You have a country with one of the highest drug addiction rates in the world. You have a country where corruption runs rampant. You have a country where more than half the people live below the poverty line and the people of Iran are looking at this and they’re saying wait a minute if this is what Islam has brought us in the last 45 years we’re not interested. We want to know what the other options are. Good news from Iran a million new Christian believers. The Christian Broadcasting Network found also in 2018 that Christianity is growing faster in the Islamic Republic of Iran than in any other country.

This trend results from the extreme form of Shiite Islam imposed by the theocratic regime. An Iranian church leader explained in 2019 what if I told you the mosques are empty inside Iran? What if I told you no one follows Islam inside of Iran? What if I told you the best evangelist for Jesus was the Ayatollah Khomeini founder of the Islamic Republic. In 2020 a Netherlands based secular research group Gaiman did a survey and found that there were over a million Muslims who have now put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

Further research into the house church movement in Iran reveals that there are most likely several million people in Iran who now would profess themselves to be Christians. What we are seeing in Iran is a radical wave of liberty coming to the people and this is no surprise. The Bible prophesies that where people put their trust in Jesus Christ there is liberty. Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. This is one of the main reasons why I believe that Iranians are becoming fed up with the government regime in Iran and leaving Islam in droves.

This is why we’re seeing literally tens of thousands of mosques in Iran close their doors. 50,000 mosques have closed in Iran are Iranian seeking truth outside of Islam. Mohammed Abu Ghassam Dallabi a senior cleric for Iranian president Ebrahim Rasi delivered a speech to a group of religious students in which he stated that 50,000 of Iran’s 75,000 mosques have closed their doors. In his speech which took place last June during the celebration of Imam Reza, a descendant of the Muslim prophet Muhammad, Dallabi primarily led the blame for the mosque closures on a lack of government funding.

However he also indicated that Muslims were deserting mosques for other reasons. Risking it all for new faith in Christ. Worldwide Muslims who leave their faith are considered apostates and according to the Quran they must be killed if they refuse to return to Islam. Regardless of the danger our next guest contends Iranian officials report so many Muslims are now coming to Christ in Iran they’ve been forced to shut down 50,000 of 75,000 mosques. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire therefore by their fruits you will know them.

It’s very easy to see that the fruit of Islam is completely corrupt wherever that religion goes war and devastation and oppression follows. One of the most recent demonstrations of this is a new bill that’s looking to be passed in Iraq. Proposed bill amendment in Iraq could allow girls as young as nine to marry. This sadly is of no surprise since Muhammad himself was married to a nine-year-old. Evil like this is the reason why Islam is falling apart. Most importantly on a spiritual level but also on a governmental regime level as well.

In more than 40 cities throughout Iran its citizens are calling for regime change with cries like death to the dictator and our enemy is not America. The great news is that the Muslims who are leaving Islam in many cases are running to the truth found in Jesus Christ alone. Let’s talk about the underground church in Iran how fast is it growing? It’s growing incredibly fast some would say it’s the fastest growing church in the world I’ve heard figures such as 20% growth rate per year what we do know is that it’s growing and it’s healthy and Iranians are looking for an alternative because at their heart Iranians are not secular people they are spiritual people they believe in God they believe in a creator and they want relationship with him they’ve tried it with Islam they’ve seen what it’s done to their lives and they’re looking for something better and they’re finding Jesus.

God is so good not only working on these different levels to expose the terrible corruption that follows Islam but he’s also giving supernatural dreams and visions to many Muslims all across the Middle East. Missionaries report Muslims meeting Jesus in dreams in levels we have never seen in 1,400 years two assembly of God missionaries are sharing multiple firsthand testimonies of Muslims coming to the Christian faith after encountering Jesus Christ in their dreams I would even say it’s the normal experience it would be accurate to say that Muslims are responding to Jesus in levels we have never seen not in 1,400 years.

