July 14, 2025 • 19 mins
A spiritual earthquake is silently rumbling beneath Iran's surface. While news headlines focus on politics and tensions, something far more profound is transforming the nation from within - a Jesus revolution that's emptying mosques and filling underground churches.
The numbers are staggering: over one million Muslims have abandoned Islam to follow Christ in Iran. An estimated 50,000-75,000 mosques now stand empty as Iranians grow increasingly disillusioned with the Islamic regime that has governed them for 45 years. When confronted with rampant corruption, widespread poverty, and one of the world's highest drug addiction rates, many Iranians are questioning what their faith has actually delivered.
What's most remarkable about this movement isn't just its size but how it's happening. Countless Iranians report encountering Jesus through dreams and visions - supernatural experiences that bypass the need for traditional evangelism in a country where sharing the gospel openly means risking imprisonment or death. These new believers gather in secret home churches, knowing that authorities regularly conduct raids, questioning everyone present and arresting leaders. For them, following Jesus isn't a path to prosperity or comfort - it's a decision that could cost them everything.
This phenomenon extends beyond Iran's borders. Christianity is growing rapidly throughout parts of the Middle East, including Yemen, Afghanistan, and even showing early signs of tolerance in Saudi Arabia. It challenges our Western understanding of faith, reminding us that where people are most desperate and have nothing left to depend on, God often moves in the most powerful ways.
Whether you're facing persecution or comfort in your faith journey, this story reminds us that boldness is required to truly follow Christ. As divine transformation sweeps across seemingly impossible places, what might God be calling you to boldly pursue in your own life?
For information on EFL, in person group studies, or donation opportunities please visit eflpodast.buzzsprout.com.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Something incredible is happening in Iran.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
A revolution is underway in parts of the region,
a Jesus revolution.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Over one million Muslims have left Islam and put
their trust in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
An unprecedented number of Muslims are fors islam
and choosing to follow christ,especially in iran.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
You have a country with one of the highest drug
addiction rates in the world.
Corruption runs rampant.
People of iran are looking atthis and they're saying, if this
is what islam has brought us inthe last 45 years, we're not
interested.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Welcome back to the Equipped for Life podcast.
I am your host, brandon C Ricks.
I am very, very excited abouttoday's episode.
We're going to be talking abouta topic that's very dear to me,
and it is persecution in thechurch.
If you did not know, there area lot of things happening around
the world, a lot of things thatyou, as a follower of Christ,
should be very aware of.
But just for you that do notknow, equipped for Life I'm
(01:26):
rocking the Equipped for Lifeshirt here today.
So if you want to go toEFLmencom, eflmencom, you can
get all of the EFL merch.
We've got some pretty coolthreads that you can pick up and
you don't got to be a part ofEFL to rock the merch, because
you're just rocking andrepresenting Jesus.
So, eflmencom, and also to letyou know that we are a men's
fellowship.
We meet three times a week inthe Texas area.
(01:48):
Texas area, that's a huge placeright, texas is a whole state
but we meet in the Dallas-FortWorth area.
We have meetings across thecity and it's a great
opportunity for you, as a man,to come and fellowship.
But on the YouTube channel thisis for everyone, for men and
women.
But Equipped for Life is whatgives us the ability to do this
(02:08):
channel.
So, with that being said, I'mso excited to hop into it.
You're not going to want tomiss this.
So let's look at a little bit ofwhat's going on in the church
in Iran.
That's right.
Yes, there is the church inIran.
What's powerfully happening inIran is that people are leaving
the mosques in droves.
(02:28):
Yeah, that's right.
I think there is somewhere like70% of the mosques are now
empty.
Okay, people are leaving.
Islam is what's happening Now.
Since Iran is a closed offcountry, you do not get to see
as many reports, because it'sdangerous to report these kinds
of things if you're living inIran.
But this has been going on forquite some time now, where Jesus
(02:51):
, as they would call him, esau,is showing up in Iranians'
dreams like crazy, and there's alot of authors that are writing
about this too as well.
One of the authors that you canlook up is Tom Doyle.
I'll have to put the name ofthe book.
