Muslims Converting to Christianity: Growth-Spurt in a Surprising Country

“I’ve heard statistics as high as 70 percent of Iranians have rejected Islam"

By Lyndsey Koh
Mission Network News

Which country do you think has the fastest growing Church in the world? China? Russia? Maybe a country in South America?

Here’s a hint: the official name of the country starts with ‘The Islamic Republic’.

Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Marytrs, USA reveals, “The Islamic Republic of Iran is actually the place in the world where the Church is growing the fastest, something that would be pretty surprising to most Christians.”

The situation is bursting with irony. The Islamic Republic of Iran is listed on Open Doors USA’s World Watch List in the top ten hardest countries to be a believer.  And yet, last year, Operation World listed Iran as having a 19.6 percent uptick in the Christian population annually — more than any other country.

“Conversion is illegal, the above-ground churches have almost all been closed down,” says Nettleton. “So it is a country that has worked very hard to eliminate Christianity, and particularly to eliminate Muslim conversion to Christianity. But it’s the place in the world where the Church is growing the fastest.”

The Laws That Backfire

Why is the Iranian Church going through such a growth spurt?

Nettleton shares, “I’ve had Iranian Christians tell me, ‘The greatest missionary in Iran, the greatest evangelist we’ve had in Iran was the Ayatollah Khomeini.’ This is the guy who took power in 1979, he converted Iran to the Islamic Republic [saying], ‘We’re going to run our country according to what Mohammed would have us do, we’re going to run our country according to the Koran.’

“Now here we are thirty-plus years later, and most Iranians have rejected Islam precisely because of that. The country is run by the Mullahs. The government says, ‘We’re doing everything according to Islamic principles.’ So if the government doesn’t work, if there’s still corruption, if there’s still poverty, then that must mean Islam doesn’t work…. That failure has really, in the eyes of the people of Iran, become the failure of Islam.”

According to Nettleton, the Iranian people are going through honest introspection about what they’ve witnessed in their country, and what that means for their lives…and their souls.

Mission Network News article continues here

Note to Readers: This article is dated September 26, 2016.

Christians' Freedom Is Being Challenged by Homosexuality and Islam, Says NRB Head

NRB President Jerry Johnson speaks during the annual
NRB Convention in Orlando, Feb. 27, 2017

By Jeannie Law
Christian Post

The National Religious Broadcasters Christian Media Convention kicked off in Orlando, Florida, Monday with NRB President Jerry Johnson stating that the two major concerns Christians in America have are homosexuality and Islam.

"Our mission is threefold: Advancing Biblical truth, promoting media excellence, and defending free speech," Johnson said Monday night during the opening session of the annual convention.

"Religion, that's NRB. Speech, that's NRB. Press, that's NRB. I don't know another group that does all three. Some do religion, some do speech, and some do press."

Citing the Declaration of Independence — what he called America's "birth certificate" — Johnson highlighted one phrase: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

"We speak frankly here, the liberty and the freedom [part] is being challenged for us as broadcasters on two fronts — sexuality and Islam," he told Christian leaders, broadcasters and people from all different forms of media who gathered in Orlando to connect, discover and advance the future of Christian content.

"For now," he noted, the U.S. government has decided that same-sex marriage is legal. President Donald Trump also recently endorsed the legalization when he told CBS' "60 Minutes" that "these cases have gone to the Supreme Court; they've been settled" and he's "fine with that."

The problem with same-sex marriage being permissible by law, however, is that Christian artists should not be forced to "make the cake, provide flowers, do the pictures, and sing the songs," Johnson stressed.

The NRB head went on to reference the stories of some of this year's NRB guests He highlighted the case of Kelvin J. Cochran, who was fired as Atlanta Fire Chief for his Christian beliefs, and also the Benham Brothers, who lost the chance to host their own HGTV show in 2014 for supposed "anti-gay" remarks. "People are penalized for this," Johnson lamented.

Addressing the concern over Islam, Johnson noted that terrorism and violence are not the only issues.  "But it's the intolerance. It's the sharia. It's the blasphemy codes," he stressed.

"Is there any country where the majority is Islam [and] it's safe for someone to convert from Islam to Christianity? Is there any culture dominated by this worldview, where you can critique Muhammad or the Quran? It is absolutely antithetic to freedom of speech, freedom of religion or freedom of the press, and we must be aware of this and alert to this."

Christian Post article continues

Curious About Islam? Learn About Islam, Muslim History, and the Quran.

Take Advantage of this Opportunity to Learn About Islam

at a Biblical University in Bucks County, PA 

Dr. Timothy Yoder

Cairn University

As Christians, it’s important to be informed about the history and culture of other religions. Cairn University is proud to offer a special topics course on Islam titled “Topics in Sociology: Islam,” taught by Dr. Tim Yoder.

Study topics such as:

• Muslim theology
• Muslim history
• Sharia law
• Jihad
• What Muslims think about Jesus
• Women and Islam

Class time:

Class starts on January 10, 2017 but registration is open until January 20, 2017. It meets Tuesday evenings at 6:30–9:15 pm (January–April 2017).Cost: $100 (you will not receive academic credits for this course). Classes are at the Langhorne, PA campus.

To Register: Contact Admissions at admissions@cairn.edu or 877.786.2728.

For questions, contact Dr. Tim Yoder at tyoder@cairn.edu or 215.702.4353.

Credentials: 

Professor of Philosophy and Ethics, School of Liberal Arts & Sciences

• Ph.D. in Philosophy, Marquette University
• M.A. in Philosophy, Marquette University
• M.Div. in Theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
• B.S. in Bible, Cairn University

Dr. Timothy Yoder enjoys teaching a wide variety of classes like Apologetics, World Religions, Logic, Aesthetics, Philosophy of C. S. Lewis in addition to the Philosophy and Ethics classes which he holds every semester.  He also served overseas as a missionary in Russia, taught and ministered in India, France, Ukraine and Italy.

website: cairn.edu/academics/faculty/timothy-yoder/

Islam is a political system not a religion

by Civilus Defendus, with a hat tip to Kali Politus

Chapter 19 The M.O. of the Muslims since 600 AD and the M.O. of the Muslims today. 

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

The Agenda of the Muslims since Islam was created has been the destruction of every religion other than Islam.

Muslims have spread child abuse, abuse of women, violence, torture, rape, Terrorism, and war since the day Islam was created.

Islam is a political system, not a religion.

You have to ignore all of history to allow yourself to support Islam or believe Islam is not a War Machine.