Iran will be a Christian Country. In part 1 and part 2 of this series, I showed how the Bible supports this claim and the research confirms it. Now let me share how we are seeing this transformation happen before our very eyes every day.

Reason 3: Our Numbers Confirm That Many People of Iran Are Trusting Christ

God used me to plant six churches among Iranian Muslims in northern California. Following the 9/11 attacks, on December 1, 2001, we bought one hour of broadcast time from a secular satellite TV station to share the love of God with millions of Iranian Muslims in the privacy of their homes. From day one, we saw a great response.

Over the last 14 years, we have collected the names of over 32,000 people who either prayed with us to receive Christ or told us that they had done so while watching our TV programs. From experience, we know that this number represents only a fraction of those who have received Christ. Many choose to follow Jesus but do not reach out with a dangerous phone call or email to tell us.

In 2011, we moved to Dallas to start a 24/7 Satellite TV channel because we wanted to establish God’s Church in Iran while the window of opportunity was open. I am not a typical televangelist, and our channel is not a typical Western-style Christian channel. I am a pastor and a church planter, and our channel delivers the services of a church to every home. By His grace, we have planted hundreds of underground house churches in over 100 cities in Iran!

Our goal is not just conversion but transformation. We want them to become growing disciples of Jesus, being transformed and at the same time transforming those around them. As an example, let me share with you Ali’s story.

Ali is a young man in his early twenties in Iran who didn’t believe in God and who used alcohol and girls to find peace and change the monotonous emptiness of his life. Feeling lonely when he went away to college, he went to a gym where a man began sharing his testimony and stories from the Bible with him.

Here is what Ali wrote to us in a prayer request for his parents:

Week after week, this teacher told me stories. The further we went on, the more I became closer to God and knew Him. I realized that Christ was my savior. When I learned that, I felt I had finally found the half of me that was missing. It was a strange feeling I had never experienced before. Now I really feel God, and I can’t deny his presence.

Through this man’s teaching and your teaching through your satellite television programs, I found out more about God and understood that I must daily live with Him and obey His word. I read the Bible stories to seven friends, and I thank God that they all came to believe in Jesus, too. When we obeyed God’s word, our lives began to change.

All I want now is to give God’s word to anyone who wants God in his life. Please pray for my parents. I read the stories to them, but they have a political background and they are afraid. They think I may be killed, and my father is sick because of that thought. They have put much force on me to stop and will not let me leave my house or serve God by seeing my groups and sharing God’s word. It’s my dream to be God’s coworker. Please pray that these restrictions will be lifted soon.

In a very short time, Ali changed from a young man that lived for partying to a young man who lives—and is willing to die—for God. We have many, many more stories just like his. Our goal is discipleship that brings about transformation.

My dear friends, Jesus said, “As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work” (John 9:4). Contrary to natural appearances, it is “day” in Iran. The Lord has opened the spiritual eyes of Iranians to see the Light.

Would you pray with me that the church in the West will wake up to this unique historical opportunity before it is too late? Indeed the Lord has done His part to open that nation spiritually through 35 years of oppressive Islamic rule. He is also giving visions, dreams and miracles to many people there. As I say often, I believe He says to His Church: “Look! I love these people. I am doing my part. Come and do your part as I have commanded you.”

How will you respond?

Category: Lives Transformed

Tags: visions in iran, shabakeh 7, televangelism in iran, christians in iran, iran becoming a christian country, underground church iran

Related articles:

Seymore, Julia A. “Christianity Thrives in Iran Despite Severe Persecution.” ChristianHeadlines.com, April 4, 2016.

Chui, Angie. “Underground Churches Thriving in Iran despite Persecution.” Christian Today: World, April 7, 2016.