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 The Worlds Fastest Growing Religion

I found this to be of great interest and thought that I would share it with you:

What is the fastest-growing religion on Earth?

Most news reports suggest it is Islam.

But a new book makes a compelling case it is a new, or, perhaps, old form of BIBLICALLY INSPIRED EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANITY that is sweeping through places like China, Africa, India and Southeast Asia.

In "Megashift," author Jim Rutz coins a new phrase to define this fast-growing segment of the population. He calls them "core apostolics" –or "the new saints who are at the heart of the mushrooming kingdom of God."

Rutz makes the point that Christianity is overlooked as the fastest-growing faith in the world because most surveys look at the traditional Protestant denominations and the Roman Catholic Church while ignoring Christian believers who have no part of either.

He says there are 707 million "switched-on disciples" who fit into this new category and that this "church" is exploding in growth.
"The growing core of Christianity crosses theological lines and includes 707 million born-again people who are increasing by 8 percent a year," he says.

So fast is this group growing that, under current trends, according to Rutz, the entire world will be composed of such believers by the year 2032.

"There will be pockets of resistance and unforeseen breakthroughs," writes Rutz. "Still, at the rate we're growing now, to be comically precise, there would be more Christians than people by the autumn of 2032, about 8.2 billion."

According to the author, until 1960, Western evangelicals outnumbered non-Western vangelicals – mostly Latinos, blacks and Asians – by two to one. As of 2000, non-Western evangelicals outnumbered Westerners by four to one. He says by 2010, the ratio will be seven to one. "There are now more missionaries sent from non-Western nations than Western nations," he writes. This trend, says Rutz, has been missed by Westerners because the explosive growth is elsewhere.

Hundreds of millions of these Christians are simply not associated with the institutional churches at all. They meet in homes. They meet underground. They meet in caves. They meet, he says, in secret.

And what is driving this movement?

Miracles, he says.

"Megashift" attempts to document myriad healings and other powerful answers to the sincere prayers of this new category of believer, including, believe it or not, hundreds of dramatic cases of resurrections – not near-death experiences, but real resurrections of actual corpses.

"When I was a kid in Sunday school, I was really impressed that 3,000 people were saved on the Day of Pentecost," he writes. "I thought, 'Wow, that'll never happen again!"

But, Rutz says, it now happens around the globe every 25 minutes. "By tomorrow, there will be 175,000 more Christians than there are today," he writes.

The essence of Rutz's book is about how Western Christians can tap into what he sees as a mighty work of God on Earth.

"Very few people realize the nature of life on Earth is going through a major change," he writes. "We are seeing a megashift in the basic direction of human history. Until our time, the ancient war between good and evil was hardly better than a stalemate. Now all has changed. The Creator whose epic story flows through the pages of Scripture has begun to dissolve the strongholds of evil. This new drama is being played out every hour around the globe, accompanied sometimes by mind-bending miracles."

Who is Jim Rutz?

Jim Rutz - Chairman of the Board
Jim was born on the Caribbean island of Aruba. After a childhood lived in various states, homes and churches, he wound up in California, where he spent most of his life. He holds a BA and MA in the English language from San Francisco State University. His studies were under such figures as the late Sen. S.I. Hayakawa.
As a writer and founder of Open Church Ministries, Jim now lives in the mountains above Colorado Springs. The purpose of OCM is to bring new life to churches and believers by enabling them to reclaim three of the freedoms they had in the First Century: pure worship, true sharing, and free ministry. Jim has been a freelance writer for 19 years, writing for groups such as, World Vision, Wycliffe, Youth for Christ, Prison Fellowship, the Lausanne Committee, Jews for Jesus, and Intervarsity. Today he specializes in promoting investment news letters and is regarded as one the country's most successful advertising writers. Jim is single and enjoys racquetball, running, and compulsive reading that includes 45 periodicals. In stark contrast to his clear mind, his office is sometimes a mess.

