Christian Persecution Nov/Dec 2018

IRAN—“We told them many times that Jesus is our Lord and you cannot take Him away from us,” Iranian Christian Marziyeh Amirizadeh told the audience at the recent Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom event in Washington, D.C. She was referring to the words she told her captors in Tehran’s brutal Evin Prison, where she and her friend Maryam Rostampour spent 259 days in 2009 imprisoned for their faith.

Amirizadeh and Rostampour shared their experiences of imprisonment in Iran and encouraged Christians to stand up for religious freedom and the rights of their persecuted brothers and sisters around the world. “Hundreds of Christians have been arrested by Iranian authorities and charged with disrupting national security for being a Christian and participating in home churches, receiving prison sentences of 2 to 10 years,” Rostampour said.

Amirizadeh and Rostampour were raised in Muslim families and became Christians as young adults, christianpost.com reported. They became friends when they met in 2005 in Turkey, where they studied theology together, christianpost.com reported.

They returned home to Iran in 2009, and government authorities arrested them on charges of apostasy, blasphemy, and promoting Christianity in Iran, christianpost.com reported. “Since Islam is the only official religion in Iran, government authorities forbid other religious minorities from practicing their faith,” Amirizadeh said. They deem those who leave Islam as apostates and infidels, worthy of torture and death, she said.

Iranian officials sent them to Evin Prison, notorious for its brutality and torture, and sentenced them to death by hanging. The women said they endured daily interrogations, the withholding of medical treatment that was available to other prisoners, routine threatening of their lives and their families’ lives, and the mental torture of viewing the beating and physical abuse of other prisoners.

“The only thing that helped us stand on our faith was our personal relationship with Jesus and the love of God that we have experienced in our lives,” Amirizadeh said.

The advocacy of government and Christian groups eventually provided enough international pressure to demand Iran release the women. But the women said that as the Iranian officials reluctantly set them free, they warned them they would be secretly killed in an “accidental” death, christianpost.com said. “You will die in an accident.” “Your house may catch on fire,” the officials warned, providing names of pastors whom they secretly killed after their release.

Rostampour and Amirizadeh fled Iran in 2010 after their release. “We believe we are alive today because of Jesus’ power and His miracles,” Rostampour told the Washington audience.

Despite the Iranian government’s pressure to suppress Christianity, Christianity is spreading, Rostampour said. Most Iranians are fed up with their current government, viewing it as corrupt and oppressive, christianpost.com reported.

“Our hope and prayer for our country is that one day Iran will be a free country, ruled by a democratic government,” Rostampour said. “We hope for a day when all religious minorities can meet together in peace without having the fear of getting harassed, arrested, tortured, or killed by the government.”

Iran ranks 10th on Open Doors’ 2018 World Watch List of the 50 countries where Christians experience the worst persecution.

From news reports

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Features

Antique fountain pen on parchment.

From the Editor Nov/Dec 2018

When my younger daughter was about 12, she took figure skating lessons. She got pretty good, too. Since we were always at the rink about two hours, I’d bring work with me. One day a girl who sometimes skated with my daughter sat down beside me...

O Jewish Town of Bethlehem

This Christmas season, as we gather in our churches to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and sing the carols of Christmas, we no doubt will sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” one of the most beloved hymns of all time...

A Night in the Fields

Birth announcements are exciting. Parents share the news first with family, then with close friends, and later with the community. In the first century, however, it was unthinkable to send birth announcements to the poor and to those who held lower-class occupations, like shepherds...

The Incredible Incarnation

I have some Christian friends who do not celebrate Christmas. They object to the many pagan traditions that have crept into the holiday and argue that Jesus was not even born on December 25. I don’t disagree. They are quite correct...

Our Wonderful God of Christmas

For more than 50 years, Charles M. Schulz’s animated classic, A Charlie Brown Christmas, has touched millions of television viewers. In it, Charlie complains, “I think there must be something wrong with me, Linus. Christmas is coming, but I'm not happy...

The Tyrant Who Tried to Kill Jesus

King Herod was a complex man. He was a brilliant builder and politician, yet a ruthless and brutal tyrant. He makes a brief appearance in Scripture as the cold-blooded killer of baby boys in Bethlehem and surrounding areas...


Share Your Story.
Has God used The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry in your life? Share your story with us!
 

Subscription Options

1 Year Digital Subscription

  • Free PDF Book Download - "What on Earth is God Doing?" by Renald Showers

  • Free Full-Issue Flipbook & PDF Download of Current Issue

$9.99 every 1 year

1 Year Digital with Archive Access

  • Free PDF Book Download - "What on Earth is God Doing?" by Renald Showers

  • Free Full-Issue Flipbook & PDF Downloads of Current Issue & select Archives

  • Complete Access to our Growing Archive - eventually dating back through our inaugural 1942 issue

$19.99 every 1 year

2 Year Digital Subscription

  • Free PDF Book Download - "What on Earth is God Doing?" by Renald Showers

  • Free Full-Issue Flipbook & PDF Download of Current Issue

$19.99 every 2 years

2 Year Digital with Archive Access

  • Free PDF Book Download - "What on Earth is God Doing?" by Renald Showers

  • Free Full-Issue Flipbook & PDF Downloads of Current Issue & select Archives

  • Complete Access to our Growing Archive - eventually dating back through our inaugural 1942 issue

$39.99 every 2 years

3 Year Digital Subscription

  • Free PDF Book Download - "What on Earth is God Doing?" by Renald Showers

  • Free Full-Issue Flipbook & PDF Download of Current Issue

$29.99 every 3 years

3 Year Digital with Archive Access

  • Free PDF Book Download - "What on Earth is God Doing?" by Renald Showers

  • Free Full-Issue Flipbook & PDF Downloads of Current Issue & select Archives

  • Complete Access to our Growing Archive - eventually dating back through our inaugural 1942 issue

$59.99 every 3 years