"Everyone thought that the Church would be entirely closed down, and that Christianity, the little remnants that still existed, would die down."
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| Most Christians in Iran Belong to House Churches Photo via ANS |
By Michael Ireland, Assist News Service
Breaking Christian News
More Muslims have come to faith in Christ in this generation than in the last fourteen centuries of Islam combined. The Church in Iran is now estimated to be between 1 million and 3 million strong. (Photo: The Iranian Revolution of 1979 saw the Ayatollah depose the Shah of Iran/via ANS)
That's the analysis of Shadi Fatehi from the PARS Theological Center in London, England, speaking at a suburban church in Minneapolis earlier this month.
In 1979, the Islamic Revolution occurred in Iran when the Ayatollah Khomeini overthrew the Shah of Iran, and Iran became one of the only theocratic Islamic countries in the whole world. It was the year that Presbyterian missionaries were kicked out of the country after serving faithfully for about 150 years since the 1830s—accused of being CIA agents—and the Church was concerned about what was going to happen in that country.
The phone rings, the mother is distracted—she's on the phone—and all of a sudden she hears a loud noise as though something heavy has dropped to the ground. Hanging up the phone, she runs into the kitchen and notices that her 3-year-old daughter has dropped a large kettle of boiling water all over her head.
That's the analysis of Shadi Fatehi from the PARS Theological Center in London, England, speaking at a suburban church in Minneapolis earlier this month.
In 1979, the Islamic Revolution occurred in Iran when the Ayatollah Khomeini overthrew the Shah of Iran, and Iran became one of the only theocratic Islamic countries in the whole world. It was the year that Presbyterian missionaries were kicked out of the country after serving faithfully for about 150 years since the 1830s—accused of being CIA agents—and the Church was concerned about what was going to happen in that country.
"Everyone thought that the Church would be entirely closed down, and that Christianity—the little remnants that still existed—would die down," said Fatehi.
"At the time there were only 350 Christians living in Iran from a Muslim background. Today, 40 years later, the statistics are about 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 Christians from a Muslim background living in Iran today.
"So something very special and historical is happening. Something special is happening, and many people ask me why are so many people coming to faith and how are people coming to know the Good News? And there are many ways that people are coming to know the Lord—through technology (which) is a great tool in taking the Gospel to places where it couldn't go before. But something that is happening so often among Muslims is that people are coming to know Jesus through dreams and visions," Fatehi said.Fatehi told the story of a young mother at home watching her 3-year-old daughter.
The phone rings, the mother is distracted—she's on the phone—and all of a sudden she hears a loud noise as though something heavy has dropped to the ground. Hanging up the phone, she runs into the kitchen and notices that her 3-year-old daughter has dropped a large kettle of boiling water all over her head.
The mother is terrified and in absolute fear and shock cries out saying to Jesus Christ 'Help me!' and she doesn't know why she says that. But that comes to her in that moment of trauma. The mother cried this sentence and then grabbed the child in her arms, taking her to the hospital.
The child is admitted, and in the middle of the night while mother and child are asleep, the mother has a dream. In the dream she sees a male figure in the hospital room. She's dreaming of the hospital room she's in right now. She sees this male figure standing by the daughter's bed. And the figure is dressed in white—He's radiant with light—so the mother can't really make out His face. But the mother asks Him:
"Who brought you here—I didn't ask anyone to come and see my child? Did one of the nurses bring You here who are You?" The man responds by saying "You called My name—I am here because you cried out to Me in the kitchen."
He tells her that He is Christ revealing Himself to her, and that He will be with the child and with the mother in this difficult time. When the mother wakes up, she is enamored with Christ and decides to learn more about Him, eventually giving her life to Christ, becoming a Christian and later becomes part of a house church.
"That is one of many stories, many, many, many stories of people seeing Christ in visions and dreams. This seems to be a way that God is choosing to reveal Himself with people in that part of the world. And Iranians, when they come to faith, they are very eager to share the Good News with others around them."Breaking Christian News continues here
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