It's actually a relatively new term. To say "Iranian" and "Christians" together when referring to the ethnic Persian majority of that nation, and not to the ancient Armenian Christian minority, is really something amazing. The fact is, tens of thousands of Iranians inside Iran are now professing to follow Jesus, and perhaps hundreds of thousands outside of Iran. Because of this, we can now begin to speak of a new expression of Christianity arising that is authentically Persian (for more on this, have a look at Abu Daoud's article on Iranian Christianity). However, as expected, there is a major backlash coming from the Islamic government in Iran. The following video will help you get an idea of how to pray for our Iranian brothers and sisters who are suffering for their faith in Christ. We need to pray particularly for Yousef Nadarkhani, a pastor with a wife and 2 young children who is facing the death penalty if he does not recant, as well as for Farshid Fathi, who has been in prison since December of 2010. Our prayers for Yousef are very urgent, as his case, which is filled with intentional ambiguity on the part of the Iranian Islamic courts, is at a critical phase where he could be killed or released any day now. Let us pray for him to have the peace of God to hold on to his faith in the face of hanging.
Related Posts:
Three Reasons the Church in Iran is Growing
Pray for Farshid and our Iranian Brothers and Sisters
Related Posts:
Three Reasons the Church in Iran is Growing
Pray for Farshid and our Iranian Brothers and Sisters
Thought you might be interested in this recent publication on the topic of the Iranian Church.
ReplyDeletehttp://nazsem.blogspot.com/2012/01/duane-alexander-miller-on-iranian.html