Most of you know that I traveled to Iran with a group from my church last summer. I received an email today about increased persecution faced by our Iranian brothers and sisters. Please read the information before and join me in PRAYER and FASTING November 21-23rd. This is the exact message from the Iranian church:
In response to a year of persecution and the imminent
passing of a law making the death sentence mandatory for all Muslim men
who turn to Christ and life imprisonment for Muslim women who turn to Christ,
Iranian church leaders are calling for prayer and fasting November 21 – 23rd
2008.
They know they have no influence in the courts of men – but they
want to take their case to the courts of heaven.
And like Esther of old, the queen of Iran who told Mordecai to
ask all the people of God to pray and fast for three days, so Iranian Christian
leaders are asking the world-wide church to also set aside these three days for
prayer and fasting.
If you are a prayer leader in your church, please contact other
intercessors to be involved in these three days, and please approach your
pastor to see if special prayers for Iran can be made at your church service on
Sunday November 23rd.
2008: YEAR OF INTIMIDATION FOR CHRISTIANS IN IRAN
The growing church in Iran is under attack. Since April there
have been at least fifty three arrests of people whose only crime is their
faith in Jesus Christ. The arrests are not localised, but have happened in all
of Iran’s major cities…Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Shiraz, Kerman, and elsewhere.
Sometimes people have been released the same day, others spent months in
prison, some still remain behind bars. Many of them have had to pay exorbitant
fees for bail and face frightening court cases. Some have suffered physically
while in detention and it is believed that one elderly couple died as a result
of being beaten up. These are only the arrests that get reported: it is
likely there have been many more.
All of this has been happening against the ominous background of
legislation going through the Iranian parliament that will make the death
sentence mandatory for any man who leaves Islam and chooses another faith.
Women will face life imprisonment for the same ‘crime’. Click here to read more about this legislation.
Despite the persecution, the church in Iran continues to grow
rapidly. The Word of God is reaching many in the country and many
believers are determined to courageously share Christ with their countrymen.
Christian leaders in Iran believe that the church will continue to grow very
rapidly in the next five to ten years, such is the openness of Iranians to the
Gospel.
Elam Ministries urges Christians, world wide to pray and fast on
behalf of the church in Iran.
·
Pray for
all those who have been arrested and intimidated. Pray that the Lord will
be their Rock, Deliverer and Shield. (Psalm 18:2)
·
Pray
that despite the persecution, Christians will be “encouraged to speak the Word
of God more courageously and fearlessly.” (Phil 1:14)
·
Pray
against the law of apostasy. Pray that the severe mandatory punishments
regarding apostasy in Iran’s new penal code will not enter the statute book.
Pray that many millions of Muslims will see the evil of this law and will
hunger for spiritual truth and salvation.
OVERVIEW OF INTIMIDATION*
April, Amol, Mazandaran: a Christian husband and his pregnant
wife are arrested. The wife is released after three days, the husband not till
the end of May and only when he had secured his bail with his home. He has to
face charges in court.
May 11th, Shiraz: Homayon Gholamzadeh
and his wife Fariba and Amir Hussein Anari, and his wife Fatemeh, were arrested
at the airport and taken directly to jail. All were questioned about their
faith and church involvement. The wives were released the same day, but Anari
was not released till May 14th, and Gholamzadeh not till May 22nd. The same day
Allaedin Hossein, his wife and three children were arrested, their home
searched, and computers and books confiscated. All were released apart from the
eldest son, Mujtaba Hussein, aged 21. He was kept in prison till June 3rd and then only
released on $20,000 bail.
May 13th, Shiraz: Mahmood Matin and
Arash Bandari, were arrested while walking in a park. Both were kept in
solitary confinement till July 15th, when they were placed in a cell
together.
May 31st, Tehran: Police arrest forty
four year old Mohsen Namvar and confiscated his computer. Mohsen was in prison
in 2007 when he was beaten so badly he could hardly walk. No reason was given
for this second arrest. He was released on June 27th with high fever and
shaking hands. He refuses to talk to his wife about his treatment. The family
had to pay the security forces $43,000 for bail – and received no receipt. In
early July they fled Iran as refugees.