God bless,

Stever

 2005/6/20 21:06









 Re: The Worlds Fastest Growing Religion

I heard a testimony of a man in India who got his hands on a new testament. He began reading it and got born again. He began telling others and before you know it, he was pastoring a church without realizing it.
One day some westerners came by. They asked him how he managed to pastor an "unorganized" church. He said the answer was simple. Any time there was a problem, they just searched the new testament until they found an answer to resolve the problem.
Thank God all of this came about without western influence. We try to make everyone like ourselves instead of relying on the Almighty to do as He chooses.

Just my thoughts,

Lahry

 2005/6/21 7:15
crsschk
Member



Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 9192
Santa Clara, CA

 Re: The Worlds Fastest Growing Religion

Hi Stever,

Most interesting article with more than a handful of comments:

Quote:
The growing core of Christianity crosses theological lines...

and in effect denominational? Sounds very much like what is going on here amongst ourselves.

Quote:
"There are now more missionaries sent from non-Western nations than Western nations,"


And boy do we need them...

Quote:
Hundreds of millions of these Christians are simply not associated with the institutional churches at all. They meet in homes. They meet underground. They meet in caves. They meet, he says, in secret.


Sounds really familiar..., perhaps we are coming full circle. It has been well expressed here in the past that a lot of things that we might consider practically 'new' being so far removed from their origins are in effect just "Normal Christianity". A glimpse of this here:

Quote:
I have long had a suspicion that revivals may well be a sovereign manifestation of genuine regeneration and that what we call outpourings are really just normal Christianity. The problem is that we have lived most of our lives in sub-standard Christianity and IT has become the norm.

(Philologos)
[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=461&forum=36#2503]Regeneration[/url]

More and more it seems we are finding just what this article expressed, that a stirring is about to get at some real reality to what the faith is once delivered to the saints and why many are on this 'about face' towards the old paths. A simultaneous willingness to let go of certain constructs and yet still consider much of our Christian heritage. Personally it's a lot of gleaning, not to form a 'new' theology nor to find what is 'agreeable' (much is certainly [i]not[/i] agreeable to the unfinished man but cannot escape the exposure to that which I know to be true inwardly).

The verse that is just inescapable:

Joh 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

If this marketplace here is any small indication there is a mighty wrestling going on to lay hold of this, not always pretty in it's out-workings but the mere thought of a seeming imposibility...

1Co 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

As well as...

Joh 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
Joh 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

It is the Lords desire no?


_________________
Mike Balog

 2005/6/21 9:01Profile
Eli_Barnabas
Member



Joined: 2005/2/16
Posts: 621
Cache Valley, Utah

 Re: The Worlds Fastest Growing Religion

Quote:
But, Rutz says, it now happens around the globe every 25 minutes. "By tomorrow, there will be 175,000 more Christians than there are today," he writes.



Jesus speaks of a great falling away. If this is true (yet I think if there were this many Christians there would be a greater impact on society... at least if they were living the life of a true disciple) then the more people we get now, sadly, the harder the fall it will be.

God help us and forgive us.


_________________
Eli Brayley

 2005/6/21 9:13Profile
ccchhhrrriiisss
Member



Joined: 2003/11/23
Posts: 4779


 Re: The Worlds Fastest Growing Religion

This is an interesting find, Stever!

I am currently taking a graduate class in Middle Eastern Studies at my University. The professor is a Sunni Muslim [i]from Mexico City[/i]. He has shown quite a bit of evidence that shows that Islam is growing fast -- but only because of high birth rates.

Like the Roman Catholic church, Islam discourages the use of any form of contraceptives. This is not so much a doctrinal issue -- as "a need to keep the religion numerically strong through population." The religion also encourages large families, which with the acceptance of polygamy in many Islamic nations, allows for a huge Islamic birth rate.

So the bulk of the growth in Islamic nations does not result from conversions -- but from encouraged inbreeding. The largest growth rate in Islam is actually occurring in southeast Asian and Latin American nations. However, even there, the "conversion rate" is small.

