-Revival Among the Muslims -Part II: Vision- 100 Million Coming to Christ?

A Continuation -read the previous article first: “Revival Among the Muslims -Part I: 6 Million a Year Coming to Christ

We left off talking about how incredible it was that 6 million Muslims are said to be coming to Christ every year. Sheikh Katani was sounding the alarm on an Al-Jazeerah interview.

As great as that sounds, I am actually looking for more than 100 million Muslims to be converted from every Muslim nation. Now that sounds nearly impossible. Nevertheless, our God is God and our Lord is Lord over all. Even over the principalities and powers of Islam.

Shortly after 9/11/01, I had one of the clearest and most incredible experiences that I have ever had with the Lord. I was sitting in my easy chair watching the aftermath coverage on TV one evening, and I was casually asking the Lord why he allowed such a tragedy to happen to our nation, and I was wondering about the future.

 

The next thing I knew I was in the midst of an open vision.

 

I was on a hill overlooking an ancient city with an army circling the walls. Then the trumpets blew and the walls and the gate at the front of the city came a tumbling down and the army advanced into the city to conquer.

 

Then the voice of the Lord spoke to me, He was standing behind me: Do you know what you are seeing?

 

I said: Yes, It’s Jericho.

 

Then the Lord said: No. It’s Islam. The prince of Islam has exceeded his authority. Soon there will be a new crusade, not a crusade of spears and swords, but of the Sword of the Spirit, of healing and miracles, of signs and wonders;

 

and 100 million Muslims are going to come to Christ as the firstfruits.

 

When I was back in my easy chair I started thinking about 100 million and how impossible that seemed. Yet that was only supposed to be the ‘firstfruits’ of the harvest?

Does this mean that 100 million Muslims are going to come to Christ, but that is just the beginning of a greater harvest? Wow. I believe that is the message of the vision. Praise God!

As with any spiritual gift, one should always use discernment and I submit this message to you with that qualification and understanding.

-Revival Among the Muslims -Part I: 6 Million a Year Coming to Christ

According to an interview on Al-Jazeerah with Sheikh Ahmad Al Katani, over 6 million Muslims are being converted to Christianity in Africa every year. 6 million sounds like a lot, but I’m looking for a major revival that touches every Muslim nation and brings 100 million to Christ.

One Hundred million Muslims converting to Christianity sounds rather improbable doesn’t it. After all, most Muslim countries are closed to missions and many do not allow conversions from Islam. I know how it sounds; I have been living with this idea for over five years now and have only dared to mention it publicly on two occasions. Yet that word and figure came to me in one of the clearest and most incredible experiences that I have ever had with the Lord.
One hundred million is such a large number considering the circumstances and my faith for it is so inadequate, yet I have continued to pray and look for the beginning of major revival among the Muslims. Nearly five years passed before I began to see the seeds of revival. In the last year, evidence for the beginning of a Muslim revival finally began to sprout to the surface:

In July 2006 I read an incredible report from Heidi Baker of Iris Ministries in Mozambique quoted on The Revival Blog. It told of Healing, miracles, and hundreds of Muslims coming to Christ. My hope stirred within me.

Later that month I read an article in the July issue of Charisma Magazine: “Uganda’s Miracle” by Kyalo Nguku. It tells about a major move of God in the Southern part of Uganda, Africa. In the 1970’s, Idi Amin murdered between 300,000-500,000 people in an attempt to convert the nation to Islam. In response, God raised up Christian leaders who began a movement of intercession and a ministry of healing and miracles. Today, the move of God is reaching into the highest levels of the Ugandan government, the church is growing at a phenomenal rate, and Muslims are beginning to come to Christ. What a reversal.

Then in August and September there were two articles in Charisma Magazine that gave me real hope for a greater Muslim revival. First article was “The Muslim Who Heard God’s Voice” (August 2006), the story of Evangelist Christopher Alam. I believe that soon God will be calling out 1000’s of Muslims like Alam, in miraculous ways, to bring revival among their people.

The second article was “Storm In The Desert” (Sept. 2006). It started out this way: “More Muslims have come to Christ in the last two decades than in all of history. God is orchestrating a profound miracle in our generation.” The article went on to say that over 522,000 had been converted to Christ. That seemed incredible at the time and a real boost to my faith.

Then over the last weekend in February (2007), I read two posts which really do seem to confirm the beginning of major revival among the Muslims. First I received the following article from Charisma+online by J. Lee Grady, from his Fire In My Bones column (To read the article go to Archives at the top and click down to: 02-23-07 “A Radical New Sound in Indonesia“).

According to Grady, more than 60,000 churches have been planted in Indonesia in recent years. Also, Christians in 500 cities in the country have organized prayer altars where believers will storm heaven for a national revival. All of this is happening in the largest Muslim country in the world.

Then I visited the Revival Blog and found the You Tube Al-Jazeerah’s interview with Sheikh Ahmad Al Katani, the president of The Companions Lighthouse for the Science of Islamic Law in Libya. He claimed that in Africa, every hour 667 Muslims converted to Christianity. That everyday Islam lost 16,000 Muslims, and every year over 6 million Muslims were coming to Christ. The video ended with a long line of Africans being baptized in a river by Heidi Baker. Praise God, what an incredible video. (Note: The video only lasts a few minutes, well worth seeing)
So the Muslim revival is beginning in Africa and Asia, but I believe that it will spread to every Muslim nation and people. The Gospel will be preached in a major way to every Muslim nation, even in places like Saudi Arabia where it is illegal. 6 million a year is a great start but I believe that there is more to come. …To be Continued…

-“My Conversation with God”: An Anonymous Testimony That made My Day

I just finished reading an incredible article that I received from Christianity Today. It actual made my day and my night also! It is an anonymous testimony from a professor of theology which is obviously not Pentecostal or Charismatic. In fact he says:

I’m a middle-aged professor of theology at a well-known Christian university. I’ve written award-winning books. My name is on Christianity Today’s masthead. For years I’ve taught that God still speaks, but I couldn’t testify to it personally. I can only do so now anonymously, for reasons I hope will be clear.

A year after hearing God’s voice, I still can’t talk or even think about my conversation with God without being overcome with emotion. That’s one reason I know it was real; I’m not a person who shows emotion easily. Plus, I’m a skeptic about things supernatural. Not that I don’t believe they can happen; I just doubt most miracle stories except the ones in the Bible. I’ve even been known to criticize publicly what I consider to be overly experiential forms of Christianity. I suppose that makes this story especially ironic.

Here’s the link and the title: “My Conversation with God“. It is well worth the five minutes or so it takes to read it. warning: Kleenex might be needed. I had to hunt some up half way into it. Read my comments following:

Comments: Stuff like this happens every day in Charismatic/Pentecostal circles. However, when the Spiritual gifts start breaking out in the life of an regular Evangelical -admittedly non-Charismatic- theology professor who continues to be self-conscious about it, can real Revival be that far behind? I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Actually I am doing both right now.

I really believe that the Lord is going to be moving in new and unique ways among all Christians, particularly among leaders and Pastors. Watch for healing and Spiritual gifts to informally break out in churches and places where they have never been recognized before. This is like a small first wave. Look for more to come later.