Iran: Family members of Islamic Leaders are attracted to Christianity

The Religion of the Lord Jesus Christ has spreading rapidly in the Middle East, particularly in the country of Iran. One of the reasons Christianity is spreading so quickly there is because of Ayatollah Khomeini, a charismatic Shi'ite Muslim leader who started the Iranian Revolution in 1979. He showed everyone in Iran the true spirit of Islam and they didn't like it. Many people have been turning to the Living Savior, Jesus Christ, ever since then. And now it's getting to the point that even relatives of Islamic leaders are making Christ Jesus their Lord and King as this report is showing:

7/9/2011 Iran (Mohabat News) – One of the greatest concerns of the Islamic Republic leaders is the ever-increasing interest of the Iranian population, inside and outside of Iran, to Christianity and this interest has reached the family members of these leaders.

"Mohammad Noorizad" is a film director, movie script-writer, and newspaper personality, who prior to the most recent presidential elections of 2009 was one of the great supporters of the Islamic Republic of Iran's supreme leader "Ayatollah Khamenei", but became a harsh critic of the government after the election and because of his open letters to Ali Khamenei, was arrested and tortured. In his latest website he has begun a new way of exposing the leaders of Iran. In a short essay surrounding his blunt and unprecedented visit with

"Seyed Hassan Khomeini", the grandson of "Ayatollah Khomeini" - the founder of the Islamic republic of Iran,- he, in a somewhat resigning tone, quotes Mr. "Seyed Hassan Khomeini" that "one of the sons of the aides to "Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi" has become a Christian".

In mentioning this news, he continues by quoting "Seyed Hassan Khomeini" that the person who has become a Christian was most likely a political activist in the so called "The Green Movement". He tried to rationalize this by saying, "probably, father and son they argued and fought over something and the father become desperate and unable to answer the criticisms of his son and ends up harshly rebuking his son. So, the son in retaliation claims that he has become and a Christian." At the end of his article, Noorizad expresses the worries of "Seyed Ali Khamenei", as demonstrated in his frequent travels to the city of Qum.

Even though no names were mentioned in this article, one thing is clear that the claim that all this was because of a disagreement between a father and son does not make any sense. It is more likely that the son of the aide to "Ayatollah Mesbah- Yazdi " was arguing with his father over matter related his faith in Christ and for some convenient reason the matter was politicized by connecting it to the Green Movement.
Mesbah-Yazdi's warnings have come back to haunt him

These surprising comments from Noorizad come at a time when on June 1, 2011, Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, who is well known for his aggressive, fundamentalist, and often extremist Islamic and Shiite theological views and many have labeled him as the brain power and the theoretician of the Islamic Republic of Iran, had given a very strong and urgent warning regarding the rapid growth of Christianity in Iran. He commented that all the budgetary and other resource allocations designed to eradicate Christianity from Iran had failed. Ironically Christianity had penetrated in the circle of his most trusted confidants.

Nevertheless, the ongoing opposition and anti-Christian campaigns do not end here. Prior to this, "Vahid Khorasani", one of the top elite clerics of the Islamic Republic had warned of the ever-increasing of the Christian converts among the young Iranians. These comments resulted in a wave of oppressive measure that resulted in the arrests of many new Christian believers by the secret police of the intelligence and judicial authorities. He had warned on many occasions that somehow the opportunities available to Christianity in Iran must be curtailed and completely destroyed. (Source)
(Words in Italics are mine)

Muslim Man to His Christian Wife: Convert to Islam or Face Death

 07/07/2011 Pakistan (PCP)-A Christian husband who converted to Islam to marry another woman is attacking and harassing his Christian wife along with his Muslim friends and pressing her to convert to Islam or get ready to die.
In Islam, a non-Muslim man is forbidden from marrying a Muslim woman. If a non-Muslim man wants to marry a Muslim woman, he must convert to Islam.

It is common practice among Christian men who want to marry a second woman, convert to Islam to avoid charges of Islamic adultery laws as Islam preaches and allows polygamy.

Parvez Masih son of Siraj Masih, resident of Latifabad, Hyderabad, Sindh province of Pakistan, establish relationship with another woman and to marry her accepted religion Islam. Pervaz Masih became Mohammad Parvez and then he wanted to bring his first wife in his new home with his son.

Mohammad Parvez had only one option to put pressure on his first wife Surriya Bibi to convert to Islam with her son to stay as his second wife. In Pakistan, Christian marriage cannot be declared null and void in any court of law without concrete evidence of adultery in any marriage partner.

After conversion to Islam, Mohammad Parvez became very powerful and intended to bring her first Christian wife as second wife. The Muslim friends of Mohammad Parvez started harassing Surriya Bibi and forcibly attempted to kidnap her son.(Source)

I pray that my Pakistani sister in Christ, Surriya Bibi, will stay faithful to her Savior, "even unto death. (Revelation 2:10)"

Christianity: China’s best bet?

For many, many years, Christianity has dominated what has called "the West." However, the tides have changed in the recent years. Although there are still some very devout Christians living in the west, Christianity has left the West has now been replaced with Secularism and Postmodernism. The majority of the Christians in the world don't live in Western countries like the United States or France. They live in countries like China, where they are persecuted horribly. And it's getting to the point that China may hold the largest number of Christians in the world.


07/05/2011 China (Aljazeera) - Every night, when Yang prays with her seven-year-old daughter, she knows that she is doing something illegal. Like millions of other Chinese Christians, Yang refuses to be a member of one of the official state-sanctioned churches. Instead, she gathers twice a week with two dozen other Protestants in a private living room to pray and sing - far away from the gaze of the Communist Party.