Many religions are claiming that they are the "fastest growing." But like Islam and Roman Catholism, their growth may be due to large birth rates and forced religious adherence for their children. The Hindu and Buddist religions are growing tremendously -- but this is also due to population rather than conversion. In most nations, there is a single, dominant religion that squelches the liberties of minority faiths. In other words, there is no opposing voice. Thus, the children grow up to embrace the religions of their parents.

In America, the fastest growing religion [i]by conversion[/i] is paganism. This is mostly due to the embrace of such religion by young people as a sort of "counter culture" phase. Most young people eventually outgrow such ideas. Unfortunately, some begin to take their paganism to heart, including ritualistic exercises.

To me, the important thing is that we understand that there are only two types of people in the world -- [b][i]saved[/i][/b] and [b][i]unsaved[/i][/b].

Christianity holds the record for most adherents -- about [b]2 billion worldwide[/b]. But this number consists of every denomination and sect -- including cults. This is in contrast to about [b]1 billion Muslims[/b], [b]1 billion Hindus[/b] and [b]300-600 million Buddhists[/b]. Sadly, about [b]two-thirds of the world's population[/b] belong to non-christian religions.

Right now, we have a tremendous oppurtunity to impact this world! Never before has the harvest been so ripe and plentiful! May God raise up some believers like Hudson Taylor, Robert Moffat and David Livingston who will see "[b][i]the smoke of a thousand villages[/b][/i]" without Christ -- and go to reap that harvest with the Truth found only in our Savior!

[b]"...behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." - [i]John 4:34[/i][/b]

:-)
-Chris
Jeremiah 29:11-13


_________________
Christopher

 2005/6/21 12:26Profile
Eli_Barnabas
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Joined: 2005/2/16
Posts: 621
Cache Valley, Utah

 Re: The Worlds Fastest Growing Religion

[i]"Look," says the Teacher, "this is what I have discovered:
"Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things-

while I was still searching
but not finding—
I found [b]one upright man among a thousand[/b],
but not one upright woman among them all.[/i]
-Ecclesiastes 7:27-28

Again, sorry, I seem to be throwing the wrench in things.

In Christ,
-Eli


_________________
Eli Brayley

 2005/6/21 13:48Profile









 Re: An update

I thought that I would share this with you as well. About the power that is being unleashed throughout the known world. The power of Jesus Christ

--also from James Rutz:

City transformation on a scale not seen before


Posted: June 21, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

First, let me wave my tiny set of conservative credentials: I stand somewhere between Joan of Arc and Wyatt Earp, I support any conspiracy theory that can be explained in Basic English with a straight face, and I will enter any contest in which first prize is dinner with Ann Coulter.

That said, I feel that no array of think tanks, PACs, programs, and Fox News commentators is going to bring about the redeemed world we're looking for. Not by itself.

Our problems are far deeper than politics. Psychotic-grade liberalism poisons politics, culture and economics, yes, but the real trouble lies in the human spirit. In plainer words, most evil springs from spiritual evil, and remedies must start there, or they are only patch jobs.

The good news: Rapid transformations have begun
The long tides of history have produced many slow shifts toward the good. For instance, the four waves of the Great Awakening, starting with the Moravians and the Wesleys, awoke the West from its 1,500-year Big Sleep, stopped the hate-driven surge of the French Revolution, and launched the modern missionary movement.

But now God is sending changes like lightning bolts. Since the late 1980s, total changes have begun to rapidly reverse the decline of towns, cities and even whole regions.

A prime example is the once-hopeless village of Almolonga, Guatemala. This town of 20,000 had been a drought-plagued pit of poverty, demon worship and alcoholism for 400 years.
When the Spanish conquistadores arrived, they announced they were going to build a nice church for the villagers. But the stubborn natives insisted they weren't giving up worship of their local demon-god, Mashimon.
So a deal was cut. The Spaniards put Mashimon's statue in the church, but his name was altered to San Simón (Saint Simon). Spiritually, this sealed the fate of the hapless village until our time.