Maybe I'll put it in the video,maybe here or here in the
corner as I'm speaking, so youcan see it, but it's a dreams
(03:13):
and visions book by Tom Doyle,who is a missionary to the
Middle East that I have aprivilege of meeting some years
back, and he's got a passion forthe Middle East and he preaches
the gospel in these areas, fromyou know, in places like Jordan
and other places too as well.
So let's go to see what'shappening with the church in
Iran.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Iranians are growing tired of the Ayatollahs and a
nation led by the empty promisesof their Islamic theocracy.
An anonymous internal pollfound that 80% now prefer a
democratic government and manyare leaving Islam.
You have?
Speaker 1 (03:48):
a country with one of the highest drug addiction
rates in the world.
You have a country wherecorruption runs rampant.
You have a country where morethan half the people live below
the poverty line.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
I didn't know that.
I didn't know that they had oneof the highest drug problems in
the world.
That is interesting.
You know, drugs are a funnything, right?
I think that America we have ahuge drug problem here too as
well.
Like we are addicted to allmanner of things, from opioids
to stimulants, to coffee, tofood.
I mean, we are one of the mostaddicted nations you know in the
(04:21):
world nations you know in theworld.
And to me, addiction is just asign.
It's a symptom of a deeperproblem, and what it is is
discontentment.
You know, when you are abusingsubstances, it's because you are
escaping your reality, you'rediscontent with your life,
you're not satisfied, there's avoid, there's an emptiness, and
so you run to drugs.
(04:42):
And alcohol is also a drug.
So I don't like to say drugsand alcohol, because alcohol is
a drug.
Anything that's mind-altering,that alters your state of
consciousness, is considered adrug.
It's an intoxicant, it'ssomething that you're
participating in, partaking inin order so that you can not
think about or be removed fromthe reality of a situation that
(05:02):
you're going through orcircumstance, whether that be
temporarily or long term, basedoff of your level of addiction.
But the fact that addiction isrunning rampant in Iran to me is
a testament of the emptinessthat people are filling, and
they're trying to fill the voidwith something because what's
happening on a day to day basisis not satisfying.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
And the people of Iran are looking at this and
they're saying wait a minute, ifthis is what Islam has brought
us in the last 45 years, we'renot interested.
We want to know what the otheroptions are.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
According to Todd Nettleton of the Voice of the
Martyrs, the faith option manyare choosing is Jesus, with at
least a million Muslimsreportedly leaving Islam for
Christianity.
How's the regime reacting tothis?
We've heard 50,000 of 75,000mosques have closed and I'm sure
they aren't accepting that verywell 50 to 75,000 mosques
(05:56):
closed.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
That.
Imagine if we replace mosqueswith churches, and I told you
that 50,000 to 75,000 churchesin America have closed.
I mean, we're talking about anavalanche of apostasy here.
Okay, that is a vast percentageof your population choosing to
leave Islam.
(06:18):
Okay, that is significant.
That is significant.
And I believe that, in the ageof the internet, that Islam is
dying as people are able totranslate the Quran into
different languages and tounderstand the Quran and the
Hadiths and what they teach.
Islam is not attractive, it'sjust not.
And the Iranian people?
(06:39):
They were not always Islamicright, they were conquered by
Islam.
The Persian people have abeautiful spirit and beautiful
culture and they were some ofthe most brilliant artists in
the world until Islam.
Islam has a way of stamping outall of your creativity, all of
(07:01):
your ideas.
Just look and do a review on theplaces where Islam is the
primary source, religious view,and show me where there's
artistic growth and expressionand innovation.
You don't have it outside ofDubai, which they've modeled
Dubai after capitalism.
It's kind of a little gemwithin the, in the, in the
(07:24):
desert outside of Dubai, in theEmirates.
You don't find growth inprogression in Islamic states.
Look all throughout northernAfrica, look through Asia,
places like Indonesia, placeslike Afghanistan, pakistan,
yemen.
These places are not placesthat people want to live and, in
fact, people in those countriesare moving to places like
(07:44):
Britain, into Holland, intoSweden.
