IRAN’S IS EXPERIENCING A SPIRITUAL REVOLUTION

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On Monday, June 23, Israeli missiles tore through the gates of Evin Prison, sending concrete and steel flying into the afternoon sky. For 45 years, those gates had swallowed Iran’s finest minds, bravest souls and most faithful hearts.

Since 1979, Evin Prison has served as the beating heart of Iran’s persecution machine. In its cells, tens of thousands of Christians have faced extreme torture, solitary confinement and death for the crime of following Jesus. The names of eight pastors who were martyred within its walls are whispered in house churches across the nation like prayers of remembrance. The regime designed Evin to permanently break spirits and minds, to make examples of those who dared believe in something beyond the ayatollahs’ iron grip.

Every cell in Evin is meant to send a message: this is what happens to those who choose light over darkness, who call for freedom over tyranny. Yet the ayatollahs’ greatest miscalculation was believing they could kill what they couldn’t understand. The harder they squeezed, the more their revolution slipped through their fingers.

The numbers tell an impossible story. Over the past couple of decades, despite facing perhaps the world’s most systematic Christian persecution, Iran has become home to the fastest-growing church on earth. Conservative estimates suggest more than one million Iranians have converted to Christianity, transforming from a few hundred believers before 1979 to a movement that now dwarfs the regime’s own support. While the government demands adherence to Islam through violence and law, 50,000 of Iran’s 75,000 mosques have closed their doors due to empty “pews.” The people have voted with their feet, and they have chosen Jesus.

Violence in the name of Islam has caused widespread disillusionment with the regime. When your government promises paradise but delivers poverty, corruption and oppression, people begin searching for something real. Many have found it in the underground house churches, where believers risk everything gathering in small apartments, singing softly so neighbours cannot hear, studying Bibles that could cost them their freedom and even their lives. The same happened in China when Mao persecuted Christians., the house church movement grew with miracles abounding.

The regime’s persecution of Christians has transformed Christianity into something they never anticipated: the ultimate form of resistance. When everything else fails, when politics offers no hope and economics promise only poverty, faith becomes both hope and rebellion. Iranian women share the Gospel with strangers in bazaars. Taxi drivers turn their cars into mobile prayer meetings. Students risk expulsion to attend house churches. They do this knowing the consequences, knowing that Evin Prison waits for those most effective in spreading the faith.

No wonder God brings persecution so He can truly grow His church. These Christians are totally dependent upon and trust God regardless of their circumstances. Can this be said of the church in the west?

CHRISTIANITY IS SURGING IN IRAN

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As the conflict between Israel and Iran’s terrorist proxy group Hezbollah in Lebanon widens, reports continue to surface of a growing division between the Iranian people and the Islamist regime of Ali Khamenei. Even as anti-Israel and anti-America protests get most of the attention in Iran, a burgeoning Christian movement is occurring under the surface, an expert on Iranian Christians says.

In Iran, Christianity is intensely persecuted, except small historical Armenian and Assyrian communities. Conversion from Islam to Christianity is considered apostasy and can be punished with death. Still, some reports suggest that conversions to Christianity and support for democracy are on the rise, with as many as 80% of Iranian citizens anonymously supporting a democratic government. In addition, some outlets have reported that hundreds of mosques have closed due to the rising number of Iranians leaving Islam.

Hormoz Shariat is the president of Iran Alive Ministries. It broadcasts the gospel message via satellite TV programs in the Farsi language in predominantly Muslim countries like Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. On Monday, he joined “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” to discuss how an increasing number of Iranians do not support the Islamist regime’s attacks on Israel and are converting to Christianity.

“[Iranians] have experienced Islam and Islamic rule firsthand for over 40 years,” he noted. “And they’ve come to the conclusion, if the problem is not just the government, the problem is Islam itself. That’s why we see a high number of Iranian Muslims come to Christ because they have not just rejected the government, they have rejected Islam. There is such a gap … between the government and the people. So when the government puts on these rallies saying, ‘Death to Israel, death to America,’ the people of Iran say, ‘We love Israel, we love America.’ And that’s the trend.”

Shariat also pointed out that there were also many Iranian Americans who came out in support of Israel after the October 7 Hamas attack.

“We know that the media covered … the pro-Palestine, pro-Hamas demonstrations in America,” he noted. “You saw it everywhere. You saw it on campuses. You saw it on the street. You saw it in Washington, D.C. But you did not see all the Iranians who came on the streets even in America, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and San Diego, everywhere. Iranians came out pro-Israel. Not even one Iranian rally was pro-Palestine, and the media did not cover that. Iranians are pro-Israel.”

Shariat further described how his ministry has spread. “[W]e … have a 24/7 satellite broadcast going over the heads of the mullahs — they cannot stop the signal from the sky. We go into people’s homes, millions of homes. [A]n independent survey [found] that we have seven million viewers daily. So we go into people’s homes, tell them about God’s love, and guess what? They are ready. Iranians are rejecting Islam. They’re ready for the message of the gospel.”

