nations
Part 1
John Hoole - September 6, 2009
Click on photos, charts and maps for larger version
About three months ago, I made a statement in our class that there is over one million evangelical Christians currently in the country of Iran. Today, I will give additional information as to why I still believe that to be so. I might touch on other Islamic nations, but my focus will primarily be on the nation of Iran.
Christianity and Iran is not just a recent combination. Christians have been in Iran since the beginning of the Church. On the birthday of the Church – the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, we find people from many nations observing the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
They asked each other, as recorded in Acts 2:8-11 (NKJV):
8 And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?
9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
11 Cretans and Arabs — we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God."
When Peter spoke on that day, we are told that Parthians, Medes and Elamites were listening. These are ancient people that lived in modern day Iran. When 3,000 people were saved on that day, undoubtedly many were of these nationalities. Earlier in their history, they joined forces, under the banner of those known as Persians. And it remained Persia until 1935, when it was changed to the Republic of Iran.
Iran is the second largest country in the Middle East, next to Saudi Arabia. It is the 19th largest country in the world. It is one-sixth the size of the United States – about the same size as Alaska.
The greatest ruler of the Persians in antiquity was King Cyrus the Great. The name, Cyrus, is derived from the Greek, Kurosh, and that from Old Persian, Kurush. As you have heard me say before, Cyrus was one of seven people named in the Bible before their birth. Isaiah prophesied his reign by name about 150 years before his birth. Cyrus the Persian and Darius the Mede coordinated their empires to defeat the Babylonians in 538 B.C. The kingdom of Cyrus, who within 2 to 3 years became the only ruler, had a kingdom that stretched from India to Ethiopia and Turkey – 127 provinces.
The Elamites (Persians) are mentioned in the Bible 31 times. The Medes are mentioned an additional 16 times. In all those times, does it say anything about the future of Persia? To answer that question, Let me bring one of their neighbors on the stage. When Nebuchadnezzar conquered the Israelites in 606 B.C., he took many of the young Jewish people back to Babylon. Daniel was one of those. An older prophet in Israel, Jeremiah, was also living then, but was not transplanted.
I am not sure when Jeremiah wrote his book, but it was probably around 620 to 610 B.C. There is good evidence it was probably written prior to Daniel being transplanted to Babylon. I say that because we read in Daniel 9:2 that Daniel had a copy of it in Babylon. In that verse, Daniel tells us how Jeremiah prophesies the Babylonian captivity will be 70 years. But Jeremiah, later in his prophecy, talks about the Persians (Elamites).
Jeremiah 49:34-39 NASU
34 That which came as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying:
35 "Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'Behold, I am going to break the bow of Elam, The finest of their might.
36 'I will bring upon Elam the four winds From the four ends of heaven, And will scatter them to all these winds; And there will be no nation To which the outcasts of Elam will not go.
37 'So I will shatter Elam before their enemies And before those who seek their lives; And I will bring calamity upon them, Even My fierce anger,' declares the Lord, 'And I will send out the sword after them Until I have consumed them.
38 'Then I will set My throne in Elam and destroy out of it king and princes,' Declares the Lord.
39 'But it will come about in the last days that I will restore the fortunes of Elam,'" Declares the Lord.
This is very interesting. God says He will set His throne in Elam (vs. 38). And in the next verse we are given the timing of this. “It will come about in the last days.” The Hebrew for “last days” is “AHREET YOMIM” Literally translated, it means, “in the end of days.” I believe we are living in “the end of days.”
As you read through this entire passage, the first act of God is to “break the bow of Elam.” Just a side note, I find it interesting that there is an absence of arrows. Could this be referring to the breaking of the threat of weapons? This is pure speculation at this point and up for debate. The next thing we see is the scattering of the people of Elam. Are you aware than in 1979, when the Shah of Iran was overthrown, nearly 4 million Iranians fled the country and settled all over the globe. Michael Asasi, whom I met in 2003, was one of those.
The growth of churches among Iranians is not exclusively within Iran. Many Iranians who have converted to Christianity have fled to Germany, England and to the United States and throughout the world. I mentioned the 4 million who fled the country in 1979. Now the Diaspora (dispersion) of Iranians is 8 to 9 million around the world. Before the Islamic revolution in 1979, there were only two Iranian congregations outside of Iran. Now there are more than 100 Christian congregation of Iranians outside Iran.
