Faith in Iran

Iranians Turn "Massively" To Christianity, Despite Execution Threats


Added: Sep 3rd, 2007 3:39 AM


By BosNewsLife Special Reporting Unit



TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife) -- Despite reported execution threats and
police abuse, Iranians "massively" turn to Christianity, fueling an
"unprecedented" demand for Persian Bibles and New Testaments,
BosNewsLife learned from Iranian sources Saturday, September 1.



The International Antioch Ministries (IAM), which supports Iranian
Christian churches, said the number of Christians in Iran "is growing
fast" with "current estimates" varying "from 500,000 to as high as one
million."



IAM said the development has led to massive "requests for
Iranian-language Bibles, particularly by new believers." Iranian
Christians, including new converts, "are contacting the ministry
through IAM’s 24-hour satellite television network, Iranian Christian
TV (ICTV), but the requests are more than the ministry can fulfill,"
IAM said in a statement.



"During our daily two-hour, live, call-in evangelistic TV broadcasts,
we receive constant requests for Bibles from both Christian and Muslim
television viewers which, at this point, we are not able to fulfill,"
said IAM Presient Hormoz Shariat.



DISTRIBUTION DIFFICULT



However distributing and obtaining Bibles has been made difficult by
Iran's feared religious police, IAM and other sources have said.
Iranian officials have confiscated Bibles and printing Bibles is
illegal in Iran. "Yet demand for the Gospel is increasing
exponentially," in the Islamic nation, IAM said, despite apparent
dangers.



Iran's theocratic regime strictly forbids "the proselytizing" of
Muslims and targets any citizens believed to have abandoned Islam,
human rights watchers say. Under Iran’s strict interpretation of
Islamic law, anyone who leaves Islam for another religion has committed
a capital offense and could be executed.



IAM has begun a campaign with other Christian groups to raise money and
awareness about the lack of Bibles in Iran. Reports of the spread of
Christianity comes amid growing uncertainty among Iranians about their
future as its leadership continues a controversial nuclear program.



COOPERATION DEAL



On Saturday, September 1, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Mohamed
Elbaradei, said, a cooperation deal struck last month between Iran and
his agency offers Tehran "what may be its last chance to come clean"
about its atomic program.



Under the deal, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) and Tehran agreed on a rough timetable for addressing lingering
concerns about Iran's nuclear activities, Reuters news agency reported
from Berlin, Germany.



There was a brief moment of joy last week however when Osnabrueck
Symphony Orchestra, a 60-member ensemble from Germany, performed two
nights in Tehran for hundreds of enthusiastic Iranians who rarely get
the chance to hear live Western music.



Music gradually made a comeback in Iran in the 1990s under reformist
President Mohammad Khatami, when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad replaced him in
2005, the new hard-line president banned state radio and television
from playing Western music. The ban has not been universally followed,
but live Western concerts have largely been absent under Ahmadinejad's
rule, a reality bemoaned by many audience members, The Associated Press
news agency said.



Copyright 2007 BosNewsLife. All rights reserved.

For all of you who are aware, I lost contact with a woman in Iran, a few months back. I have heard nothing from her, and am extremely worried about her and her family.

May Christ reign in Iran and throughout the entire world as the only truth known to man!