In the wake of the targeted strikes by the US and Israel on Iran’s leadership Christians should not miss the opportunity to intercede for the Iranian people and to partner with what God is doing in the nation, said Brother Marko Kiroglu, a South African-based missionary currently serving in Armenia.
After suffering 47 years of political and religious enslavement under and Islamist regime that used the people’s money and human resources to build weapons and seek to destroy Israel, the Iranian people were more open to the Gospel of Jesus Christ than ever before, he said.
“So this is a very important moment where Christians can start purposefully interceding for all the Iranian people to meet the true Prince of Peace Jesus Christ. And secondly, Christians in South Africa can look for ways in which they can meaningfully get involved in the mission of reaching out to the Iranian people.”
“They can always reach out to me for that and I will try my best to put them in contact with various churches here in Armenia that are now reaching out to Iranian people,” he said. Marko and his wife Elzeth have for the past six months been ministering in Armenia, a Christian nation which borders on Iran and which is a strategic safe haven for people seeking refuge from repressive nations in the region.
He said many Iranians in Armenia want to go back to Iran as soon as possible. “We will send them back as make-sure believers, not as baby Christians, so that they can go and make a difference.”
Marko said he believed the exposure of the evil and bloodlust of the regime whose massacre of thousands of peaceful citizen protesters preceded the Israeli-US attacks that began on Saturday, resulting in the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, is causing Muslim’s throughout the Middle East and beyond to question the validity of their religion.
Anybody interested in making contact with Marko can email him at marko@countdowntochrist.com, visit his website at www.countdowntochrist.com or call him at +27 79 476 5335.
Dr Hormoz Shariat a Muslim-background Christian and founder of Iran Alive Ministries which broadcasts the Gospel across the Middle East told Crosswalk that he believes that only 10 to 15% of Iranians supported the regime. He said regime change was coming. He could not say how soon but believed it would be sudden.
“Iranians love America, admire America. They love Israel. They admire Israel. And they want to [have] a democracy American-style. So be ready. … Very soon – Iran, Israel, and the U.S. will be close friends.”
He said that since 2001, Iran Alive Ministries had documented more than 120 000 salvations in Iran in spite of government opposition and persecution.
He said his ultimate hope is a new government that guarantees religious freedom – a change he says would open the door to widespread church planting across the country.
“When [the] Iranian government falls, we have a plan. It’s very possible that we will be able to plant tens – maybe hundreds of churches – in the first three to four months.”
He urged Christians around the world to pray for Iran.
“The massacre that happened last month opened the heavens in Iran for a new number of Iranians to come to Christ,” he said. “I’ve seen that. I’ve seen a new surge in the number of salvations just the last two months – people who used to be fanatical Muslims. They saw this massacre, they [said], ‘Islam is not the way. I’m not going to follow it.’”
Iranian Christians welcome military action
Christian Today reports that a global network of Iranian Christians has welcomed the US and Israel military action in Iran.
The group said that they “rejoice” in the news that Khamenei, died in Saturday’s strikes, saying that he had led a “terrorist regime” and was responsible for the deaths of countless protesters.
“Khamenei was directly responsible for the recent brutal crackdown of the uprising in Iran,” they said.
“He was also directly responsible for the oppression of Christians, many of whom were forced to flee the country and several remain in prisons with long-term prison sentences.”
They called on world leaders to support the US’s military action against Iran and help to rebuild the country.
“Our hope and prayer is for the Islamic Republic leaders to surrender to the Iranian people and allow for the safe return of the exiled Iranians in the diaspora including but not limited to Prince Reza Pahlavi and for a safe transition of power and the establishment of a democratic government where the state is separate from religion and everyone would be equal before the law; where freedom of religion will be guaranteed and Iran will retain its territorial boundaries,” they said.
Open Doors, a Christian NGO which tracks persecution worldwide, told Relevant it estimates there are roughly 800 000 Christians in Iran, many of them converts who worship in underground house churches because public expression of their faith can bring surveillance, arrest or prison.
Ryan Brown, CEO of Open Doors US said one anonymous source described the tension Iranian Christians are holding: grief over what war does to ordinary people and a deep longing for a life not ruled by fear.
“As an Iranian and as a Christian, I speak with a heavy heart,” the source said. “I do not celebrate war, nor do I take lightly the suffering it brings to ordinary families — in Iran, in Israel and across the region. Every life is precious before God. Yet as an Iranian, I also cannot ignore the deep longing for freedom that has lived in the hearts of our people for generations.
“If this painful moment becomes a turning point toward justice and true liberty, then my prayer is that it leads not to greater destruction, but to the restoration of dignity, hope and peace,” he continued. “As followers of Christ, we pray for the protection of the innocent, for restraint among leaders, and for a future where Iran and the region may know freedom without fear. May God bring light out of darkness and peace out of turmoil.”
Lana Silk of Transform Iran told Charisma Media that she believes the number of Christians in Iran is over a million — up from an estimated 500 at the start of the Iranian Revolution in 1979 which turned the country from a secular monarchy into a Muslim theocracy. Iran’s total population is estimated to be 90 million.
Lana said that many Iranians, deeply spiritual by nature, began searching for truth after becoming disillusioned with the regime’s promises. What they are finding is not merely a new philosophy, but supernatural encounters with Jesus Himself, she said.
Prayer requests from Iranian believers
Global Christian Relief asked two Iranian Christians, both former political prisoners, how Christians should pray for Iran.
*Farid, an Iranian Christian man who was imprisoned and tortured because of his faith and involvement in evangelism, said that the US and Israeli military action has moved the nation to a turning point but they did not yet have freedom. (* names changed)
His prayer requests are:
Pray for those still in prison.
Pray that the wall will fall, as the Berlin Wall once did.
Pray that Iranians of every belief will one day live without fear.
*Laleh, an Iranian Christian woman who has lived in exile for 10 years, described this moment as deeply contradictory.
“Confusion, fear, anger, grief,” she said. “But also relief.”
She described people feeling joy and rage in the same moment. Some feel hopeful. Others fear what instability might unleash. Many are anxious about what comes next.
And yet beneath it all, she described something quieter. Anticipation. A belief that one day Iranians may walk freely through their cities again. That they may show their country to their children without shame or fear.
Global Christian Relief urged Christians to pray as follows:
Pray for protection over believers inside Iran.
Pray for those imprisoned for their faith.
Pray for wisdom in whatever transition may come.
Pray that true peace, not just political change, would take root.
We are one Church. One family.
Testimony of Gospel moving beneath headlines
In a moving testimony of how, beneath the headlines, the Gospel is still moving, Global Christian relief shared the story of a woman named *Bita – a believer inside Iran who quietly shared her faith with two nurses in the middle of national turmoil.
Bita* leads a house church and shares the Gospel in a deeply religious Iranian city.
In January, Bita and her 17-year-old daughter joined public protests in their city. As security forces moved to suppress the demonstrations, police fired small pellets into the crowds. Bita’s daughter was struck in the leg.
Hospitals had been ordered to close by the authorities, so Bita had no choice but to leave the city to find medical help. After hours of driving, they reached another city, where Bita contacted two nurses and asked them to come treat her daughter’s wounds.
It was a traumatic and uncertain time. Bita didn’t know what would happen next. She didn’t know if they were safe.
But even in the midst of fear and pain, Bita shared the Gospel with the two nurses.
Both women responded and put their faith in Jesus. During the time Bita and her daughter remained in that city, she baptised them.
After her daughter recovered, they returned home. And just recently, five more people came to Christ through Bita’s ministry.
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