Then the prophecy of Jeremiah continues by saying that the sword of the Lord will be sent, and then the establishment of the throne of God in Iran. First, the sword of the Lord – the Word of God – is spreading all over Iran, and the hearts of thousands upon thousand of Muslims are becoming the throne of God. God is establishing His throne in a radical Islamic nation. God is pouring out His Spirit in Iran. What is happening is a phenomenal miracle, and I believe we will see literally millions of Muslims come to Christ. God is working one of the most awesome moves that has ever taken place. God is raising up a standard against the spirit of Islam.
Lazarus Yeghnazar, and Iranian-born evangelist based in London said, “In the last 20 years, more Iranians have come to Christ [than in] the last 14 centuries.”
One could ask the question, “what caused this dramatic turnaround.” Why is it that Muslims, of all people, are coming to faith in Jesus Christ now more than at anytime in history. The answer serves to show the validity of what is written in Genesis 50:20. The setting of this verse finds the sons of Abraham in Egypt. Joseph, whom those brothers had sold years earlier into slavery, was standing before them. They don’t recognize him. Next to Pharaoh, Joseph is one of the most powerful persons in Egypt. Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers, and, to make a long story short, makes the statement recorded in this verse.
Genesis 50:20 NKJV
20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.
God has the ability to take anything evil and bring something out of it that is good and righteous. The turning point in the history of the church in Iran and among Iranians was the Islamic Revolution of 1979. As I stated earlier, the name of the country changed from Persia to the Republic of Iran in 1935. In 1979 it was changed to “The Islamic Republic of Iran.” This was the first nation to call themselves an Islamic nation, although many others are controlled by Islam.
The implementation of Islamic Shari’a law has led to this phenomenal thirst and unprecedented exodus from the Muslim faith. The openness of Iranians to the gospel is primarily due to the oppression they have suffered at the hands of Islamic clergymen who rule the nation with a ironfisted regime. Hundreds of thousands of former Shiite Muslims are now Bible-believing Christians.
When we were in Istanbul on our recent Holy Land Trip, we had the pleasure of meeting with and Assembly of God missionary. He and his wife and children had spent 3 years in Central Asia near Afghanistan and Pakistan, and borders on its east with China. While there, they were under the umbrella of a local NGO (Non-Government Organization) Now he and his family are in another country as the Assemblies of God director of Central Eurasia. They have made several trips into Iran, and corroborates the openness to the gospel in Iran. He said to us, “Iranians are more open to the message of Christ than Americans.” He also said, “Many Iranians have seen what it is to live under Islam and they have found it wanting.”
In order for Islam to be exposed for what it was and is, God has allowed its nature and philosophy to be put into practice. That is why I believe that radical Islam had to arise. Muslims had to be confronted with and see the reality of what they believe. And once they have tasted the hatred, division, bloodshed and fear that Islam advocates then they will know that Islam is a religion of death and destruction.
It appears to me that Iran, possibly the most evil and radical of all nations on earth, is the first example of how the love and peace of Christ prevails over Islam. This is what I mean when I say this corroborates what is written in Genesis 50:20. God will expose the evil and shine forth the gospel to these people. Once people had a taste of true Islam, they were no longer respectful and fearful of it.
MBBs & NCBBs
When you read books and articles that speak of coverts to Christianity in Muslim countries, two different acronyms are used. There are the MBBs and the NCBBs, and there are good reasons for making the distinction. Converts known as MBBs are Moslem Background Believers. NCBB stands for Nominal Christian Background Believers.
MBBs are true, born-again, fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ, who had been born into Muslim families and were raised as Muslims. At some point in their lives, the converted to Christianity and away from Islam.
NCBBs are also true, born-again, fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. Their distinction is that they were born into families that identified themselves culturally as Christian. But before, they did not have an actual active, life-changing relationship with Christ.
The reason this distinction is necessary, is because in Iran, and a few other countries, it is against the law to convert from Islam to something else. That is considered apostasy, and punishable by death. And the person who converts a Moslem to Christianity is also guilty of the death penalty.
Islamic Cleric reaction
This major surge in conversions from Islam to Christianity has not gone unnoticed by Islamic and governmental officials. The media in the west rarely speak to the issue of conversions from Islam. And, unfortunately, you might not even hear about it in evangelical churches. But it certainly has the attention of Muslim leaders. What is really intriguing to me is that Islamic leaders are worrying in public about the Christian surge that is taking place in the region.
