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Back to Fulfilling the Great Commission & the Last Days
Back to Reaching the Followers of the Religion from the Middle East
Commentary following July 7, 2005 terrorist bombing in London
Note: “D” in this article refers to the predominant religion in the Middle East, while “Ds” refer to the adherents of that religion
While government authorities are responsible to protect us physically from the horror of D terrorism, the Church has a responsibility to do something beyond prayer and hand-wringing. It is called preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God to the “Ds”. Sadly, like Saul and the Israelites fleeing in fear from Goliath, the Church is afraid when confronted by the giant of the D religion. Even when this giant arrives on our shores and builds mosques in our cities and backyards, the Church does nothing except pray, if even that. Clearly, we are commanded to do more than simply to trust God and pray. David boldly confronted Goliath and killed him. Why does the Church not confront the giant?
It is because the Church is not equipped to kill the giant. We have no idea how to preach Christ to the gospel-resistant “Ds” in our cities. We are not able to preach the gospel like the early Church, which knew how to use great miraculous signs to demonstrate to the lost that Jesus Christ is Lord and the only Savior. Because of this the early Church grew rapidly. This powerful weapon is no longer in our hands and so the Church is reduced to prayer without action or a gospel without visible power. While prayer is foundational, prayer alone will not get the job done.
When the gospel is preached with words alone—even nice-sounding and persuasive ones—gospel-resistant peoples will usually see Christianity as nothing more than a nice foreign religion. They already have their own religion and culture. Only when the gospel is preached and accompanied by power that is completely absent in their religion will they begin to consider that our God is the only true God and that Jesus Christ is the only way to Him.
We would like to report that the Lord is now restoring this power to His Church so that we may bring to Christ large numbers of “Ds” (and Hindus and Buddhists) who already live in our communities. This power is already in evidence in the nations from which these people groups originate. In Egypt, Niger (West Africa), Indonesia, India, and Vietnam, “Ds”, Hindus, and Buddhists came to Christ in unusual numbers after hearing the gospel and witnessing the confirming miraculous healings. In Australia, Vietnamese Buddhists came to Christ in unprecedented numbers as trained evangelical believers healed the sick in Christ’s name at the Crusades. Most recently, gospel-resistant Buddhists in San Jose, California came to Christ in numbers ten times greater than usual in a Crusade when evangelical and charismatic believers came together in unity to preach the gospel in the power of miraculous signs.
We are in the end times, and the Church can now be equipped to reach the “Ds” who live in our midst. If we do not, more mosques will spring up and the spectre of terrorism which was just realized in London on July 7 will simply grow more menacing. We are not talking only about the Great Commission, we are also talking about protecting our freedom and way of life in the West.