June 3rd, Tehran: Christian couple,
Tina Rad and Makan Arya were arrested and interrogated for holding Bible
studies with Muslims. During their four day ordeal both were badly beaten up
and the authorities threatened to put their four year old daughter into an
institution. They had to raise a total of $50,000 to be released on bail.
July 12th, Tehran:. Mohsen Radfar
arrested travelling to the city.
July 12th, Kerman: Twelve Christians
are arrested at the airport on their way to a conference. While being
questioned their homes are searched. They are released the same day.
July 17th, Isfahan: Sixteen Christians,
including six women and two minors, arrested during a service. The elderly
hosts of the meeting, Abbas Amiri and Sakineh Rahnama were so badly beaten that
both later died: Abbas on July 30th, his wife on August 3rd.
Early August, Shiraz: Mahmood Matin Azad and Arash Basirat,
imprisoned in Shiraz since May 13th, are formally charged with apostasy,
which carries the death sentence.
August 8th, Kerman: A Christian couple,
Dariush and Shireen, are arrested.
August 12th, Arak: Shahin Zanboori is
arrested and suffered beatings while in prison as authorities attempted to find
out the names of other believers. He was released on August 31st, but faces a court
case.
Mid August, Mashad: A Christian, Iman Rashidi, is arrested.
August 21st, Mashad: Ramtin Soodmand,
minister of the Evangelical Church, is imprisoned. Ramtin is the son of
martyred Revd Hossein Soodmand who was hanged in 1990 for being an apostate
from Islam. Ramtin’s mother is blind.
September 22nd, Urumieh: Assyrian Evangelical
Minister, Revd. S. Yadegar and another Christian man are arrested and held in
prison charged with evangelizing.
September 23rd, Shiraz: All the charges
against Mahmood Matin Azad and Arash Basirat are dropped and they are released.
September 28th, Urumieh: A Christian man,
Sobhan, is arrested.
October 20th, Mashad: Fereshteh Dibaj and
her husband Amir Montazami, who were arrested and held last year, are
threatened again by the court that they could be imprisoned. Fereshteh Dibaj is
the daughter of Mehdi Dibaj who was imprisoned for nine years for his Christian
faith. He was sentenced to death for apostasy in 1993, but was released after
international pressure, only to be murdered in the summer of 1994.
October 22nd, Mashad: Ramtin Soodmand
freed.
* Main sources: Compass Direct, FCNN
NEW PENAL CODE – MANDATORY DEATH FOR
CONVERTS
This intimidation of Christians has been happening while
parliament has been revising Iran’s penal code whereby death for male converts
will be mandatory. Articles 225-8 of the new code bluntly states that
punishment for a male apostate is ‘death’ and for a female it is life
imprisonment – unless she re-cants. In a similar way that Nazis argued over the
definition of a Jew, so this code has special clauses for ‘parental’ and
‘innate’ apostates. The former have three days to recant; the latter none. Such
details do nothing to hide the fundamental injustice of a law that seeks to
ferociously punish its citizens for choosing their own religion.
Up to now the death sentence has been available as a punishment
for apostasy from Islam in Iran, but individual judges could use their
discretion. However the word used in this new legislation is ‘hadd’ which means
this is a fixed punishment that cannot be changed, reduced, or annulled.
This proposed bill also introduces a new crime into Iran’s
statute book – ‘establishing weblogs and sites promoting corruption,
prostitution and apostasy’ Those found guilty could be punished with death or
the amputation of their arms and legs.
The new Penal Code was approved by the Iranian parliament by 196
– 7 votes on September 9th and is now being reviewed before it is sent back to
parliament for another vote, and then to the Guardian Council for its final
consent. It will then become law.
From the human perspective it is inevitable that this new penal
code will become law, so threatening the lives not just of thousands of
Christians from Muslim backgrounds, but any believer who wants to witness to
the fact that Jesus Christ is the only Savior, for this is ‘promoting
apostasy’.
As in the days of the early church, when Peter was put in
prison, there can still be a but…
So Peter was put in prison, but the church was earnestly
praying…
Please start praying now, and put November 21st – 23rd in your
diaries for praying and fasting.