In 1993, a Saudi sheikh by the name of Salman Al-Odeh delivered a sermon entitled “Christian Missionaries Sweeping the Islamic World.” He cites the World Christian Encyclopedia – which he describes as a “dangerous survey” and warned his fellow Muslims that “the number of Christians in Africa was only 9 million in 1900, or 9% of the total population. In the year 1980- they had become 200 million and expected it to be 390 million in the year 2000 or 48% of the total population.” I can tell you that it is greatly larger than that today.
Eight years later, in December 2001, Sheikh Ahmad Al Qataani, another significant Saudi cleric, appeared in a live interview on al Jazeera satellite television. During that program, he confirmed that Muslims were turning to Jesus in alarming numbers. I quote him, as he warns the Islamic communities:
“In every hour, 667 Muslims convert to Christianity. Every day, 16,000 Muslims convert to Christianity. Every year, 6 million Muslims convert to Christianity.”
The interviewer was stunned, and interrupted the cleric. “Hold on! Let me clarify. Do we have 6 million converting from Islam to Christianity or converting from Islam and other religions?” Qataani repeated his assertion that it is from Islam to Christianity that 6 million are converting each year. Qataani this time added, “A tragedy has happened.” I don’t know if those numbers have been corroborated, but there is no question that many are converting, and the Islamic clerics have noticed.
It is almost ironic that when the Ayatollah Khomeini took power in Iran with his style of Islamic Shiite extremism that the true face of Islam was finally exposed not just to the Christian populace, but to the Muslims themselves.
In April 2004, an Iranian Shiite cleric by the name of Hasan Mohammadi delivered a stunning speech at the high school in Tehran. He urged the students to “safeguard your beloved Shi’ite faith” against the influence of the evangelicals and other so-called apostate religions. He went on to warn: “Unfortunately, on average every day, fifty Iranian girls and boy convert secretly to Christian denominations in our country.”
Persecution
Not all has been rosy for Christians in Iran – and certainly not for those converting from Islam. The rise of Islamic fanaticism also gave rise to increasing persecution against Christians. The current president, Ahmadinejad, was quoted as saying, “I will stop Christianity in this country.” Christians and Jews have been the target of various discrimination in the areas of housing, education and employment. In order to be accepted to any higher education institution, one must pass a sharia (Islamic Law) test. Those who practice Islam have the greatest chance of being accepted.
Soon after the Islamic Republic began its reign of Islamic terror in 1979, all foreign missionaries were forced to leave Iran. Fortunately, however, the Iranian-born church workers were already filling positions of leadership. They stepped into the place of leaving foreign missionaries. In 1988 the Iranian government began a campaign against the Christian churches. Many churches were closed as a result of the government persecution. The Sari church in 1988 (A/G pastor – Mehdi Dibaj). Kerman church in the spring of 1992 (Anglican). The Gorgan church in October of 1993 (A/G pastor, Bagher Yusefi – killed 9/28/96). The church in the city of Mashhad was closed in 1988 (A/G pastor – Hossein Soodman – killed 1990. Ahwaz church in 1993. Kermanshah church for which no date is available.
There were many others, but I mentioned these because a majority of these churches were associated with Tehran’s Assembly of God mother church, Jamiat-e Rabbani. In June 1993 the Islamic government ordered all Christian churches to sign a statement declaring that they would not evangelize Muslims. The members of these evangelical congregations were required to carry membership cards, and photocopies of these cards had to be sent to the authorities.
Pastor Haik Hovsepian Mehr of the Jamiat-e Rabbani Assembly of God church, who was also the president of the Council of Protestant Churches in Iran, refused to abide by the Islamic law of not evangelizing the Muslims. He was ordered by the authorities to disclose a list of all Muslim converts in his congregation. He refused. He loved his Master and considered obeying the Great Commission above the law of the land. And that was true even if that cost him his life. As a result, Pastor Haik was assassinated in 1994.
But, as it has always happened throughout the life of the Church, persecution actually strengthens the church. The blood of martyrs for Christ has always paved the way for a great move of God. And an interesting fact is that this seems to only work for Christianity. As the martyrs shed their blood, the believer who witness their great faith in God develop an uncompromising resolve to be true to Christ. And even when Christians, out of fear, scatter in all directions, they take the gospel with them to their new areas.
3 Methods of Evangelism
There are three methods of evangelism taking place in Moslem countries.
• Radio and Satellite TV
• Personal Witnessing on the Ground
• Dreams and Visions
The Air War
You have probably never heard of Zakaria Botros. But you need to know his story. He is by far and away the most watched and most effective Arab evangelist operating in the Muslim world. He is feisty, brilliant, opinionated, and provocative. And his enemies simply want to silence him.