Okay, they're leaving Islamicregimes to go to places where
they have the ability to expressthemselves and to live freely.
Okay.
So it's not surprising to methat in Iran, they're leaving
Islam, because for centuries,before Islam came, the people
that were living in Iran, inwhat was then called Persia,
(08:07):
were following Zoroaster.
There was Zoroastrianism, therewas Christianity, there was
Judaism, there were a myriad ofdifferent beliefs, and they
certainly see the growth of thechurch they certainly see
(08:37):
Christian evangelism as a formof dissent.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
We have heard multiple stories this year of a
Bible study, a home church beingraided, everyone there is
photographed, everyone there isquestioned, but then the leader
of the meeting is held onto.
They are arrested, they aredetained, they're put in prison.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
Moreover, Nettleton contends family members and
friends are more tolerant thanthe government about leaving
Islam.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
They're kind of had the attitude of hey, if you
found something that works foryou, if it's Jesus or if it's
atheism or if it's whatever, ifit works for you.
I know Islam doesn't work, soI'm happy you found something
that works.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
So, in other words, anything but Islam is pretty
much what the Iranian people aresaying, but, by the grace of
God, many of them are choosingJesus, and you know, again, that
leads me to another scripture.
There's so many verses that Ican read about persecution of
the church.
One of them is 2 Timothy 3,verse 12 and 13.
And it reads like this In fact,everyone who wants to live a
(09:39):
godly life in Christ Jesus willbe persecuted, while evildoers
and imposters will go from badto worse, deceiving and being
deceived Right, and I think thatthis is again one of these
points.
That's to me is really soberingis that if you persist in
wickedness, then you get theresults of that.
You get wicked results, and Idon't think like the spiritual
(10:23):
warfare is more covert in aplace like China, because
there's not an acknowledgementof spiritual authority, whereas
in Iran you have the worship ofAllah and you know, just to be
clear, allah and Yahweh are notthe same, they're not the same
deity, very, very differentstandards, practices.
(10:45):
And the Quran is a verydifferent piece of literature
than the Tanakh, the Torah andthe, and wonders, despite an
oppressive regime.
To me it's just a testament ofthe truth, of the gospel, and I
(11:11):
think it's a testament to thepower of the body of Christ is
that when we, as Christians andas followers of Jesus, choose to
make it our business to spreadthe good news and to live a life
that's worthy of the gospel, wefind the Holy Spirit really
actively doing work.
Speaker 5 (11:30):
Well, I think what's happening there is actually
representative of what'shappening in the Islamic world.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
Don Schenk serves as executive director of the Tide
Ministry.
He explains how Muslims areexperiencing dreams and visions
leading many to find purpose anda different understanding of
God.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
We get responses from listeners who say you know, now
I understand that God loves me.
I always thought that Godwanted to punish me and I think
there's an awakening, as I said,that's taking place across the
Muslim world.
An awakening, as I said, thatis taking place across the
Muslim world.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Schenck states that Tide Ministry radio broadcasts
are receiving positive responsesin Afghanistan, where the
Taliban pose great danger forthose seeking information from
secret Christians within thecountry, there's a lot of
suspicion.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
So for those of you who don't know, in Afghanistan
they also speak Farsi, so thisis the reason why the broadcasts
are working there.
I'm not sure if most peopleknew that, but Afghanistan is a
Farsi-speaking country.
Pakistan they speak Urduprimarily, but in Afghanistan
they speak Farsi, and Farsi isthe language of the Iranians, of
(12:41):
the Persians, so that's whythat's working.
That's amazing that that'sworking.
One of the things that I thinkis interesting to me is the
again, the miracles, signs andwonders, the dreams and visions.
For us that live in the West andthe post-modern Western world.
I think that we struggle withthe idea of God speaking to us
in what we would callsupernatural ways, because we
(13:02):
have the enlightenment, we haveintellectualism, we have logic
and reason, so we are moreinterested in the practical
applications of scripture.
It's like it's become like aself-help program.
Jesus and his teachings are howdo I use the Bible to better my
life?
Not how do I use the word ofGod to transform my life.
(13:24):
How do I surrender my life tothe Holy Spirit so that I can be
transformed and made anew?
