Month: May 2012

Muslims and Christians take over the world

/ Steinar Opheim

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The two biggest religions in the world are growing in number and influence. The others are diminishing.

Islam and Christianity seem to be the winners on the religious market according to a new report from the Center of Study of Global Christianity.  200 years ago 33 per cent of the world´s population belonged to one of these two religions. Today their share has grown to more than 50 per cent. Estimates for the future show that they will continue to grow and that 66 per cent of the world’s population will be either Muslims or Christians by year 2100. The Christians will continue to outnumber the Muslims.

The intermingling of Muslim and Christian peoples is evident in Africa, Central Asia, India and Indonesia—all areas where Muslim-initiated persecution and conflict are more likely. Religious conflict could become a major destabilizing factor along the fault line between Muslim and Christian areas, states Patrick Johnstone in the book The Future of The Global Church that was published last year.

Stein Villumstad who is heading the European Council of Religious Leaders (ECRL) says it is important that leaders from different religions acknowledge and show respect for each other.

To a growing extent the leaders now take part in both formal and informal talks across the religious borderlines and we experience that there is a greater sense of understanding between them than before, says Villumstad.

Foreign Workers Bring Change in Israel

/ Steinar Opheim

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 Expatriates working in Israel are bringing the Gospel to many Jewish families, says Andy Ball. He is encouraging the Christian guest workers to see themselves as tentmakers.

   The immigrants can reach out with the gospel in ways we cannot do as Israelis, states Andy Ball. He is managing the bookstore run by the Israeli Bible Society in Tel Aviv. As often as possible he visits the immigrant congregations in the city trying to give the guest workers a vision of how they can share the Gospel while they are employed in Israel.

   Many Filipinos are working as housemaids for elderly people. The families they are employed by know that they are Christians, read in the Bible and go to church every Sunday. I encourage them to take some extra steps in faith. One suggestion is that they can pray for healing if their employers get sick. We have already experienced many concrete answers to these prayers, says Andy Ball.

He is currently writing a book where several of these stories will be told. One of them is about a Filipino housekeeper working for an orthodox, Jewish family. One day the husband in the family got ill and ended up in hospital. After examining the man the doctors concluded that he had just a few days left to live. The man decided to call together his whole family in order to say farewell. After their visit only his wife and the housekeeper remained in the room.

   You know that I have rejected you every time you have tried to tell me about Jesus, the man said.

   Today I want to tell you that I have heard every word you have said. I truly believe that Jesus is Messiah. Now I want you to pray that God will heal me, he continued.

   God answered the prayer of the housekeeper and the man was healed. When the family heard what had happened, they started thinking that the housekeeper had some kind of a special healing power. The orthodox, Jewish man explained to them that this was not her work. It was the faith in Jesus as Messiah that had saved him, tells Andy Ball.

Another man told his housekeeper that he wanted to believe in Jesus, but he felt that he had committed to many sins in his life. He doubted that there wouldn’t be any forgiveness available for him. The housekeeper explained that Jesus would forgive everything as soon as he asked him for it.

   The woman told me that the prayer the man prayed was the most fantastic she has ever heard. In an open way he confessed his sins before he asked Jesus for forgiveness. As he was saying Amen, he passed away, tells Andy Ball.