An Arabic newspaper has named Botros “Islam’s Public Enemy #1.” An Al Qaeda web site has posted his photograph, and named him one of the “most wanted” infidels in the world. The Islamic radicals have put a bounty on his head - $60 million. Let me just put that in context. The U.S. bounty on Osama bin Laden’s head is $25 million.
Why are the radicals so enraged by this Coptic pastor from Egypt who is in his seventies? Because Botros is waging an air war against them, and he is winning. Using state-of-the-art technology to bypass the efforts to keep the gospel out, Botros is directly challenging the claims of Muhammad to be a prophet. He challenges the claims of the Qur’an being the word of God. He systematically deconstructs the Qur’an, verse by verse, citing contradictions and inconsistencies. Then he goes on to teach from the Bible why Jesus loves Muslims, and why He is so ready to forgive them and adopt them into His family.
His program is seen by an estimated 50 million Muslims every day. And he is getting millions of hits on his multiple Web sites in multiple languages. Though Botros is at an undisclosed location, part of his program is a live chat with those who call in either to challenge him or to inquire how to become a Christian. And the more attention the Islamic clerics give him, the more people are aware of him. Many Muslims may hate him, but for sure, they are watching.
Botros may be the most watch and best known evangelist to the Muslims, but he is by no means the only one. Hormoz Shariat is Iranian, and every night in prime time, he broadcasts by satellite a live program in which he shares the gospel in his native Farsi. Shariat draws an enormous audience in Iran – some 7 to 9 million every night. He also is a pastor of a fast-growing congregation of former Iranian Muslims outside Iran.
Satellite television dishes are sprouting like mushrooms on rooftops in all Muslim countries. In Iran, satellite TV is still technically illegal, but no one seems to care. Millions of dishes can be seen throughout big cities like Tehran as well as small villages and mountain hamlets. In my research, I learned that many Bedouin tents, in the most barren and isolated place often have satellite dishes. Right now, there are more satellite broadcasting penetrating Iran than any other country in the world.
Many other satellite TV programs are penetrating Iran – even from within the United States. Today there are no fewer than 16 different Christian television channels operating on the “Hot Bird” satellites, which is run by the European telecommunications company Eutelsat. And they are broadcast in Arabic, Farsi, Turkish and other regional languages and dialects.
Not long ago, SAT-7 was broadcasting the JESUS film. An elderly woman in Iran was watching in the Farsi language in the privacy of her apartment. She had always been fascinated with the person of Jesus Christ, but knew little about Him. She did not have a Bible. And she did not know any Christians. She had never been to church. On that night, she wasn’t seeking out a film about Jesus. She stumbled onto it while flipping through the channels of her satellite receiver.
As the story unfolds, she begins to respond to the love of Christ. She was intrigued by His teachings, amazed by His compassion and miracle, and moved by His love and forgiveness even for His enemies, even for those who had condemned Him to death and nailed Him to the cross. When she saw the depiction of Jesus rising from the dead, she found herself in tears.
At the end of the film, the narrator explained how a viewer could pray to become a follower of Christ. In doing so, he read Revelation 3:20, in which Jesus says, “Behold I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.
Because she was totally unaware that Jesus was speaking metaphorically, saying that if a person opens their door and welcomes Him in, the woman thought, “I guess I had better open the door.” So she got up from her chair, walked over to the front door of her apartment, and opened it. She was suddenly blinded by a bolt of light emanating from a figure in the doorway. “Who is it?” she asked. “It is I,” Jesus said. “Come in, my Lord,” she said, and Jesus entered her home.
For the next few minutes, Jesus spoke to her about Himself, told her He loved her and had forgiven her, and told her to get a Bible and begin reading it. And then, as suddenly as He had appeared, He was gone. The woman, startled but excited, looked back at the television screen and noticed there was a phone number she could call for more information. She picked up the phone and dialed it immediately. The call was routed from Iran to an overseas number through a secure system, that terminated at a secret call center. “I just saw Jesus,” the elderly woman told a counselor who answered the phone. “That’s great,” the counselor replied. “Isn’t it a wonderful film?” “No, no, you don’t understand, I just saw Jesus in person, in my home. He appeared to me and told me I am now His follower. Can you help me get a Bible and understand what I should do next?”
Ground War
While satellite TV may be the most efficient manner to evangelize the greatest number, any air war always needs to have boots on the ground. We cannot underestimate the importance of personal evangelism.
