The Biggest Untold Story

The Biggest Untold Story
John R. Petrilli

Like many phenomenon, the science of earthquakes has its own jargon. Terms like “Richter Scale”, “magnitude”, and “epicenter” have all made their way into our everyday conversations. While the media quickly reports geophysical earthquakes, it’s slow if not silent in reporting the spiritual tremors and earthquakes which are being felt across the Middle East in our day.

The biggest untold story that’s begging to be told is this: More Muslims are coming to faith in Jesus Christ today than at any other time in history! Deeply disillusioned by what they perceive as the utter failure of Islamic governments and societies to improve their lives and give them peace, security, and a sense of purpose in life, many Muslims have left a failing Islam in search of truth. While some have taken the dead end roads of atheism, agnosticism, alcoholism and drugs, millions of Muslims are discovering that healing for their aching hearts and wounded souls can only be found in Jesus Christ.

In one of his recent books, Inside the Revolution, author Joel Rosenberg documents how true and breath-taking revival is breaking out among the Arabic-speaking peoples of our world. The award-winning expert on current events and spiritual trends in the Middle East takes you right to the spiritual front lines to witness the revivals being experienced in many third world countries. There’s a 99-cent pocket-sized booklet version, Inside the Revival, summarizing this development. Rosenberg states, “In my travels throughout the epicenter (his term for the Mideast), I have personally witnessed God’s love for Muslims and for nominal Christians. He is reviving them both. He is awaking Muslims to the truth of the Scriptures, and Muslim Background Believers (MBB’s) are finding hope in Jesus Christ. He is also breathing new spiritual life into Nominal Christian Background Believers (NCBB’s), and He is doing so in numbers few could ever have imagined.”

In IRAN the number known Muslim converts to Christianity has burgeoned from 500 in 1979 to 10,000-20,000 in the year 2000, an increase of 1000 percent! In AFRICA Egyptian Christian leaders estimate that there are now more than 2.5 million followers of Christ there, many of whom are Muslim converts. In addition, there’s also a huge revival taking place among the nominal Christians inside the Coptic church, whose membership numbers in the 10 million range. In SUDAN a spiritual awakening of unimaginable proportions is taking place where, as 2000, one million Sudanese have turned to Christ. Since 2006, more than 250,000 more Sudanese have given their lives to Christ, resulting in an estimated total of 5.5 million believers in that country. In ALGERIA over 80,000 Muslims have become Christ-followers in recent years, the vast majority of these being young people under the age of thirty. The MOROCCAN media is up in arms over the phenomenon of Moroccans turning to Christianity, suggesting that between 20,000 and 40,000 Muslims there have already converted.

Regarding IRAQ, Rosenberg states, “Without a doubt, the hunger for Christ inside Iraq is at an all-time high, say the numerous Iraqi pastors and ministry leaders I interviewed. Several million Arabic New Testaments and Christian books have been shipped into Iraq since the liberation. Millions more are being printed inside the country, and pastors say they cannot keep up with the demand. Before 2003, senior Iraqi Christian leaders tell me, there were only about 400 to 600 known born-again followers of Jesus Christ in the entire country. By the end of 2008, Iraqi Christian leaders estimated that there were more than 70,000 born-again Iraqi believers.

After centuries of spiritual draught, the HOLY LAND is experiencing unprecedented revival. Since 2007 nearly one thousand Muslims have come to Christ in the WEST BANK alone. In 1967 there were no known born-again followers of Christ from a Muslim background in SYRIA. Today there are between 4,000 and 5,000 of them, both MBB’s and NCBB’s combined. The JORDANIAN church has also been seeing revival over the past few years, with conservative estimates of five to ten thousand believers in that land. One Jordanian ministry leader believes there may actually be as many as 50,000 believers there. LEBANON now boasts about 10,000 truly born-again Christ followers, although nearly 40 percent of the country’s residents describe themselves as “Christian”. A dramatic awakening is also taking place in the epicenter of Islam, SAUDI ARABIA, where Arab Christian leaders estimate there were 100,000 Saudi MBB’s in 2005, and they believe the numbers are even higher today.

Finally, in CENTRAL ASIA God is moving powerfully in such previously unreachable areas as AFGHANISTAN, where there are now between 20,000 and 30,000 believers. Evangelical leaders in KAZAKHSTAN report that there are more than 15,000 Kazak Christians, and more than 100,000 Christians of all ethnicities. Today the country of UZBEKISTAN has some 30,000 Uzbek followers of Christ, and hunger for the gospel is at an all-time high there. PAKISTANI Christian leaders report that there’s a “conversion explosion” going on in their country. There are now an estimated 2.5 million to 3 million born-again Pakistani believers worshipping Jesus. Whole towns and villages along the Afghan-Pakistani border are seeing dreams and visions of Jesus and are converting to Christianity!

According to Rosenberg’s mentor and friend Dr. T.E. Koshy (pastor of International Assembly in Lafayette, NY), “Today, with so many Christians in Pakistan, many are seeing the believers demonstrate Christ’s love in real and practical ways. The restlessness of the masses is created by the Enemy, and Pakistani’s are coming to realize that they can only find rest and healing and forgiveness through Jesus Christ.”

Rosenberg’s book and booklet close with many keen and helpful insights into the methods being used to effectively win Muslims to the Lord Who so loves them. If you want to hear what the late Walter Cronkite called “the rest of the story”, a copy of the book or the booklet can be secured at your local Christian bookstore or on the web at www.joelrosenberg.com.

Footnote: I am indebted to Joel Rosenberg’s publications for the majority of this article’s content, and have used it with permission from this author.