According to Shariat, a spiritual awakening is currently occurring in Iran. “It’s a move of God, and God uses suffering, and Iranians have suffered for 40-some years. … So there is an openness among Iranians. … God has used [suffering] to open their minds, open their eyes towards Islam. They … have rejected Islam [but] not [out] of emotion and [not from making an] overnight decision.”

Shariat asked for continued prayers for his ministry and Christians in Iran.

HOW DOES GOD REACH MUSLIMS IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES?

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The founder of a ministry devoted to serving the Iranian underground church says that many people in the restrictive nation have encountered Jesus through dreams and visions — something that might seem foreign to those living in Western cultures.

The Rev. Lazarus Yeghnazar, founder of Transform Iran, an organization preaching the Gospel in Iran and planting churches, told CBN’s Faithwire how many Iranians find themselves enraptured by Christ following these apparitions. “They know it was real and they cannot stop talking about it, hence the severe persecution, the severity of the brutality,” Yeghnazar said of the persecution many Iranian Christians face. “[Believers will say], ‘I saw a vision of a man in a white robe, with a cross on his shoulder or on his heart, and he says, ‘I am Jesus.'”

While many Christians in the West might meet Jesus as the result of others sharing the Gospel, these dreams and visions are the touchpoints in Iran that spark life-change and heart transformation. Yeghnazar pointed back to Scripture to show how God has used visions to communicate with humanity in the past and explained why Iranians might be having this spiritual experience today. “In the Middle East, people see visions,” he said. “In the Western understanding, we want everything to be tangible, verifiable, accountable.” But he said the dynamic is quite different in the Middle East, where these experiences deeply resonate with those who have them. “In Iran, people see a vision — they will wake up sweating and shaking,” Yeghnazar said. He cited specific biblical examples of when God spoke to prominent figures through dreams, delivering life-altering and important messages. “You know, paving that way from Abraham to Moses, to Daniel, to Joseph, to Mary, the mother of Christ … all of them see dreams,” Yeghnazar said. “Peter, at the beginning of his ministry, started seeing dreams.” The preacher said people might be surprised to see the juxtaposition when it comes to the prevalence of God speaking through dreams for Westerners versus those in the Middle East. “Any gathering of Iranians or Afghan Christians, if you say, ‘How many have seen dreams that have been touched, if not radically, transformed because of a vision,’ 90% will raise their hands,” he said. “If you ask a church in Wisconsin, or in Maryland, or Boston, ‘How many people have come to Christ through a dream?’ they would say, ‘What is a dream?'” Sadly, we also know that many of these people are not born again and do not have the Holy Spirit indwelling their spirit. When the prophesied “last days” tribulation comes upon us many will fall away. However, many will cry out to God and He will turn up in dreams and visions as He is in Iran. Watch for the full discussion.

PREFER AWAKENING TO JESUS OVER FREEDOM

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“I would rather see millions of [Iranians] come to Jesus than have freedom and democracy. If freedom was such a great thing for the Kingdom, then why is America and Europe in the state it is now?” —Leader in the Iranian underground church

This is why the West will see more persecution before Jesus returns. God wants more people to start living there life in the light of eternity not for a better life here.

Listen to this video and learn from Iranian Christians on how to live life.

IRANIANS FINDING SALVATION IN JESUS CHRIST

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Iran is facing a wave of internal turmoil and covert attacks that are undermining the radical regime’s nefarious plans. Even as the violence escalates, hope is rising among Iranian citizens who are finding salvation in Jesus Christ.

Whether it’s the exploding coronavirus, mysterious fires at nuclear and military facilities or protests, Iran’s ruling Islamic clerics are facing unprecedented challenges as the regime tries to maintain an iron grip on the nation.

All this comes against the backdrop of ongoing government protests and a remarkable revival that’s witnessing thousands of Muslims turning to Christianity in the midst of COVID-19.

“That’s why we are calling this a pandemic of hope,” said Mike Ansari, who runs Mohabat TV, one of the most popular Christian satellite channels in Iran.

Ansari told CBN News that Mohabat TV is recording 10 times more online salvation’s than this time last year.

“We are registering around 3,000 personal decisions by Iranian Muslims to leave Islam for Christianity during this revival,” Ansari said.

That’s 3,000 people each month who’ve decided to follow Jesus Christ since the pandemic began in March.

“People in Iran are just not happy the way their economy is going, the way the government is robbing them of their national resources and exporting Shia Islam to the neighboring countries, so they just don’t trust their government,” said Ansari.

The large number of people leaving Islam is causing a backlash against the church. Dozens of Christians have been arrested and imprisoned for responding to the gospel message since March.

“During these critical times for the regime, there’s a tendency, historically, for the regime to really crack down on religious communities like Christian converts, and we see that today,” Nader told CBN News.

Iran is one of the world’s most dangerous places for Christians. Yet, Christianity is growing faster in Iran than in any other country in the world.

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:14

GROWTH OF CHRISTIANITY IN IRAN

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Report from CBN News on Christians in Iran. Watch this short video and be encouraged. You will see Dylan Thomas of FAI talking about what God is doing in Iran. If you haven’t viewed the first “Sheep in Wolves Clothing” video that I recently posted then can I suggest you do so, if you want to learn more.