Persecution—
Iran
I'm including a message received from my church's prayer warrior leader. The signs are swiftly falling into place it seems.
This is an urgent plea on behalf of an underground home church in Iran which is being severely persecuted by the authorities there.
Behnam Irani, the pastor of his underground home church, a 40 year old ex-Muslim, was arrested last week by the Iranian secret police, his whereabouts and current conditions are unknown. His wife, who is originally from Armenia and their two children fear for his life. The secret police ransacked their home confiscating their Bibles and computers. According to witnesses the police ruthlessly beat Pastor Behnam in front of his family and then proceeded to take him to an undisclosed location where most probably they are using torture tactics on him. Behnam’ crime of conversion and his direct participation in helping to proselytize other Muslims in Iran is punishable by death according to the Islamic Sharia law.
There is more to this tragedy that is unfolding over there. The authorities have also arrested a large number of Pastor Behnam’s congregation and they too have been tortured. Most of them were released after they agreed to sign documents and become informants for the secret police, to report future activities related to the underground Christian church movement in Iran .
Friends, the enemy is indeed angry with what is happening in Iran today. Over 100,000 converts to Christianity just in the last 3-4 years. Although the greater majority of these conversions cannot be attributed to any Adventist activity directly, with the exception of a few hundred or more, nevertheless the majority of these believers are honest in their commitment to follow Jesus Christ all the way. Look how they have paid and are paying a high price for their conversion. It is up to us to do all we can and hold up our fellow believers in our prayers. Let’s not forget the sleepless nights Behnam’s wife is spending on her knees on behalf of her husband. Let’s join our prayers to hers and her children's and let us invoke God’s mighty arm of deliverance. Please ask your churches to pray for this man and his church in Iran . But this is not an isolated account. We have in the last couple of years seen hundreds of converts in Iran persecuted, tortured, and even killed for their faith in Jesus Christ.
We must give publicity to this situation so that we can put pressure on the Iranian government.
Please pass this email to all the believers you know around the world!