A new report from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has found that approximately 1.57 billion people are now Muslim. This means that nearly 1 in 4 people in the world practice Islam.
To have this kind of growth, the religion is obviously spreading beyond the countries already dominated by Islam. The report noted that “more than 300 million Muslims, or one-fifth of the world’s Muslim population, live in countries where Islam is not the majority religion. These minority Muslim populations are often quite large.”
Should this rapid growth of Islam be of any concern to Christians? The answer to that is a resounding yes!
Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, Tim Haile put together an article called, The Battle Cry of the Qur’an. In it, he examined various passages from the Muslim holy book to demonstrate the fact that we should not be surprised when Muslims carry out attacks like this against innocent people. This sort of violence is commended and encouraged in many passages.
It should be noted – and it is pointed out in the above article – that not all Muslims strictly follow the teachings of the Qur’an and carry out acts of physical violence and war against Christians and others. For this we are thankful. But the fact remains that those who carry out such attacks are following a strict interpretation of Mohammed’s teachings. As the greater population of Muslims grow, so does the number of those who follow the Qur’an’s teachings of physical violence against non-Muslims.
It is unlikely that this growth of Islam will reverse, at least not anytime soon. So Christians need to be prepared.
- We must prepare to teach about and against Islam – To do this, we must know what Islam teaches. We cannot continue to ignore it because it is not going to go away. Prepare to teach non-Muslims to not be led into the religion of Islam. Prepare to teach and persuade Muslims of the truth of the gospel so that they might turn from Islam to following Christ.
- We must prepare for persecution – I do not mean the minor persecution that Christians typically face in this country already – being ridiculed, ostracized, etc. I am talking about persecution that involves physical injury, torture, and even death. Again, not all Muslims will do these things; but a significant percentage will because that is what the Qur’an teaches. As Islam spreads, the likelihood of this severe persecution increases. We had better be ready for it.
Ultimately, we have the assurance from Christ that if we are “faithful until death,” we will be rewarded with “the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). No matter what happens in the world around us, or what suffering we must endure, we have the promise of heaven if we will be faithful. So let us be faithful until death, even if it means losing our life in persecution for our faith, so that we can receive that reward.