And for people that aredesperate and in dire situations
and really, really need atransformation, god shows up,
the miraculous happens in thoseplaces, whereas we don't see
those kinds of things happeningin America, because we're
(13:44):
depending on ourselves to makethings happen, even for those of
us that call ourselvesChristians.
Right, because if I have money,well, I can just go buy, I can
go fix the problem with money, Ican go get a credit card, I can
go, you know, I can go gethealing from a doctor.
I don't have to pray for it, Idon't have to pray for myself to
be released from prison,because I can just go post bail
if I need to right Like.
(14:04):
There's so many things that wecan do in America that we don't
think it requires God, which isthe reason why we don't get to
see some of these things thatare happening that we would call
supernatural, whereas in aplace like Iran they need God's
help they really do because theycan do nothing, because the
strain of Islam is around theirneck so tight that it's
(14:26):
difficult to even breathe, toeven move, and so they have to
call out and seek miracles forthings to occur, and that's
where you see the Holy Spiritshowing up, and it's a wonderful
and beautiful thing.
Speaker 5 (14:37):
If I'm going to meet with these people and share that
I'm now a believer.
Are they really true believersor are they just trying to
identify me?
It's more than simply beingostracized or disowned by your
family.
It is actually the threat ofdeath.
So accepting new life in Christmeans accepting the possibility
(15:01):
of your life ending in thisworld.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
Christianity is also spreading in Yemen, where the
Joshua Project reports Christiangrowth is almost double the
global average.
Next door Nettleton sees theSaudi Arabian monarchy becoming
a bit more tolerant ofChristians and their churches.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Not necessarily welcoming, but with open arms
obviously.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
OK, so that's crazy, I've got a comment right.
So I mentioned Yemen earlier,not necessarily welcoming, but
with open arms.
Obviously.
Look at the, the haplogroupmarkers, the, the genome of a
lot of yemenis.
They are descendants of the 12tribes.
But because once again islamwith a sword came through and
pretty much forced conversion,because in in the quran it's you
(15:56):
know, either you uh convert toislam or you uh die, or you pay
the jizya, which is a tax ifyou're, if you going to, and
they would just tax terribly theJews and the Christians.
It's another form ofhumiliation and embarrassment.
And they would do this allthroughout the places where they
conquered, all throughoutnorthern Africa, into the
(16:19):
Arabian Peninsula, allthroughout the Iberian Peninsula
, which is Spain and Portugalpeninsula, all throughout the
Iberian peninsula, which isSpain and Portugal.
And then you know east going,going east into into Asia, which
is where you have all the youknow stands right, turkmenistan
and Kazakhstan, and you knowAfghanistan, pakistan, all the
stands Right.
So Islam spread in these placesand it smashed everything out.
(16:40):
It was in its wake.
But there's a lot of ethnicallyIsraeli well, not Israeli.
Israeli is a nation state butthere are descendants of the 12
tribes.
There are Yemeni Jews there,but they are Muslims, so it's
interesting that you see thatfaith is spreading in Yemen.
There's one thing, too, that Ithink is interesting is that you
notice that the thread ofdeception and how the enemy
(17:03):
operates, how he's alwaysparticipating in espionage, that
there's always this fear of issomebody going to be
perpetrating or or gallivantingaround like they're a Christian
so that they can entrap you.
There's these stories thathappen like this.
It's the same tactics that theenemy uses in China as in Iran.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
But just the understanding that that it could
happen, that there could beChristians here, and maybe
that's not the worst thing inthe world.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
That's such a change from what we would have seen 10
or 15 or 20 years ago, a move ofGod's spirit bringing change
that may eventually transformnot only Iran but the entire
Middle East.
Gary Lane.
Cbn News.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Wow, that's amazing.
So there's another scripturethat comes to my mind.
It's in Revelations 2, verse 10.
It says this Do not be afraidof what you are about to suffer.
I tell you, the devil will putsome of you in prison to test
you, and you will sufferpersecution for 10 days.
Be faithful, even to the pointof death, and I will give you
(18:13):
life as your victor's crown.