However, the method used on the ground is vastly different from the air. While those on the air waves can deconstruct Islamic doctrine, those on the ground have to be more subtle. They usually don’t challenge Islam, but rather to show the love of Jesus Christ and how He loves all and is willing to forgive all who come to Him.
Those on the ground show forth the love of Christ for the poor and the needy and women and the outcasts. It is like we read in 1 Corinthians 2:1-2, “When I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” The on-the-ground troops will often share the gospel without saying anything about Islam at all.
Testimony:
One Iranian Muslim woman was barren for many years. Praying to Allah in the mosque was not working. Knowing several MBBs, she asked them to pray for her to be healed. They agreed and began reading her passages from the Bible. They specifically taught her James 5:14-16, which says:
“Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”
Then the believers prayed for the Muslim woman and anointed her with oil. Soon she was pregnant, and she secretly prayed with her friends to become a follower of Christ. She had a baby boy and named him Shah – the Persian word for “king”, saying “Jesus is the King. He healed me and gave me a son as a miracle.”
In Iran, another Iranian Christian said, “you don’t go after people with the gospel. They are coming to you to ask you about the Lord. This man, who happens to be a pastor gave this illustration.
He said, “I went to the doctor’s office because I was feeling very ill. I asked the receptionist if I could see the doctor right away, but she was a veiled woman and a fanatical Muslim. She had no intention of making life easier for an “infidel,” and she told me I would have to wait for two hours. He smiled and said ‘You will regret that,’ to the woman, but he sat down with other patients. A few moments later the doctor walked by to pick up a file. “Hello, Reverend,” he said to me. I greeted him back. Then everyone in the waiting room asked me, ‘Are you really a reverend?’ I said I was. ‘How can I know Jesus?’ they asked. I told them and five Muslims prayed with me in the waiting room to receive Christ as their Savior. ‘See how you will regret making me wait?’ he tells the receptionist with a smile.’ She has never made me wait again.”
You quickly see that Jesus’ strategy of “love your neighbors” and “love your enemies” is the key to winning the hearts and minds of the Muslim people. And, in this regards, Christians have this strategy all to themselves. No one else in the Islamic world is teaching people to show love, mercy and compassion to those who hate them and want to destroy them. No one in the Islamic world is offering forgiveness to those who have committed acts of evil against them. Only the true followers of Jesus are doing these things. And that is because only those who have been born again and truly transformed have the capacity to love their enemies this way.
Dreams and Visions
One of the ways that God has chosen to communicate the message of the gospel to the Iranians is through dreams and visions. I believe this is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s declaration in Isaiah 52:15.
“So shall He sprinkle many nations.
Kings shall shut their mouths at Him;
For what had not been told them they shall see,
And what they had not heard they shall consider.”
Message Bible (Latter half)
For what was unheard of they'll see with their own eyes, what was unthinkable they'll have right before them.
International Antioch Ministries, out of San Jose, California, which reports 50,000 Iranian Muslim conversions through its satellite TV ministry begun in 2002, report: “Almost 50% of those who call the office have had a dream about Jesus.” It seems that right now is a very special season of God’s grace among the Iranian people around the world. The Islamic faith is so engraved in the hearts and souls of the Muslim people that it often takes a supernatural manifestation of God to convince them about Christ.
What is interesting to me is that every single Iranian convert who sees Jesus in a dream or a vision knows without a doubt that the One in the dream or vision was actually Jesus. In other words, they never confuse Him with Muhammad or one of their Imams or Allah.
An Iranian pastor tells how that several years ago, an Iranian Shia woman becomes a Christian after seeing a vision of Jesus Christ. She just showed up at church one day in his church, hungry to study the Bible for herself. The more she studied God’s Word, the more deeply she loved Jesus.
Soon, she discovered that God had given her the spiritual gift of evangelism. That is, not only did she have a passion to share her faith with others, the Holy Spirit had also blessed her with a supernatural ability to lead Muslims to Jesus. Today, she leads an average of 15 people to Christ every day. She told her pastor that Iranian Muslims are so desperate for the gospel that typically it takes about 5 minutes to share the story of her conversion and how God has changed her life before the listener is ready to receive Christ. Difficult conversations, she says, with several questions or concerns, take 15 to 20 minutes. Her prayer: to lead 7,000 Iranian Muslims to Christ over the next five years.
