A WIND IN THE HOUSE OF ISLAM

I often hear many Christians say, "what is God doing now in the world" I shake my head, and say to myself, "if they only knew what God is doing in the world they would be shocked." And that my friend is why most Christians do NOT know what God is doing in the world. Most Christians (especially in America) are secure (in their once saved always saved doctrine) and safe in their little church Sunday world (and maybe a mid-week service) three fast ones and a slow one, some announcements, pass the plate (cannot forget to pass the plate), maybe a special number or two, no more than 20 minutes of a sermon (sound familiar?), and then off to a local restaurant for the main course. Sadly this not what God has intended for His people when they come together, but this is what He gets in most churches. But what is God doing around the world? Well I will tell you my friend, there is a wind (the Holy Spirit) blowing around the world that is moving millions and millions of people from country to country, that are destabilizing nations. As a matter of fact this move of God is (in my humble opinion) bigger than the Azusa Street Revival of 1906, bigger than all four (1730-1755, 1790-1840, 1855-1930, and 1960-1980) of the Great Awakenings, and only second to the coming of the Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts. What is going on? The Holy Spirit is blowing people groups from one part of the world to another part of the world. If you want to read a good book to understand this mighty move of God I recommend you get the book, "A Wind in the House of Islam" by David Garrison. There are nine geo–cultural regions or "rooms" as David calls them in the "House of Islam" and the Wind of God's Spirit is blowing through every one of them. In every corner of the Muslim world Muslims are turning to faith in Jesus Christ. God is speaking to them in dreams and visions and the result is a historic and unprecedented movement of the greatest turning of Muslims to Christ in the history of the world. And it is happening right under the sleeping nose of most of the churches. These geo-cultural rooms are found mainly in what many missionaries call the 10/40 Window. The 10/40 Window is the rectangular area of North Africa, the Middle East and Asia approximately between 10 degrees north and 40 degrees north latitude. The 10/40 Window is often called "The Resistant Belt" and includes the majority of the world's Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists. The original 10/40 Window included only countries with at least 50% of their land mass within 10 and 40 degrees north latitude, but the revised 10/40 Window includes several additional countries that are close to 10 or 40 degrees north latitude and have high concentrations of unreached peoples. Approximately 5.04 billion individuals reside in approximately 8,631distinct people groups in the revised 10/40 Window. 5,918 or 68.6% of these people groups are considered totally unreached and having a population of 3.04 billion. This means approximately 60% of the individuals in the 10/40 Window live in an unreached people group. The 10/40 Window is home to some of the largest unreached people groups in the world such as the Shaikh, Yadava, Turks, Moroccan, Arabs, Pashtun, Jat, and Burmese. These are the people Jesus told the church to go after, but sadly we see these people have not been told about Jesus shoot they have not even be contacted. They are still unreached today. And why? Too hard, too expensive, too dangerous, plainly just too difficult. Maybe God made a mistake with these folks. In the last 50 years only 10% of all of the missionaries in the world have ventured within the 10/40 Window. Again approximately 60% of the individuals in the 10/40 Window live in an unreached people group.  So here is the question I have for the denominational missionary organizations. "What happened to Jesus' command to "Go ye" in Matthew 28?" Jesus commanded, "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matthew 28:18-20) Maybe "all" does not mean "all." Or maybe they do not believe He will be with them "unto the end of the world." Now I have been to some of these places on the above map and I am here to tell you when you are there you feel like you are at the end of the world, but that is why it is important to know (before you leave) that God will never leave us or forsake us. Let us be honest and truthful my friend the church has significantly and miserably failed (especially over the last 50 years) to do the great commission work as Jesus has commanded and this (believe it or not) is at the heart of this massive movement of people. Now we would blame the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria that caused the people to exodus but not so. God has always used war, famine, and even governments to do his bidding to further the plans He has for mankind, just read the Old Testament and He had not changed. It is the hand of God in these wars and the wind blowing (the Holy Spirit) that is driving the people into places where the Gospel message can be heard. God in His love and mercy wishes none to be lost no not one. Brother Peter tells, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9) God desires all to come to repentance and the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ so if the church/missionaries will not go where the people are then God (in His love and mercy) will send the people were the missionaries/church is. And that is what is happening. I have seen it with my own two eyes. The last time we were in Turkey we traveled to the Turkish Syrian (on the border) Town of Aleppo and saw the massive refugee camp. As far as the eye could see was white tents (and all of the things needed for a refugee camp) in the desert. The streams of people head west into Turkey or up from Greece to get passage into the Balkans and follow on into Eastern and then Western Europe. And all along the way destabilizing villages, town, cities, and countries. Like a swam of locus devouring everything in their path. Here the sad truth plays out; the price paid for our disobedience is usually paid by others. This scenario has been playing out since 2015 with no sight of shutting down, yet the world and most in the churches snoozes on. This flood of people will stop when the Holy Spirit stops blowing in the hearts and lives of the people who have never heard of Jesus Christ. But until then people are coming. Knowing the church has missed it in not going what is the church going to do now? What is God doing in the world? Giving the church another chance at the Great Commission. Written by David Stahl