So, as we kind of close todayfor today's episode, the thing
that I really want tocommunicate is that in the body
of Christ, boldness is required.
If you're going to follow Jesus, there has to be a courage that
the Spirit gives you, no matterwhere you're living, no matter
(18:34):
if it's in China or Iran orGreat Britain or if you're
living here in the US.
Be bold in your faith,recognize that you made the
right decision, despite what'shappening on around you,
circumstantially in your life,how difficult things get, how
hard they are, just know thatthe holy spirit is with you,
(18:55):
that god is with you, thattransformation is occurring, and
the harder things get, and themore you lean on him, the more
of his spirit pours out and themore power you see.
And that is how the gospelspreads You've been listening to
Equipped for Life.
I'm your host, brandon C Ricks.
I hope you enjoyed this episode.
(19:16):
God bless and be strong on yourjourney, peace.
Something incredible is happening in Iran.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
A revolution is underway in parts of the region,
a Jesus revolution.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Over one million Muslims have left Islam and put
their trust in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
An unprecedented number of Muslims are fors islam
and choosing to follow christ,especially in iran.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
You have a country with one of the highest drug
addiction rates in the world.
Corruption runs rampant.
People of iran are looking atthis and they're saying, if this
is what islam has brought us inthe last 45 years, we're not
interested.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Welcome back to the Equipped for Life podcast.
I am your host, brandon C Ricks.
I am very, very excited abouttoday's episode.
We're going to be talking abouta topic that's very dear to me,
and it is persecution in thechurch.
If you did not know, there area lot of things happening around
the world, a lot of things thatyou, as a follower of Christ,
should be very aware of.
But just for you that do notknow, equipped for Life I'm
(01:26):
rocking the Equipped for Lifeshirt here today.
So if you want to go toEFLmencom, eflmencom, you can
get all of the EFL merch.
We've got some pretty coolthreads that you can pick up and
you don't got to be a part ofEFL to rock the merch, because
you're just rocking andrepresenting Jesus.
So, eflmencom, and also to letyou know that we are a men's
fellowship.
We meet three times a week inthe Texas area.
(01:48):
Texas area, that's a huge placeright, texas is a whole state
but we meet in the Dallas-FortWorth area.
We have meetings across thecity and it's a great
opportunity for you, as a man,to come and fellowship.
But on the YouTube channel thisis for everyone, for men and
women.
But Equipped for Life is whatgives us the ability to do this
(02:08):
channel.
So, with that being said, I'mso excited to hop into it.
You're not going to want tomiss this.
So let's look at a little bit ofwhat's going on in the church
in Iran.
That's right.
Yes, there is the church inIran.
What's powerfully happening inIran is that people are leaving
the mosques in droves.
(02:28):
Yeah, that's right.
I think there is somewhere like70% of the mosques are now
empty.
Okay, people are leaving.
Islam is what's happening Now.
Since Iran is a closed offcountry, you do not get to see
as many reports, because it'sdangerous to report these kinds
of things if you're living inIran.
But this has been going on forquite some time now, where Jesus
(02:51):
, as they would call him, esau,is showing up in Iranians'
dreams like crazy, and there's alot of authors that are writing
about this too as well.
One of the authors that you canlook up is Tom Doyle.
I'll have to put the name ofthe book.
Maybe I'll put it in the video,maybe here or here in the
corner as I'm speaking, so youcan see it, but it's a dreams
(03:13):
and visions book by Tom Doyle,who is a missionary to the
Middle East that I have aprivilege of meeting some years
back, and he's got a passion forthe Middle East and he preaches
the gospel in these areas, fromyou know, in places like Jordan
and other places too as well.
So let's go to see what'shappening with the church in
Iran.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Iranians are growing tired of the Ayatollahs and a
nation led by the empty promisesof their Islamic theocracy.
An anonymous internal pollfound that 80% now prefer a
democratic government and manyare leaving Islam.
You have?
Speaker 1 (03:48):
a country with one of the highest drug addiction
rates in the world.
You have a country wherecorruption runs rampant.
You have a country where morethan half the people live below
the poverty line.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
I didn't know that.