In many Middle Eastern countries it’s illegal to share the Christian message so what is God doing he’s bringing dreams about Jesus to these people this is a phenomenon that is sweeping the Middle East I’ll give you an example the woman named Noor mother of eight Muslim lives in Cairo one night she has a Jesus dream it’s the most profound vivid dream unlike any other she’s ever had and Jesus appears to her she feels the love and the grace and forgiveness and the kindness of Jesus just radiating from him and she’s overwhelmed by she’s never felt anything like it they’re walking along a lake and she says Jesus tell me more about you he says my friend will tell you a guy was walking with them along the lakeside the next day she goes to the crowded marketplace in Cairo she sees the man from her dream she goes up to him you you were in my dreams you were the man in my dreams and he said did you have a dream about Jesus here’s a beautiful testimony of a former ISIS leader who had an experience with Jesus Christ in his jail cell and put his faith and trust in the way of the truth in the life the Son of God Jesus Christ he had another strange encounter in his cell and then I felt the whole filled with the holy presence of God it is as if time stops you know things about God without him ever saying anything to the first thing I knew about him was his holiness I knew he’s a holy God and I knew that he’s just and I knew immediately that simultaneously these things are going through my mind and my heart and I knew I’m on home this is in spite of all good things I’ve done in my life I knew that I have sins in my life and I knew that he’s just and he must judge me and because of his justice I deserved death at that moment I felt a touch on my left shoulder and a voice that says I forgive you and he didn’t understand I did not understand what how could that be possible because because I heard Allah is forgiving and merciful but we cannot know his forgiveness till the day I judgment so I said who are you that forgives me and I feel forgiven today he said I am the way that’s what in the life I did not understand what that means because I had never heard those words so I said what is your name and he said Jesus is the living God fell on the floor he told his fellow prisoners what happened some shunned him others followed him to faith this man was saved in a supernatural experience where he heard the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God a similar thing happened to me or when I heard the name of Jesus and the blood of Jesus that people were pleading over me in prayer is how I was saved in a supernatural encounter this is how I know the name Jesus Christ is a name the Son of God Jesus responds to and we don’t just have to call him Yeshua or any name he does respond to Jesus if you call to him with that name a rapid growth of Christianity isn’t only happening in Iran China is also seeing massive growth in Christianity in recent years what’s behind boom of Christianity in China and then I’m also fascinated that over the last 40 years Christianity has grown faster in China than any other place in the world it’s gone from approximately 1 million Christians to around 100 million this is just an incredible explosion what is the data you’re collecting and where is it coming from our objective is to map every Christian institution in China whether it’s a church school hospital publishing house orphanage or covenant then we try to identify who worked inside them we use all kinds of records and sources one of the simplest ones is a Protestant directory of Christian missionaries in China that was published annually in the 20th century that gave us a rich source of names other times we are looking through diaries or the preface of a book written by a Chinese literati where he may thank the Christians who first introduced him to certain ideas so we draw on a wide variety of sources to put together social networks and spatial maps it is a little scary to hear that they’re building databases with Christians names to find out how many Christians live in China and this is potentially going on in other places around the world as we know it’s prophesied that one day Christianity will be outlawed and you can’t buy or sell without the mark of the beast and rejecting your faith in Jesus Christ but seeing that Christianity is growing in China and a lot of the hostile areas of the world is such a blessing to hear when the Christian Church is persecuted it actually leads to its growth yes and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution this is because the world hates Jesus therefore if we follow him we will share in his persecution this is told to us in multiple different verses but one of my favorites is first Peter 4 14 because we learn that while we are persecuted and on their part God is blasphemed on our part we are actually blessed and most importantly God is glorified if you are approached for the name of Christ blessed are you for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you on their part he is blasphemed but on your part he is glorified so if you don’t face any level of persecution or backlash for your faith in Jesus Christ I would consider you evaluate if you are being vocal enough about it I would suggest taking Paul’s approach when it comes to sharing the gospel for if I preach the gospel I have nothing to boast up for necessity is laid upon me yes woe is me if I do not preach the gospel in Acts chapter 8 & 9 we learned that the persecution of the church is actually what led to the spreading of Christianity and the gospel going to all the nations now Saul was consenting to his death at that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the Apostles then the churches throughout all Judea Galilee and Samaria had peace and were edified and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit they were multiplied a 2024 status of global Christianity report provides at least eight positive trends that paint a picture of a healthy growing global church Christianity is growing around the world and by 2050 it’s projected that there will be over three billion Christians on the earth some groups are growing even faster Africa and Asia are experiencing rapid growth at the same time atheism and agnosticism are shrinking and fewer and fewer people are without access to the gospel in 1900 about 54.3% of the world didn’t have access to the gospel this year that percentage is expected to be about 27.8% as Christianity grows in the earth persecution will come along with it because the world is against Jesus Christ and those who choose to follow Jesus will share in his suffering and persecution if the world hates you you know that it hated me before it hated you if you were of the world the world would love its own yet because you are not of the world but I chose you out of the world therefore the world hates you persecutions will come but there’s nothing sad about it the greatest blessings that we could ever receive in this life come from persecutions and trusting in Jesus Christ and proclaiming that he is the only way to God the Father in Matthew 24 13 we’re told that those who endure till the end and suffer through their persecutions and trusting in Jesus will be saved one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible that tells us of the blessings we’ll receive for putting our trust in Jesus Christ and suffering through persecutions is told to us in the beatitudes don’t get me wrong God is our defender and our ever-present help in times of trouble but if we follow Jesus and not the world persecutions are inevitable but if you follow Jesus and you stay strong and true and committed to him here are some of the amazing rewards and blessings that you’ll receive for doing so blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you
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