It is interesting that before the "Iron Curtain" went down, the believers in the anti-Christian Communist countries were often known as "Repenters." Why? Because they were not just "professors", but "possessors", and showed the Spirit of Christ was in them by their supernaturally changed lives in an environment where it could be very costly!
John MacArthur wrote in 1993 that "Eastern European Christianity typically refers to new Christians as “repenters.” When someone comes to Christ, fellow believers say the new Christian has “repented.” Usually new believers are given the opportunity to stand before the church and verbalize their repentance. In nearly every church service I have attended in the former Soviet Union, at least one new convert has made a public confession of repentance."
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