Make Way For The King!

Oh, He is coming all right…the Gospel is covering the earth and it’s all being amped up for His Return…“Open wide you gates, that the King of Glory may come in!” (Psalm 24:9)

The following is a report from Christian writer of best-selling fiction and journalist Joel C. Rosenberg.* Please take care to read this in its entirety. You will be both blessed and amazed at the power of the Lord that is sweeping the Muslim world:

“More Muslims converted to faith in Jesus Christ over the past decade than at any other time in human history. A spiritual revolution is under way throughout North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia (“10/40” window, by the way–S.M.). As a result, a record number of ex-Muslims are celebrating Christmas this year, despite intense persecutions, assassinations and widespread church bombings.

IRAQ:

More than 5,000 new Muslim converts to Christianity have been identified since the end of major combat operations, with 14 new churches opened in Baghdad, and dozens of new churches opened in Kurdistan, some of which have 500 to 800 members. Also, more than 1 million Bibles shipped into the country since 2003, and pastors report Iraquis are snatching them up so fast they constantly need more Bibles.

EGYPT:

Some reports say 1 million Egyptians have trusted Christ over the past decade or so. The Egyptian Bible Society told me they used to sell about 3000 copies of the JESUS film a year in the early 1990s. But last year they sold 600,000 copies, plus 750,000 copies of the Bible on tape (in Arabic) and about a half million copies of the Arabic New Testament. “Egyptians are increasingly hungry for God’s Word,” an Egyptian Christian leader told me. Last Christmas, I had the privilege of visiting the largest Christian congregation in the Middle East, which meets in an enormous cave on the outskirts of Cairo. Some 10,000 believers worship there every weekend…

AFGHANISTAN:

Only 17 Muslim converts to Christianity before 9/11/01, but now more than 10,000. Dozens of baptisms every week.

KAZAKSTAN:

Only 3 known Christians in 1990, but now more than 15,000.

UZBEKISTAN:

NO known Christians in 1990, but now more than 30,000.

SUDAN:

More than 1 million Sudanese have converted to Christianity just since 2000, and some 5 million have become Christians since the early 1990s, despite a radical Islamic regime and an ongoing genocide that has killed more than 200,000. Seminaries are being held in caves to train pastors to shepherd the huge numbers of people coming to Christ. Why such a dramatic spiritual awakening? “People have seen real Islam, and they want Jesus instead,” one Sudanese evangelical leader told me.

IRAN:

In 1979 there were only 500 known Muslim converts to Christianity, but today Iranian pastors and evangelical leaders tell me there are more than 1 million Iranian believers in Jesus Christ, most of whom meet in underground house churches.

In December 2001, Sheik Ahmad al Qataani, a leading Saudi cleric, appeared on a live interview on Al-Jazeera satellite television to confirm that, sure enough, Muslims were turning to Jesus in alarming numbers. “In every hour, 667 Muslims convert to Christianity,” al Qataani warned. “Every day, 16,000 Muslims convert to Christianity. Every year, 6 million Muslims convert to Christianity.”

Stunned, the interviewer interrupted the cleric. “Hold on! Let me clarify. Do we have six million converting from Islam to Christianity?” Al Qataani repeated his assertion. “Every year,” the cleric confirmed, adding, “a tragedy has happened.”

One of the most dramatic developments is that many Muslims—including Shiites in Iran and Iraq—are seeing dreams and visions of Jesus and thus coming into churches explaining that they have already converted and now need a Bible and guidance on how to follow Jesus…This is the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. The Hebrew prophet Joel told us that, “in the last days, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on My servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days…And everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved.” (Joel 2:28-32)

BOTTOM LINE:

It’s not being reported by the mainstream media, but the God of the Bible is moving powerfully and dramatically throughout the Muslim world. The number of Arab and Iranian Christians is surging despite wars, rumors of wars and terrible persecution.”

*taken from Joel C. Rosenberg’s book Epicenter and from Joel Rosenberg’s website