Christians In Iran: From 500 In 1979 To 360,000 Today

God works in mysterious ways, they say. And it’s true. A recent report issued by Voice of the Martyrs, Canada, indicates that Muslims are converting to Christianity by the thousands.

‘There are thousands upon thousands coming to Christ. We are in regular contact with our FM stations in Iraq and have talked with many people who have family in the Middle East. Some of our Middle Eastern broadcasters have shared testimonies [about many turning to Christ] with us, which they hear directly from listeners when visiting there ...’ a spokesperson of the Voice of the Martyrs said to BosNewsLife.

In Iran, in spite of the deadly persecution, it is estimated that there are now 360,000 Christians, up from roughly 500 in 1979.

God works in mysterious ways, indeed.

You see, the fact of the matter is, persecution leads to CONVERSION more than it leads to EXTINCTION of Christians.

Think about it this way - every person on this planet is doing either of two things: 

He’s either running TOWARDS Jesus, or he’s running FROM Jesus

There are really no other options. Christians are running TOWARDS Jesus. Atheists, Muslims, Liberals, Agnostics, Buddhists, followers of transcendental meditation or Scientology or astrology are ALL running FROM Jesus. The last thing they want is to hear about Jesus.

During times of reasonable peace, when you don’t hear about beheadings as much, each one of us would typically continue on our path towards or from Jesus – we go to work, we pay our bills, we watch movies and depending on which direction we go, we may not really be thinking much about Him and how blessed we are to have a job, a family and friends, or we may thank Him every day of our life.

But then, people around the world start witnessing these horrible terrorist acts – not against governments, or institutions, or a political system like the old IRA (Irish Republican Army), or the Bolsheviks – but against Christians. Against people who all they want to do is read their Bibles and worship God. That’s all.

Now, instead of Christians submitting to these terrorists and convert to Islam, they CHOOSE to die horrible deaths.

So unbelievers, including Muslims, wonder: ‘why don’t they just convert to Islam? Why die for Jesus? Isn’t that crazy?’

After a while these unbelievers get a little bit more curious and start reading about Jesus. And that’s when they fully understand why people are willing to be martyred for Him.

In Laos, for example, according to Voice of the Martyrs, conversion happens because people ‘understand the importance of God’s love towards them as an individual. Many have never really experienced this form of love in their life and they have embraced the message of salvation willingly.’

Each period of harsh persecution leads to a period of Christian expansion, which in turn leads to more persecution as the leaders of certain regimes see Christians (or rather, Jesus) as a threat to their power. It happens in America too – Obama sees Jesus as a threat to his power. He is running FROM Jesus too.

God is building His Kingdom. And He uses evil leaders for His purpose. The Roman Empire is a good example of this. One of the reasons Christianity made it to Europe was because of Rome. As you know, it was the Roman Empire that conspired with religious leaders in Judea to crucify Jesus. Roman Governor Pontius Pilate and the Jewish leaders had Jesus arrested and in a mock trial condemned Him to death. Romans were not big fans of Jesus Christ for the same reasons Obama isn’t a big fan of Jesus: He was a threat to their power. But thanks to the roads that the Roman Empire in its majesty built as they conquered land, the apostles and their followers were able to travel all through Europe to bring the Gospel. 

Without the evil Roman Empire, Christianity wouldn’t have made it into Europe and obviously, it wouldn’t have made it into America either...

Terrorism must be defeated, but make no mistake, it’s all part of God’s plan. Nothing is a surprise to Him – to us it is, but not to Him.

So, are you running TOWARDS Jesus or FROM Jesus?

John 15:18
If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you.