I didn't know that they had oneof the highest drug problems in
the world.
That is interesting.
You know, drugs are a funnything, right?
I think that America we have ahuge drug problem here too as
well.
Like we are addicted to allmanner of things, from opioids
to stimulants, to coffee, tofood.
I mean, we are one of the mostaddicted nations you know in the
(04:21):
world nations you know in theworld.
And to me, addiction is just asign.
It's a symptom of a deeperproblem, and what it is is
discontentment.
You know, when you are abusingsubstances, it's because you are
escaping your reality, you'rediscontent with your life,
you're not satisfied, there's avoid, there's an emptiness, and
so you run to drugs.
(04:42):
And alcohol is also a drug.
So I don't like to say drugsand alcohol, because alcohol is
a drug.
Anything that's mind-altering,that alters your state of
consciousness, is considered adrug.
It's an intoxicant, it'ssomething that you're
participating in, partaking inin order so that you can not
think about or be removed fromthe reality of a situation that
(05:02):
you're going through orcircumstance, whether that be
temporarily or long term, basedoff of your level of addiction.
But the fact that addiction isrunning rampant in Iran to me is
a testament of the emptinessthat people are filling, and
they're trying to fill the voidwith something because what's
happening on a day to day basisis not satisfying.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
And the people of Iran are looking at this and
they're saying wait a minute, ifthis is what Islam has brought
us in the last 45 years, we'renot interested.
We want to know what the otheroptions are.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
According to Todd Nettleton of the Voice of the
Martyrs, the faith option manyare choosing is Jesus, with at
least a million Muslimsreportedly leaving Islam for
Christianity.
How's the regime reacting tothis?
We've heard 50,000 of 75,000mosques have closed and I'm sure
they aren't accepting that verywell 50 to 75,000 mosques
(05:56):
closed.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
That.
Imagine if we replace mosqueswith churches, and I told you
that 50,000 to 75,000 churchesin America have closed.
I mean, we're talking about anavalanche of apostasy here.
Okay, that is a vast percentageof your population choosing to
leave Islam.
(06:18):
Okay, that is significant.
That is significant.
And I believe that, in the ageof the internet, that Islam is
dying as people are able totranslate the Quran into
different languages and tounderstand the Quran and the
Hadiths and what they teach.
Islam is not attractive, it'sjust not.
And the Iranian people?
(06:39):
They were not always Islamicright, they were conquered by
Islam.
The Persian people have abeautiful spirit and beautiful
culture and they were some ofthe most brilliant artists in
the world until Islam.
Islam has a way of stamping outall of your creativity, all of
(07:01):
your ideas.
Just look and do a review on theplaces where Islam is the
primary source, religious view,and show me where there's
artistic growth and expressionand innovation.
You don't have it outside ofDubai, which they've modeled
Dubai after capitalism.
It's kind of a little gemwithin the, in the, in the
(07:24):
desert outside of Dubai, in theEmirates.
You don't find growth inprogression in Islamic states.
Look all throughout northernAfrica, look through Asia,
places like Indonesia, placeslike Afghanistan, pakistan,
yemen.
These places are not placesthat people want to live and, in
fact, people in those countriesare moving to places like
(07:44):
Britain, into Holland, intoSweden.
Okay, they're leaving Islamicregimes to go to places where
they have the ability to expressthemselves and to live freely.
Okay.
So it's not surprising to methat in Iran, they're leaving
Islam, because for centuries,before Islam came, the people
that were living in Iran, inwhat was then called Persia,
(08:07):
were following Zoroaster.
There was Zoroastrianism, therewas Christianity, there was
Judaism, there were a myriad ofdifferent beliefs, and they
certainly see the growth of thechurch they certainly see
(08:37):
Christian evangelism as a formof dissent.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
We have heard multiple stories this year of a
Bible study, a home church beingraided, everyone there is
photographed, everyone there isquestioned, but then the leader
of the meeting is held onto.
They are arrested, they aredetained, they're put in prison.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
Moreover, Nettleton contends family members and
friends are more tolerant thanthe government about leaving
Islam.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
They're kind of had the attitude of hey, if you
found something that works foryou, if it's Jesus or if it's
atheism or if it's whatever, ifit works for you.