In an article titled, Behind the Black Veil, is a story a young college student named Afrooz. Overwhelmed by the pressures of life, Afrooz cried out to her god – Allah – to help her. She asked for a sign that he was with her. That night as she knelt on her prayer mat, waiting for Allah to respond, a bright light flooded the room. She says, “I lifted my head and saw Jesus…wearing white.” “I recognized that this could only be the Messiah.”
In the midst of this startling vision, Afrooz, who had never seen a Bible, wrote in her native Farsi: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” That is exactly what we read in Matthew 11:28.
As her newfound faith in Jesus came to light, Afrooz was refused employment and treated with contempt. On her wedding night, the secret police burst into the newlyweds’ hotel room and interrogated them. Her remarkable testimony, however, reflects the growing number of Iranians being drawn to Jesus by the Holy Spirit.
Joel Rosenberg wrote in his novel, The Ezekiel Option, a story of two Christians driving through the mountains of Iran with a vehicle full of Bibles. Suddenly, their steering wheel jammed and they had to slam on the brakes to keep from driving off the side of the road. When they looked up, they saw an old man knocking on their window and asking if they had the books. What books? They asked. “The books about Jesus,” the old man replied. He went on to explain that an angel recently came to him in a vision and told him about Jesus. Later he found out that everyone in his mountain village had had the same vision. They were all brand new followers of Jesus, but they didn’t know what to do next. Then the old man had a dream in which Jesus told him to go down the mountain and wait by the road for someone to bring books that would explain how to be a Christian. He obeyed, and suddenly two men with a car full of Bibles had come to a stop right in front of him.
I again repeat, these stories and hundreds more like them, corroborate the strategy of Jesus, that is, to “love your neighbors” and “love your enemies” is the key to winning Muslims. Actually that is the strategy for winning all peoples.
In spite of intense religious persecution – indeed, at times because of it - Iranians are coming to the Lord in droves. God is touching the people of Iran, and they are being won to God through the simple sharing of friendship, as well as through miraculous dreams and visions, and because of satellite TV.
What God is doing in Iran is extraordinary. But I believe this is only the beginning. As you hear reports coming from throughout the Islamic world, you hear of miracles happening everywhere and accelerating as never before.
While the Quran says that one who sacrifices his life in death pleases Allah, the Bible says he who presents his body as a “living sacrifice” does the will of God.
Missiologist, Patrick Johnstone, co-author of Operation World, writes that “Pentecostalism is the fastest growing religious movement in Iran. Everywhere in the country, the Pentecostal/Charismatic influence is strong. Many indigenous churches practice prophecy and healing.”
Some might ask, why is this happening in Iran and other Muslim countries? And why is it happening now? God does everything according to His purpose and His time schedule.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” Romans 5:6 says, “…at just the right time,…… Christ died for the ungodly.” In Psalm 31:15, the psalmist writes, “My times are in Your hand.”
As I mentioned a moment ago, the Bible says that God has a timetable. He has had one ever since the creation of this world. But, in His Word, He has given us a glimpse of some of the future details of His timetable. Some of the things in God’s timetable have already occurred.
Galatians 4:4-5 NIV
4 In the fullness of time [according to God’s timetable], God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law.
5 In order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
Forty days after He paid the price for our sins, we find Jesus about ready to return to the Father. He and his disciples were standing atop the Mount of Olives. One moment they had been talking to Jesus, and the next moment they saw him rise through the clouds, hidden from view.
Acts 1:9 (KJV)
“….while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight.” I can imagine that for a few second there was complete silence, and they gazed at the cloud that engulfed Him.
It was then, while they were still on the Mount of Olives looking at the clouds, that they notices the two angels. It was they who would begin to unfold some of the details about their Lord’s return.
In Acts 1:11, they say:
....Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up
from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
While we do not know precisely when this event will take place, we are given some clues that indicate that it is close. It could happen within the hour, or be delayed 5 to 10 years or more. But it will happen. And we can never take the chance that we are not ready for when He comes.
And Paul gives the Corinthian believers some much needed assurance concerning the return of Christ. He speaks of Christ in Heaven, ……and we on earth.
1 Thess. 4:16-17 tells us…….the Lord will descend……from heaven….. And when He does, 3 things will accompany that descent. He will descend with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God.
Then Paul turns his attention towards the earth, and said the dead in Christ will rise first….then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.
Then He gives a very comforting promise: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
WHAT IS THIS EVENT MOST OFTEN CALLED?
The event where we rise to meet Christ in the air, is called the Rapture. And this event could happen any moment. Are you looking forward to it? Are you ready?