Out of the fiery furnace comes forth faith as pure as gold (1 Pet 1:7). And that is nowhere more evident than among the persecuted Christians of Iran, now home to the fastest growing and largest church network in the world.
According to a recently-released two-hour film documentary I have just watched on the internet – Sheep Among Wolves Volume 2 – all is not what it seems in the Islamic Republic 40 years after the revolution that swept the ayatollahs to power.
The mosques are empty and many, disillusioned with a faith that rules by terror, are having encounters with the living God. Jesus is appearing to them in dreams and visions – even in person – and disciples forced to meet and worship in secret are rapidly multiplying to such an extent that the authorities are having to admit their presence. Iran’s Intelligence Minister, Mahmoud Alavi, is quoted as saying that mass conversions “are happening right under our eyes”.1
In a country whose rulers have vowed to destroy Israel, Iranian believers are falling in love with the Jewish people, for whose salvation they are crying out. And in a land where women are brutally oppressed, most of the leaders of this amazing move are women!
Familiar with Suffering
Even restrained estimates put the figure of practising Christians at half a million – which in itself is a thousand-fold increase on those known to have been believers in 1979. But other sources suggest there are more like a million who have bowed the knee to the Jewish Messiah,2 almost all of whom come from a Muslim background.
“God transforms our perspective when we come to Christ and we fall in love with the Jews,” said one contributor.
Produced by Frontier Alliance International Studios with some voices disguised for their protection, the film says the Gospel is spreading like wildfire in one of the world’s most dangerous places for Christians. It’s a Church with no property, no denominational leanings, no bank accounts, no assets and no centralised leadership.
The Gospel is spreading like wildfire in one of the world’s most dangerous places for Christians.
But it’s a Church that knows about suffering and martyrdom. Disciples know they will be raped, beaten or killed if caught, but they are prepared to offer their bodies as living sacrifices for Jesus.
They are already living out the truth of Revelation 12:11: “They overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” And this is seen as an invitation from Christ for the Western Church to follow their example.
One Iranian refugee who came to the West shocked her husband by asking to go back, having discovered that lethargy and indifference was a greater threat to her faith than persecution.
A Godly Resistance Movement
Described as “a godly resistance movement against the oppression of Satan”, a key focus in the Iranian underground Church is discipleship, which starts from the moment they encounter an unbeliever rather than when a ‘sinner’s prayer’ is offered, as they teach others to obey Christ’s commands (Matt 28:20).
The film-makers point to the huge apparent success of Islam as attributable to its demand for complete obedience, a counterfeit of Christianity which calls for such obedience to the King. “The enemy has taken this issue of being a bond-slave [to Christ] and built this demonic religion around it.”
Blessing Israel
The core of their theology is that all roads lead to Jerusalem, so to speak, which is why they are praying for the salvation of Israel in light of the prophesied big trouble ahead for the Jewish state (Jer 30:7; Zech 14:2) in the days approaching the return to Jerusalem of Jesus as King.
The Persian people (as many Iranians still prefer to be called) have been a blessing to Israel in the past. King Cyrus freed the exiles so they could return to the Land and rebuild the Temple. And as Queen Esther saved her people from the threat of extermination, so Iranian Christians might stand in the gap for the Jewish people in these days, so that what Satan has meant for evil God can turn for good.
The narrators pose the thought that, as Haman (who was behind the above historic plot) was hanged on the gallows he had erected for Mordecai, the Jew, the spirit of Islam would soon suffer the same fate.
Gateway to the Islamic World
Christ Church, Jerusalem – contributing to the deepening of bonds between Jewish believers in Jesus and their counterparts in other Middle Eastern countries like Iran. Photo: Charles GardnerChrist Church, Jerusalem, headquarters in Israel since 1849 of the Church’s Ministry among Jewish people (CMJ) founded in Britain 210 years ago, is also featured in the film. I suspect this is because of their crucial role, through hosting conferences for example, in encouraging reconciliation and a deepening of bonds between Jewish believers and their counterparts in other Middle Eastern countries, including Iran.
More Iranians have become Christians in the last two decades than in the previous 13 centuries put together, since Islam came to the region.3
And because it is seen as a strategic gateway nation that currently controls no less than five capitals in the region, we could see a domino effect of the move of God there, with its growing Church impacting nations across the Islamic world.
What a contrast to the appeasing efforts of the Pope towards the creation of a multi-faith complex in Abu Dhabi where church, synagogue and mosque are envisaged to exist side by side in apparent harmony!
More Iranians have become Christians in the last two decades than in the previous 13 centuries put together, since Islam came to the region.
Britain’s Future
Talking of Jerusalem, William Blake’s well-known anthem took top spot in last week’s Songs of Praise countdown of Britain’s ten best-loved hymns, asking the question: “And did those feet in ancient time walk upon England’s mountains green?”4
I’d like to think so but, more to the point, Jesus is here now among those who truly follow him, like our brothers and sisters in Iran. Are we as prepared to sacrifice our lives as they are? As one of the film’s commentators put it, “Jesus is not looking to inhabit buildings…but living stones.”
And whatever you think of Blake’s quirky theology, it seems clear both from Scripture and recent history that Britain – quite likely ‘the islands’ repeatedly referred to by Isaiah5 – is still destined to play a significant end-time role in supporting Israel, which could in turn restore her own spiritual and political fortunes (Gen 12:3).
Sheep Among Wolves Volume 2 is reviewed elsewhere in this week’s edition of Prophecy Today by David Lindsay, where you can find the relevant links to watch it online for free.
References
1 Evangelicals Now, October 2019.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
4 Legend (as yet unproved) has it that Jesus came to England as a young man with his wealthy uncle Joseph of Arimathea.
5 See Isaiah 41:1, 42:4, 10, 12 & 51:5.