“It is a small thing to bring them back to the Lord”
[Jul.02.2023] In Iran, where Christianity is illegal, millions of Iranians are abandoning their Islamic faith and converting to Christianity despite imprisonment, torture and execution, CBN News reported recently.
According to Open Doors International, more than 1.2 million believers are residing in the areas where the reach of the brutal Islamic Iranian regime is limited.
This phenomenon is frequent despite the regime’s efforts to target believers and spread false information and encourage a negative opinion about Christianity. Lela Gilbert, Senior Fellow for International Religious Freedom at Family Research Council, asserted that Iran holds little power over curtailing the good news of Jesus Christ.
“Due to the circumstances of potential risk, new Christian converts are enthusiastically communicating about their changed lives with friends and loved ones — however, quietly and carefully. Through their discreet but persistent witness accounts, the extraordinary number of new Iranian believers are gathering in small house churches,” she said.
Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum, also reported that Christianity is flourishing. “An evangelical pastor, formerly an Iranian Muslim, concurred such phenomena as far back as 2008.” We find ourselves in what is more than a conversion to the Christian faith. It’s a mass exodus from Islam,” he explained.
Pipes adds that the house church is key to the growth of the Christian faith in Iran. He explains, “The worship practice of those who are sometimes called Muslim Background Believers (MBBs) lacks clergy and church buildings, but 4 or 5 believers gather together at a house and quietly worship together with either hushed singing or none at all.”
Women like Marziyeh Amirizadeh have remained formidable in their faith despite being incarcerated and tortured in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison for being Christian. As CBN News reported, Marzi, as she is known, eventually escaped Iran and started a new life in the U.S.
Marzi now travels the world sharing her inspiring story of faith in the face of persecution and she acts as an advocate for the Iranian people’s freedom.
She calls on Christians around the world to pray for believers in Iran. “We can pray for them to reach more people and share the message of salvation. I know how much Iranians are thirsty. A great awakening has started in Iran,” she added. (Source: Gospel Prayer Newspaper)
He says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”(Isaiah 49:6)
God, thank You for allowing the Iranian church to spread its vitality of the gospel throughout Iran without fear of being persecuted through the conviction of the grace of the gospel that changed their lives. May the Holy Spirit nurture the believers to grow further in the truth in every place they meet so that they become churches that stand firm on the foundation of Jesus Christ. May You bless Your faithful servants to be the light for the Gentiles, and let the world see that it is a small thing for You to bring many souls to return and worship You.
Prayer 24·365
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