I know Islam doesn't work, soI'm happy you found something
that works.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
So, in other words, anything but Islam is pretty
much what the Iranian people aresaying, but, by the grace of
God, many of them are choosingJesus, and you know, again, that
leads me to another scripture.
There's so many verses that Ican read about persecution of
the church.
One of them is 2 Timothy 3,verse 12 and 13.
And it reads like this In fact,everyone who wants to live a
(09:39):
godly life in Christ Jesus willbe persecuted, while evildoers
and imposters will go from badto worse, deceiving and being
deceived Right, and I think thatthis is again one of these
points.
That's to me is really soberingis that if you persist in
wickedness, then you get theresults of that.
You get wicked results, and Idon't think like the spiritual
(10:23):
warfare is more covert in aplace like China, because
there's not an acknowledgementof spiritual authority, whereas
in Iran you have the worship ofAllah and you know, just to be
clear, allah and Yahweh are notthe same, they're not the same
deity, very, very differentstandards, practices.
(10:45):
And the Quran is a verydifferent piece of literature
than the Tanakh, the Torah andthe, and wonders, despite an
oppressive regime.
To me it's just a testament ofthe truth, of the gospel, and I
(11:11):
think it's a testament to thepower of the body of Christ is
that when we, as Christians andas followers of Jesus, choose to
make it our business to spreadthe good news and to live a life
that's worthy of the gospel, wefind the Holy Spirit really
actively doing work.
Speaker 5 (11:30):
Well, I think what's happening there is actually
representative of what'shappening in the Islamic world.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
Don Schenk serves as executive director of the Tide
Ministry.
He explains how Muslims areexperiencing dreams and visions
leading many to find purpose anda different understanding of
God.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
We get responses from listeners who say you know, now
I understand that God loves me.
I always thought that Godwanted to punish me and I think
there's an awakening, as I said,that's taking place across the
Muslim world.
An awakening, as I said, thatis taking place across the
Muslim world.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Schenck states that Tide Ministry radio broadcasts
are receiving positive responsesin Afghanistan, where the
Taliban pose great danger forthose seeking information from
secret Christians within thecountry, there's a lot of
suspicion.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
So for those of you who don't know, in Afghanistan
they also speak Farsi, so thisis the reason why the broadcasts
are working there.
I'm not sure if most peopleknew that, but Afghanistan is a
Farsi-speaking country.
Pakistan they speak Urduprimarily, but in Afghanistan
they speak Farsi, and Farsi isthe language of the Iranians, of
(12:41):
the Persians, so that's whythat's working.
That's amazing that that'sworking.
One of the things that I thinkis interesting to me is the
again, the miracles, signs andwonders, the dreams and visions.
For us that live in the West andthe post-modern Western world.
I think that we struggle withthe idea of God speaking to us
in what we would callsupernatural ways, because we
(13:02):
have the enlightenment, we haveintellectualism, we have logic
and reason, so we are moreinterested in the practical
applications of scripture.
It's like it's become like aself-help program.
Jesus and his teachings are howdo I use the Bible to better my
life?
Not how do I use the word ofGod to transform my life.
(13:24):
How do I surrender my life tothe Holy Spirit so that I can be
transformed and made anew?
And for people that aredesperate and in dire situations
and really, really need atransformation, god shows up,
the miraculous happens in thoseplaces, whereas we don't see
those kinds of things happeningin America, because we're
(13:44):
depending on ourselves to makethings happen, even for those of
us that call ourselvesChristians.
Right, because if I have money,well, I can just go buy, I can
go fix the problem with money, Ican go get a credit card, I can
go, you know, I can go gethealing from a doctor.
I don't have to pray for it, Idon't have to pray for myself to
be released from prison,because I can just go post bail
if I need to right Like.
(14:04):
There's so many things that wecan do in America that we don't
think it requires God, which isthe reason why we don't get to
see some of these things thatare happening that we would call
supernatural, whereas in aplace like Iran they need God's
help they really do because theycan do nothing, because the
strain of Islam is around theirneck so tight that it's
(14:26):
difficult to even breathe, toeven move, and so they have to
call out and seek miracles forthings to occur, and that's
where you see the Holy Spiritshowing up, and it's a wonderful
and beautiful thing.
