Muslim converts to Christ.
During the past month, much has been made of these 'apostates' from islam to Christianity. The profile was most visible with, frequent critic & former muslim, Magdi Allam's very public Easter Baptism in Rome by Pope Benedict. The general assessment is, despite the dictate of islamic law to 'put to death' those who leave, abandon or convert out, muslims are leaving islam in droves - for Christianity. And while 'quantity has a quality all it's own', Chuck Colson, in a BreakPoint article, zeros in on the individual quality of 'Why Muslims Convert'.
In his book Epicenter, author Joel Rosenberg details amazing stories of Muslims converting to Christianity. In Algeria, the birthplace of St. Augustine, more than 80,000 Muslims have turned to Christ in recent years. This, despite the stiff opposition from Islamic clerics who have passed laws banning evangelism.
According to the website Islam Watch, in Russia, some two million ethnic Muslims converted to Christianity last year.
In 1996, the Egyptian Bible Society sold just 3,000 video copies of the JESUS film. In the year 2000, they sold an incredible 600,000 copies.
In Sudan, as many as five million Muslims have accepted Christ since the early 1990s, despite horrific persecution of Christians by the Sudanese government. What is behind the mass conversions? According to a Sudanese evangelical leader, "People have seen real Islam, and they want Jesus instead."
WOOHOO! Great news, indeed.
Now what?
To paraphrase Ravi Zacharias on this topic of muslim to Christian conversion - 'many muslims are racked with doubt & guilt and never really know who their allah god is, or if they are 'acceptable enough to go to paradise.' Christ offers a real, eternal hope of salvation & forgiveness that many have never known.
Now what?
Zacharias goes onto add that muslim converts to Christianity are especially vulnerable to back sliding, not only from the horrific islamic dictate of 'death to apostates!' as outlined by islamic law, and widely accepted in the islamic world, but also from the converts themselves with their 'addiction to the law' - specifically the 5 pillars of islam. They are confused as to what to eat, when to pray, how to wash, where to pilgram, etc. They know not what to do now that they are free from the law, and are baffled by the 'eleventh commandment' as being the only constraint in this Christian life.
Chuck Colson concludes:
How thrilling to learn that so many Muslims have been set free from the chains of their sins! just as you and I have! by the power of Christ's blood! We must pray for these new brothers and sisters; many are being violently persecuted for their new-found faith.
Yes, and open your hearts & homes to these new found Brothers & Sisters. Invite them to worship. Help them in their walk by being a living example of, not chained by law, but the 'Fruit of the Spirit'.