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IT’S GOD’S HOUR FOR IRAN
IT’S GOD’S HOUR FOR IRAN
More Iranians have come to Christ in the last 20years than in the last 14 centuries.
In what some scholars believe is the home-land of the “wisemen†mentioned in the biblical account f Jesus’ birth, modern Iranians find themselves on t journey similar to the ancient Magi’s. They too are searching.
A lone trucker drove his vehicle into a remote forest near Turkmenistan border in northern Iran. He wasn’t making a delivery or stopping to take a nap. He was planning to commit suicide. By accident he knocked a dashboard switch and the truck’s radio crackled to life. A Christian broadcaster was talking about the gospel in the indigenous Farsi language. Tears flowing down his cheeks, the truck driver surrendered to Christ.
More than 100 people were taking part in a chat room on the Internet. One person asked, “IS anyone interested to know why Jesus is GOD?†The comment was met with some derision-until someone asked why the question had been posed. “Because Jesus has changed my Lifeâ€Â, came the answer. The two Web surfers kept in touch. Two weeks later they met at a park in Tehran, the Iranian capital. The inquirer turned out to be an Islamic scholar, seeking to know Christ.
“You can take all sorts of people from all walks of life-from prostitutes to truck drivers to university lectures-and you find that GOD is touching them," says Lazarus Yeghnazar, an Iranian-born evangelist now based in Great Britain. From his home in the leafy back roads of a small English town Yeghnaza, 55, is part of a massive gospel movement that reportedly is seeing “thousands upon thousands†of such conversions.
He directs a church-planting agency called 222 Ministries, a media organization know a Iranian Christian Broadcasting, and a Christian charitable foundation, Ark Trust. It was though the Ark Trust that help was sent to support relief work after an earthquake on December 26, 2003, devastated the ancient Iranian city Bam.
Christians were among the first on the scene to assist survivors. “Even the government, press and TV were appreciative of how quickly the local church responded,†Yeghnazar says, “Despite their shortage of finances, the church responded by collecting money.†An American ministry set up a kitchen, and Iranian Christians supplied the manpower. Together they fed 3.000 people after the earthquake-and, according to Yeghnazar, met with an astonishing response among the locals.
The Muslims often would respond with tears and hugs when they discovered their rescuer were Christians. They would then ask for prayer†in the name of Issa (Jesus).
Such breakthroughs are occurring after centuries of prayer, Yeghnazar believes “In the last 20 years, more Iranians have come to Christ compared to the last 14 centuries,†he says. “We’ve never seen such a phenomenal thirst. He had his own divine visitation in Iran when he was at age 6 he experienced, with the rest of his family, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Others joined the household in their spiritual journey, until all together they formed the first Farsi-speaking Pentecostal church in the country since the 15th century. When he was in his early 20s, Yeghnazar was ordained as an elder at the Central Assemblies of God Church in Tehran. He has served two brief prison sentences because of his “extreme efforts in evangelism-both during a so-called era of freedom when the Shah of Iran, rather than Muslim clerics, ruled the country. Yeghnazar and his wife, Maggie, left Iran in 1988 and settled in the United Kingdom. He has not visited his homeland since a close friend of his, a key Pentecostal leader in the country, was martyred 10 years ago-becoming one of several pastors who have paid the ultimate price for their allegiance to Christ. Constitutionally, the rights of other religions are guaranteed but closely monitored. Christian proselytism is forbidden. The 1990s saw server persecution-ironically, in the historical homeland of the wise men who visited baby Jesus.
Though mass media such as the Internet radio, television and even films, Yeghnazar and his teams are sharing the Christian message to Farsi-speaking people across the globe. They are propelled by a strong prophetic vision. “I believe that this phenomenon (will) even snowball into a major avalanche,†Yeghnazar says," This is still a rain. This is not yet the avalanche coming … but it will be happening very, very soon.†He believes a “massive opening,†spiritually speaking, exists in Iran today. His conviction is supported by the findings of mission researchers Patrick Johnstone and Jason Mandryk.
In their Operation World prayer guide, they point out the weaknesses of Iran’s Islamic revolution that deposed the Shah 1979. “Twenty years of anti-western, anti-Christian propaganda has opened many Muslim to seek for alternatives to Islam,†they wrie. “Iranians are more open to the gospel than ever before.†When you witness Yeghnazar opening some of the evangelistic: Web sites he has helped construct-as well as telling some of the stories behind the statistics-you start to believe his dream, too.