Speaker 5 (14:37):
If I'm going to meet with these people and share that
I'm now a believer.
Are they really true believersor are they just trying to
identify me?
It's more than simply beingostracized or disowned by your
family.
It is actually the threat ofdeath.
So accepting new life in Christmeans accepting the possibility
(15:01):
of your life ending in thisworld.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
Christianity is also spreading in Yemen, where the
Joshua Project reports Christiangrowth is almost double the
global average.
Next door Nettleton sees theSaudi Arabian monarchy becoming
a bit more tolerant ofChristians and their churches.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Not necessarily welcoming, but with open arms
obviously.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
OK, so that's crazy, I've got a comment right.
So I mentioned Yemen earlier,not necessarily welcoming, but
with open arms.
Obviously.
Look at the, the haplogroupmarkers, the, the genome of a
lot of yemenis.
They are descendants of the 12tribes.
But because once again islamwith a sword came through and
pretty much forced conversion,because in in the quran it's you
(15:56):
know, either you uh convert toislam or you uh die, or you pay
the jizya, which is a tax ifyou're, if you going to, and
they would just tax terribly theJews and the Christians.
It's another form ofhumiliation and embarrassment.
And they would do this allthroughout the places where they
conquered, all throughoutnorthern Africa, into the
(16:19):
Arabian Peninsula, allthroughout the Iberian Peninsula
, which is Spain and Portugalpeninsula, all throughout the
Iberian peninsula, which isSpain and Portugal.
And then you know east going,going east into into Asia, which
is where you have all the youknow stands right, turkmenistan
and Kazakhstan, and you knowAfghanistan, pakistan, all the
stands Right.
So Islam spread in these placesand it smashed everything out.
(16:40):
It was in its wake.
But there's a lot of ethnicallyIsraeli well, not Israeli.
Israeli is a nation state butthere are descendants of the 12
tribes.
There are Yemeni Jews there,but they are Muslims, so it's
interesting that you see thatfaith is spreading in Yemen.
There's one thing, too, that Ithink is interesting is that you
notice that the thread ofdeception and how the enemy
(17:03):
operates, how he's alwaysparticipating in espionage, that
there's always this fear of issomebody going to be
perpetrating or or gallivantingaround like they're a Christian
so that they can entrap you.
There's these stories thathappen like this.
It's the same tactics that theenemy uses in China as in Iran.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
But just the understanding that that it could
happen, that there could beChristians here, and maybe
that's not the worst thing inthe world.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
That's such a change from what we would have seen 10
or 15 or 20 years ago, a move ofGod's spirit bringing change
that may eventually transformnot only Iran but the entire
Middle East.
Gary Lane.
Cbn News.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Wow, that's amazing.
So there's another scripturethat comes to my mind.
It's in Revelations 2, verse 10.
It says this Do not be afraidof what you are about to suffer.
I tell you, the devil will putsome of you in prison to test
you, and you will sufferpersecution for 10 days.
Be faithful, even to the pointof death, and I will give you
(18:13):
life as your victor's crown.
So, as we kind of close todayfor today's episode, the thing
that I really want tocommunicate is that in the body
of Christ, boldness is required.
If you're going to follow Jesus, there has to be a courage that
the Spirit gives you, no matterwhere you're living, no matter
(18:34):
if it's in China or Iran orGreat Britain or if you're
living here in the US.
Be bold in your faith,recognize that you made the
right decision, despite what'shappening on around you,
circumstantially in your life,how difficult things get, how
hard they are, just know thatthe holy spirit is with you,
(18:55):
that god is with you, thattransformation is occurring, and
the harder things get, and themore you lean on him, the more
of his spirit pours out and themore power you see.
And that is how the gospelspreads You've been listening to
Equipped for Life.
I'm your host, brandon C Ricks.
I hope you enjoyed this episode.
(19:16):
God bless and be strong on yourjourney, peace.
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