Almolonga became the basket case of the region. Crops wilted – if they grew at all. Alcohol, petty crime, disease and despair ruled the town. By the 1980s, the government had built four jails! Yet on Saturday nights, they still had to rent buses to haul the overflow to jails in nearby towns. Finally, some Christians in the area decided to get busy. With prayer and fasting, they came into town and began preaching the Gospel. Mashimon's power was shattered as the people began reaching out to Christ. By 2000, Almolonga was perhaps the most thoroughly Christian place on the planet, with 95 percent to 98 percent soundly converted.

Now, the town's 36 booming bars are down to a struggling three, wife-beating is pretty much extinct, and all four jails have been padlocked. The sheriff shrugs his shoulders and explains, "No crime." Businesses have corny names like Garden of Eden Cafe and Hallelujah Laundry. Ready smiles have displaced the gloom.
The old church has shut down, and they can't find a priest to come back and restart it, but new churches are hopping – literally; whenever they hold joint services, you see the almost 20,000 newly-saved believers singing together, dancing and waving banners. Quite a sight.

OK, you've heard revival stories before. But today's revivals are transformations.
When the town repented and surrendered to Christ, underground springs broke open and drenched the parched soil – right up to the city limits. As you approach and drive through Almolonga, the foliage changes from brown to green to brown again at the town's borders. The weather hasn't changed, but the farmers have gotten serious. They're producing up to three crops a year. The gourmet vegetables are large to huge. A highly respected researcher, George Otis, has produced a stunning video that has footage of him with produce, including carrots bigger than his forearm. Orders are pouring in, even from outside Guatemala. Literacy has shot up as people struggle to cope with the paperwork and money. Some farmers have paid cash for big new Mercedes-Benz trucks. Almolonga is now famous as the garden spot of Guatemala. God does things in style.

Otis' ministry – the Sentinel Group – now distributes "Transformations I," the video that documents Almolonga and three other citywide dramas. Get your hands on it right away. I guarantee you'll never see the world in the same way again. In fact, because of your tears, you probably won't see the final scenes at all.
When Otis filmed "Transformations," we knew of just those four miraculously transformed towns. Now we're tracking 300 worldwide. Be encouraged. Be very encouraged.

James Rutz is chairman of Megashift Ministries and founder-chairman of Open Church Ministries. His recent book, "MEGASHIFT: Igniting Spiritual Power," announces major upgrades in human life and a coming transformation of society.

These are exciting times we live in, indeed!

God bless,

Stever

 2005/6/22 1:02
ReceivedText
Member



Joined: 2005/4/22
Posts: 257
Seattle, Washington, USA

 Re:

Quote:
I will enter any contest in which first prize is dinner with Ann Coulter.



Such low expectations? :-P What about dinner with Ollie North? :-P

Sorry, this was pure comedy. Just had to say something.

RT

 2005/6/22 3:22Profile









 Re: There's a video out...

...called "Transformations". It is so powerful and awesome. But the writer above left out a very important part of the story of Almolonga. 15 years prior to the "transformation", some unsung heros came to town and began to pray, every day, for 15 years before the changes described too place. Yes it was a sovereign move of God. God moved in answer to prayer, from prayer warriors who would not give up.

Here in Baton Rouge, we at one time had 5 abortion clinics. Now we have none. Was it the demonstrations? No, it was the prayer. What happened to them? They could not find any doctors who were willing to murder babies. Business was so slow at the last one, it caught fire and burned to the ground.
One other thing of note here. There is a rap star, or so I'm told named "Master P" I believe. He was going to build a huge recording studio here to spew out his filth. Christians began praying, and the studio has yet to be built.

What am I saying? Saints, you can change your community, if you are willing to pray for it. It is not easy finding saints who are willing to offer such a sacrafice of faith. But there are huge rewards for the few that do. Will you?

Will I?

