This sounds odd, but God used migraine headaches to give me a heart for the people of Iran. It's a long story, I explain it in the last 10 minutes or so of this sermon.
The other day I had the privilege of being on a conference call with a man who has pioneered church planting and evangelism all over Iran (learn more about this work here). He encouraged me and the other people on the call to help spread this information about what God is doing in Iran. (I'm indebted to my friend John who took the following notes from the conference call).
Since Christmas, the government of Iran has been cracking down on evangelical Christians, most of whom are involved in "underground" or house churches. The authorities have attacked and plundered Christians' homes in over 17 cities. He told the story of one man who was recently dropping his daughter off at school, when the authorities showed up at his house and had a message sent to him, ordering him to come home immediately. He didn't run away but instead dialed another believer, expressed his trust in God and willingness to suffer for Christ. He then went home to be arrested.
The governor of Tehran province has recently compared evangelical evangelists to the Taliban, expressing a perspective of their gospel work as a cultural invasion and a threat to Islamic society in Iran. In the past, the government has hesitated to acknowledge the underground spread of Christianity throughout the nation, and someone even declared publicly that he hadn't seen one person convert from Islam by reading the Bible, (although we know that tens of thousands of Iranians have done just that). And yet now, for the first time, the government has openly declared that they have arrested Christians and acknowledged that there is in fact a large contingent of them throughout the nation. A recent news piece declared that officials had discovered 200 house churches in one of Iran's holiest Islamic cities. Such an acknowledgment indicates that the government realizes that the church is taking root in what they are seeking to preserve as an Islamic country, and is growing at an alarming rate.
Many Christian leaders in Iran would estimate that there have been 1 million Christian converts in Iran in the last 31 years, the majority of whom have been converts from Islam. This fact - that muslims are moving towards Jesus and his gospel and away from Islam - is widely hidden in the media, and largely unknown by those in other Islamic countries. But our brother on the conference call emphasized strongly to us that the Muslim world needs to hear this fact!
We can pray that this suffering results in more opportunities for these brothers and sisters to bear witness to the truth. We know from Scripture, and in particular the book of Acts, that it is in the times of intense persecution that God often grows his church and shows his unstoppable power. It is often in the scattering of believers that the seed is sown into unreached territory. The believers in the house church movement in Iran have been expecting this persecution and, in many respects, have been prepared for it.
Let's lift them up to our Heavenly Father, remembering also what the king of Persia (Iran) declared after God showed his power by rescuing Daniel from the lion's den:
Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: "Peace be multiplied to you.
I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end.
He delivers and rescues; he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, he who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions" (Daniel 6:25-27).
Please join me in praying for Iran!
For more information on how to pray visit IRAN30.org and order their prayer guide for Iran. Also an excellent, simple introduction to the recent history of Iran and the spread of the gospel there is Iran: Open Hearts in a Closed Land
No comments:
Post a Comment