She says she is not opposed to the Chinese government at all, but just wants the freedom of religion that is guaranteed in the Chinese constitution. And she wants her daughter to grow up as a Christian. In China's state-sanctioned churches it is prohibited to share faith with anyone younger than 18.

"Our life has become so hectic, there is so much pressure. When my husband left me, I was devastated. But one of my friends took me to one of their gatherings and I realized that someone loves me. I want my daughter to grow up knowing that there is more in life than just money. I want her to care more about other people," Yang says.

Officially atheist, Communist China is witnessing a massive rise in religiosity. Recent surveys have found that one in every three Chinese consider themselves to be religious. "All Chinese religions have been growing, especially popular or 'folk religion'," explains Daniel Bays, a professor of history and the director of the Asian Studies program at Calvin College in Michigan.

"Protestant Christianity seems to be growing fastest, because it is congregational, providing a social-belonging aspect, leaders can be self-proclaimed, not needing formal credentials."

Historically, China's policies on religion have veered between approval, bloody repression and grudging tolerance. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, the new regime was largely tolerant of religion, believing it to be a backward vestige of the country's imperial past and thus doomed to extinction. But, like other religions, Christianity suffered during the mass nationalism and atheism of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, it was viewed as a foreign doctrine that served the interests of capitalist imperialism - an ideology that led to decades of bloody persecution.

A 'thirst for spirituality'
But economic reforms, changing attitudes towards Communism and the liberalization of religious policies during the 1980s have led to a dramatic growth in Christianity. According to China Aid, a US-based human rights group, the number of Christians in China has increased 100-fold since the PRC was founded. Current estimates range from 80 million to 130 million active Christians, including members of so-called house churches.

 In a country of 1.3 billion that figure may not seem too high, but its significance becomes more apparent when compared to the 78 million Chinese that China Daily reports were members of the Communist Party as of June 2010.

"The Cultural Revolution disillusioned Chinese people and the brainwashing atheist education made people thirsty [for] spirituality," says Mark Shan, the spokesperson for China Aid.

Over the past 30 years, Christianity has gradually adapted to local realities and is no longer seen as a faith imported from the West. And while in the West, Christianity may be widely associated with tradition, in China it is increasingly identified with modernity, business and science.

"We should view Christianity as a Chinese religion, not a Western one any longer," says Bays. "There is very little left of viewing Christianity as the religion of the West as it was in the 1950s."

Some experts believe that China could soon be home to the largest Christian population in the world. And the Chinese government has been surprisingly open towards Protestantism - funding the construction of churches and providing seminaries for the training of new church leaders - at least until recently. (Source)

Many Iranian muslims turning to Christ as their Savior

In spite of all the persecution going on in Iran these days, there is some good: many Iranian muslims are turning to Christ Jesus as their Lord and King. This video shows exactly that:

The Persecution of our Iranian brothers and sisters in Christ

This following video shows the type of persecution our brothers and sister in Christ are facing in Iran. Pray that the Lord Jesus will give them the strength to endure.

Martyrdom in Christianity and Martyrdom in Islam

We know of course that there are many martyrs for the Lord Jesus Christ and there have been many within the past centuries. However, the concept of martyrdom exist in Islam as well. One may wonder: what are the difference between Martyrdom in Christianity and Islam? There are numerous differences.  For starters, the Quran commands Muslims to fight non-Muslims:

 Qur’an 9:29—Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the Religion of Truth, from among the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.

Qur’an 9:73—O Prophet! strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be unyielding to them; and their abode is hell, and evil is the destination

Therefore idea of Islamic martyrdom is found in this verse:
          
               Verily, Allah has purchased of the believers their lives and their properties; for the price that theirs shall be the Paradise. They fight in Allah's Cause, so they kill (others) and are killed. Sura 9:111

In essence, martyrdom in Islam is when someone is killed in the process of killing others. He is doing it so he can have a place in Heaven as these hadiths clearly state:

Sahih al-Bukhari 2787—Allah guarantees that He will admit the Mujahid in His Case into Paradise if he is killed, otherwise He will return him to his home safely with rewards and war booty.”
Sahih al-Bukhari 2810—Narrated Abu Musa: A man came to the Prophet and asked, “A man fights for war booty; another fights for fame and a third fights for showing off; which of them is in Allah’s Cause?” The Prophet said, “He who fights that Allah’s Word (i.e., Allah’s religion of Islamic Monotheism) be superior, is in Allah’s Cause.”
Muslims have no assurance of Salvation. So it shouldn't surprise anyone that 19 Muslims decided to fly planes in the Twin Towers and the Pentagon on September 11th, 2001.

Martyrdom in Christianity is different. In Christianity, you don't kill so you can get into heaven and don't kill non-Christians. In Christianity, Christian martyrs join Jesus in dying to save, not dying to kill. In their own sufferings, they extend Christ’s sufferings to those for whom he died (Colossians 1:24). The other difference is that they call death gain not because of the secondary benefits of paradise, but because “to depart and be with Christ . . . is far better” (Philippians 1:23).

In Christianity, you are martyred because you love Jesus Christ more than your life, family, or possesions. Hopefully I and everyone of my brothers and sisters in Christ will be willing to die for him because He is worthy that we should do so.

Christian Preacher Harassed and Bullied at Dearborn Arab Festival 2011

While nothing extremely bad happened at this year's Arab Festival. We do see hostility to the gospel (and our brother in Christ) exemplified by Muslims here at this year's Arab Festival in Dearborn, Michigan (the city with the largest number of Muslims in the U.S.A.):

Pay attention to the statement made by the Mayor of Dearborn, John O'Reilly and see if it's supported by anything our brother in Christ, the preacher faced from these Muslims here at the Arab Festival in Dearborn Michigan.

If you want to see more videos of our brothers and sisters in Christ being persecuted in this city, see these videos: