RIGHT SIDE NEWS: There are well over a billion Muslims in the world today, and the numbers keep growing. Islam is not only prospering in Middle East countries, but in the West as well. Muslim neighborhoods have sprouted up across mainland Europe and the UK, as well as in the good old United States – parts of the world considered predominantly Christian.
Should Christians be concerned? Certainly. Christians should be more concerned, perhaps, that too many Christian churches are weak and worldly and full of mushy, lifeless messages. If the Western Church were full of the Spirit of God and gushing life, there would be little to draw people to Islam.
Both Christianity and Islam, however, are missionary religions. Christian missionaries and evangelists spread the Good News that Jesus Christ died for our sins, and Muslims spread Islam. Yet, if people decide they want to leave Christianity, they are free to go. Jesus never chased people down and forced them to follow him. Judgment might await unbelievers, but believers do not pick up stones to hasten the journey. In fact, many Christians pray desperately for their loved ones who walk away from Christ, waiting with hope for the prodigal's safe return.
Leaving Islam, however, is not such an easy thing. Even in the West, Muslim young people resist telling their families they have converted to Christianity out of honest fear. And while Muslims are free to spread their faith in the West, Christians are not necessarily free to preach the Gospel to Muslims. Islam Spreads In The West, Christianity In The Mideast >>> Koinonia House | June 5, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers
The Dawning of a New Dark Age –Paperback, direct from the publishers