Lahry

 2005/6/22 8:11









 Re:

Stever posts the following on 6/28/05, all part of the MEGASHIFT that is taking place worldwide:

From basket case to boomtown without a dime of aid


Posted: June 28, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

One of the worst places in the world was Kiambu, Kenya, a suburban district nine miles north of the capital, Nairobi. Up until 1989, it was the armpit of Kenya, a hellhole of 65,000 citizen-victims that became a shooting gallery at night. Besides the well-armed muggers, there wasn't a lot of foot traffic after dark.
Kiambu had the full suite of city horrors: murder, robbery, rape, alcoholism, corruption – and grinding poverty. Nobody would put any money into Kiambu, so it was crumbling. Civil servants would bribe their bosses not to transfer them to Kiambu. On slow news days, Nairobi newspapers ran hand-wringer stories on the latest disaster in Kiambu.

But the most hopeless dimension of Kiambu was the spiritual. It was a stagnant pool of quicksand where souls sank without a trace. Christian leaders in surrounding towns had written it off: "We preach, but people there don't get saved." Despite valiant efforts, no church had ever hit three figures in attendance. In such an atmosphere of unrelieved gloom, they might as well have erected a sign: "Welcome to Kiambu. Abandon hope, all ye who enter here."
Into this civic Inferno, God called a quiet young couple named Thomas and Margaret Muthee. In 1988, He led them back to their native Kenya, interrupting their graduate theological studies in Scotland. They were more than a little annoyed, but when God says move, you pack.

After a few months of itinerant ministry in Kenya, their stress level increased considerably when it became obvious that the Lord was calling them to settle in the very last place they wanted to be: the graveyard of every ambitious pastor, Kiambu. With more than a little trepidation, and on a half-shoestring budget, they moved into one of the many abandoned apartments.

Their first priority was to figure out what on earth was the source of the trouble. After six months of research and prayer, it became obvious that it wasn't economics or politics, but a person – one oversized, 40-something woman named Mama Jane.She was a witch. Forget pointy hats and broomsticks, she was the real thing. I'll concede that the majority of "witches" are cranks and dabblers who possess no special powers at all. But in dark places worldwide, there are millions of exceptions, and she was one.

Typically, witchcraft is evidence of evil, but there it was the source of evil. Three factors convinced the Muthees of her powers. First, the top government and business leaders visited her continually, afraid to do anything without her approval. The keyword: fear. Second, at least once a month, someone would die in a horrible traffic accident on the dusty little road right in front of her divination house, called Emmanuel Clinic – though it wasn't a clinic and had nothing to do with Emmanuel, the Christ.
Third, she would come by the Muthee's little church room at night and do her rigamajig, leaving ashes and cock feathers in the street. At times, the struggling congregation of a few dozen were so demoralized that their singing would die out mid-song!

The prayer battle raged for months. Finally, one day, they raised their hands toward the "clinic" and prayed that God would either save Mama Jane or remove her from Kiambu. A few days later, it happened. After yet another "accident" at the clinic (three teenagers killed), the townsfolk rioted. "Stone her!" they cried. The police were called and barged into the clinic. Just past the reception room, they were startled to find themselves face to fang with a huge python. They pulled their revolvers and blew it to smithereens.

Mama Jane's powers evaporated along with that snake. A few days later, she left town, and everything changed. In the next four years, there was not a single accident. (See the "Transformations I" video.)

Today, crimes in Kiambu are uncommon, especially rape and murder. You can walk the streets at night. Money is pouring in. Tall buildings are going up. People are happy, the population is up a third, and workers now bribe their bosses to transfer them to Kiambu.

The last time I saw Thomas, he told me his main problem was the need for an even bigger building to seat his many thousands of new Christians.
Moral: While big-bucks government programs may help some cities, we must stop pretending that religion is a peripheral luxury to real life. Real life is faith-based because reality is God-based. Real solutions start with the spirit.


God bless,

Stever

 2005/6/28 10:54





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