IT’S GOD’S HOUR FOR IRAN
More Iranians have come to Christ in the last 20years than in the last 14 centuries.
In what some scholars believe is the home-land of the “wisemen†mentioned in the biblical account f Jesus’ birth, modern Iranians find themselves on t journey similar to the ancient Magi’s. They too are searching.
A lone trucker drove his vehicle into a remote forest near Turkmenistan border in northern Iran. He wasn’t making a delivery or stopping to take a nap. He was planning to commit suicide. By accident he knocked a dashboard switch and the truck’s radio crackled to life. A Christian broadcaster was talking about the gospel in the indigenous Farsi language. Tears flowing down his cheeks, the truck driver surrendered to Christ.
More than 100 people were taking part in a chat room on the Internet. One person asked, “IS anyone interested to know why Jesus is GOD?†The comment was met with some derision-until someone asked why the question had been posed. “Because Jesus has changed my Lifeâ€Â, came the answer. The two Web surfers kept in touch. Two weeks later they met at a park in Tehran, the Iranian capital. The inquirer turned out to be an Islamic scholar, seeking to know Christ.
“You can take all sorts of people from all walks of life-from prostitutes to truck drivers to university lectures-and you find that GOD is touching them," says Lazarus Yeghnazar, an Iranian-born evangelist now based in Great Britain. From his home in the leafy back roads of a small English town Yeghnaza, 55, is part of a massive gospel movement that reportedly is seeing “thousands upon thousands†of such conversions.
He directs a church-planting agency called 222 Ministries, a media organization know a Iranian Christian Broadcasting, and a Christian charitable foundation, Ark Trust. It was though the Ark Trust that help was sent to support relief work after an earthquake on December 26, 2003, devastated the ancient Iranian city Bam.
Christians were among the first on the scene to assist survivors. “Even the government, press and TV were appreciative of how quickly the local church responded,†Yeghnazar says, “Despite their shortage of finances, the church responded by collecting money.†An American ministry set up a kitchen, and Iranian Christians supplied the manpower. Together they fed 3.000 people after the earthquake-and, according to Yeghnazar, met with an astonishing response among the locals.
The Muslims often would respond with tears and hugs when they discovered their rescuer were Christians. They would then ask for prayer†in the name of Issa (Jesus).
Such breakthroughs are occurring after centuries of prayer, Yeghnazar believes “In the last 20 years, more Iranians have come to Christ compared to the last 14 centuries,†he says. “We’ve never seen such a phenomenal thirst. He had his own divine visitation in Iran when he was at age 6 he experienced, with the rest of his family, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Others joined the household in their spiritual journey, until all together they formed the first Farsi-speaking Pentecostal church in the country since the 15th century. When he was in his early 20s, Yeghnazar was ordained as an elder at the Central Assemblies of God Church in Tehran. He has served two brief prison sentences because of his “extreme efforts in evangelism-both during a so-called era of freedom when the Shah of Iran, rather than Muslim clerics, ruled the country. Yeghnazar and his wife, Maggie, left Iran in 1988 and settled in the United Kingdom. He has not visited his homeland since a close friend of his, a key Pentecostal leader in the country, was martyred 10 years ago-becoming one of several pastors who have paid the ultimate price for their allegiance to Christ. Constitutionally, the rights of other religions are guaranteed but closely monitored. Christian proselytism is forbidden. The 1990s saw server persecution-ironically, in the historical homeland of the wise men who visited baby Jesus.
Though mass media such as the Internet radio, television and even films, Yeghnazar and his teams are sharing the Christian message to Farsi-speaking people across the globe. They are propelled by a strong prophetic vision. “I believe that this phenomenon (will) even snowball into a major avalanche,†Yeghnazar says," This is still a rain. This is not yet the avalanche coming … but it will be happening very, very soon.†He believes a “massive opening,†spiritually speaking, exists in Iran today. His conviction is supported by the findings of mission researchers Patrick Johnstone and Jason Mandryk.
In their Operation World prayer guide, they point out the weaknesses of Iran’s Islamic revolution that deposed the Shah 1979. “Twenty years of anti-western, anti-Christian propaganda has opened many Muslim to seek for alternatives to Islam,†they wrie. “Iranians are more open to the gospel than ever before.†When you witness Yeghnazar opening some of the evangelistic: Web sites he has helped construct-as well as telling some of the stories behind the statistics-you start to believe his dream, too.