iran government afraid of growth of Christianity

Why Is Christmas the Season for Persecuting Christians in Iran?

Hormoz Shariat Current Events, The Persecuted Church , , ,

Recently, and especially in the past two weeks, we have seen massive numbers of Christians arrested in Iran. This surge in persecution has occurred every Christmas for the past few years. Some people have asked me why. To help you understand what is going on in Iran, I will give three reasons:

1. More Iranian Muslims come to Christ during the Christmas season than any other time.

Muslim women shop for Christmas items.

The Islamic government of Iran knows, just as we do, that more Muslims come to Christ during the Christmas season than any other time of the year. The joyful time of Christmas stands out against the many “mourning holidays” filling the Iranian calendar and so is attractive to Iranian Muslims. Therefore, not only Christians but also many Muslims love the Christmas season and celebrate it. Many Muslims set up a Christmas tree in their homes with decorations and gifts under it, knowing well that it is a Christian celebration.

Our underground house church network (and many others) do their greatest outreach during the Christmas season. They throw Christmas parties in their homes and invite Muslim friends and family members who gladly accept, knowing they are being invited to a Christian gathering. 

Even as the meaning of Christmas is fading in the US into merely a “holiday season” concept, people of Iran—both Christians and Muslims—celebrate Christmas distinctly as the birthday of Jesus. So, when Muslims are invited by a Christian friend to go to a Christmas party, they know the theme will be a celebration of Jesus’s birthday. Therefore, they are not shocked when the gospel is shared with them in those parties and an invitation is made to trust Jesus as Savior—they expect it, are ready for it, and many times go to the party prepared to make a decision for Christ. 

Muslims accept Christ as their Savior at a Christmas party given by underground house church leaders in Iran.

We take advantage of this open season through our satellite broadcast as well. Our programs become more straight-forward evangelistic conversations as we talk about the meaning of Christmas. Every Christmas, we broadcast the Jesusfilm multiple times in various dialects of Iran. We see many Muslims respond to these Christmas broadcasts and come to Christ. 

2. The government is alarmed and reacts out of fear. 

As the situation in Iran deteriorates financially, socially, and morally, more Muslims are open to the gospel. The underground church in Iran is growing, and the government is alarmed and increasingly feels threatened. Recently, Ayatollah Boroujerdi—director of a high-profile Islamic seminary in Qum, Vatican of Shiite Islam—stated that “accurate reports indicate that the youth are becoming Christians in Qom and attending house churches.” 

Because of sanctions, the Islamic Republic of Iran is in a financial crunch. They cannot afford to put much of their limited resources into monitoring and containing the fast-growing number of Christians. Therefore, they turn to a policy of intimidation. That is, they arrest some Christians and publicize it to put fear in the hearts of others, hoping that they will not dare have Christmas parties and will cancel ones already planned. 

“Accurate reports indicate that the youth are becoming Christians in Qom and attending house churches.

—Ayatollah Boroujerdi

3. Government branches compete for limited funds through persecution. 

In Iran, several offices from various branches of government work to make sure the power will stay in the hands of the Mullahs and the Revolutionary Guard. These offices all have a mandate and authority to arrest and destroy all who might threaten the future of the government. This includes Christians. So, because of the current scarcity of finances, they must constantly compete for better funding. They win more resources for their office by showing their effectiveness in stopping Christians. Therefore, they 

  • try to arrest as many Christians as possible, and 
  • they make a big deal out of the arrests and publicize them in the news. 

Their motive is not just to intimidate Christians, but also to show their higher-ups they are worthy of funding. As Christmas approaches, I expect that these arrests will continue and intensify. So please pray for Iranian Christians to be safe, wise, and alert. Also pray that they will be bold and not be intimidated by the Islamic government and will continue to evangelize Muslims through Christmas parties. Pray that many Muslims will come to Christ this month both in our underground house churches through personal evangelism and also through our satellite broadcasts as a result of our special evangelistic Christmas programs. 

Iran Will Be a Christian Country, Part 2

Hormoz Shariat Uncategorized, Lives Transformed , , , , ,

In a previous post, I explained that the Bible says Iran will become a Christian nation. Even as Islamic terrorists bomb airports and subways in Brussels, even as a disgruntled Muslim Taliban member in Lahore, Pakistan, bombed women and children celebrating Easter at an amusement park, God is right now drawing the people of Iran to Himself in the greatest defeat of Islam in its 14 centuries of existence.

How can I say this?

Reason 2: The Research Confirms That Iran Is Becoming a Christian Nation

Establishing an exact number of people following a forbidden faith in a closed country is difficult, but there are processes that help us.

Operation World is a well-known and respected missions research organization that publishes a manual reviewing the condition of every nation in the world. Its latest edition lists Iran as the fastest growing evangelical population in the world, with yearly growth at 19.6 percent. That means the number of Christians in Iran is doubling almost every four years.

In 1979, at the time of the Islamic Revolution, there were less than 500 Muslim Background Believers (MBB’s) in Iran.

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 By early 2012, Open Doors, a nondenominational organization tracking Christian persecution, estimated that at least 370,000 new Christians from a Muslim background had been added to the rolls, with further growth continuing explosively. Today a conservative estimate of total Christians in Iran puts the number around two million. Iran as a nation has rejected Islam. After 35 years of Islamic rule, the people of Iran have concluded, “Islam is not the answer, but the problem.” As a result, in Iran right now, Islam is experiencing its greatest defeat in history.

The work is far from done, however. The government of Iran and the Revolutionary Guard continue to put obstacles in the way of sharing the Gospel. They are afraid of the growth of Christianity in Iran because they have been powerless to stop it despite arrests, persecution, and torture. They have closed all church buildings, yet they know that the number of MBB’s and underground house churches are growing.

So we can expect the persecution to increase as more and more Muslim-born Iranians turn to Christ.

Will the government be able to stop the nation from becoming a Christian country? God willing, I don’t believe so. By God’s grace, we are seeing the underground church spread throughout the nation, and an “army” of transformed, discipled Christians are loving their family members and neighbors into the arms of Christ.

This transformation that is changing a nation will be the subject of my next post.