Lynn Green

Tag: Iran

  • Iran

    Iran

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    QUESTION:  How are John the Baptist and the Ayatollah Khomeini alike?

    I talked to a friend from Iran today; he had just returned from that region and he told me some amazing facts and stories.  But first, a little background.

    I first drove across Iran in 1970 and it impressed me as being much better developed and generally a more advanced civilisation than either Turkey to the west or especially Afghanistan to the east.  The roads were good; there were attractive public places,; new buildings and the people were fashionably dressed.

    What I didn’t see was the seething unrest and hatred for the Shah and SAVAK, his secret police (with 60,000 employees!) who had tortured and killed hundreds of thousands of Iranian citizens.  That intense hatred was also aimed at the countries that put the Shah in power.  (This is where Brits and Americans hang their heads.)

    America and Great Britain conspired together in 1953 to assassinate the elected Prime Minister of Iran, who wanted to charge more money for Iranian oil.  so they could replace him with a sympathetic ruler who would not demand higher royalties.  The PM was duly assassinated and Shah (or King) Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was installed.

    Towards the end of his reign, he also wanted more money from American and British oil companies, so support for him was withdrawn and an Islamic Revolution filled the vacuum.  The Ayatollah Khomeini arrived from Paris to a vast crowd of rapturous followers in 1979 and immediately declared that Iran was henceforth an Islamic Republic.

    The promised joy, peace and prosperity never materialized and the people of Iran gradually realised that they had exchanged one tyrannical system for another.  Instead of SAVAK, they had religious police and an extensive network of informers linked together via the mosques. Sharia law did not produce the promised liberation.

    Though Khomeini died in 1989, his successor, the Ayatollah Khamenei has continued the tradition of the religious “Supreme Ruler”, and discontent has saturated Iran.

    “What now?”

    So, back to my conversation earlier today:   My friend visited bordering nations where Iranian followers of Jesus come steadily and in large numbers for Bible training.  There are millions of Iranian exiles around the world and where ever they are, there are Iranian churches.  So, many are coming to faith, but then they say, “What now?”  We are working to get discipleship training and Bible knowledge to them.

    One of the men my friend met with, in a country near Iran, oversees three to four thousand underground churches in Iran.  He says what they all say.  “The Islamic Republic has shown them the true nature of Islam and they want nothing to do with it.”  He said that the mosques that used to be overflowing with young people are now deserted.  His estimate is that about 70% of the mosques have no young people at all.

    As you would expect, though, not all of them are coming to faith in Jesus.  Atheism is popular and even Satanism has become evident.  Here it is important to remember one of the clearest commandments Jesus gave us.  “The harvest is ripe, but the labourers are few.  So, pray that the Lord of the Harvest will send more labourers!”

    To illustrate the nature of the ripe harvest, my friend mentioned today that just a few years ago, when he talked to Iranians about Jesus, they would typically ask questions like:  “Mohammed came after Jesus, so how can you say he was wrong and Jesus was right?”  Or they might state, “We know that the early Christians changed the stories to make Jesus out to be God, but he never claimed that, so how can you believe the Bible?”  Now, he said, they never mention those objections; they just want to know more.

    So, how are John and Khomeini alike?  They both “prepared the way of the Lord”.  John brought a message which demanded a change of heart from legalistic religion to the Lordship of Jesus. The Ayatollah showed the people of Iran how ugly a legalistic and coercive religious system can be.  Then Jesus came.

    Lynn Green.

     

  • Tired of reading about refugees?

    Tired of reading about refugees?

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    The river keeps running at full flow.  The numbers of people fleeing Syria can hardly be counted, let alone contained.  But we have to add to that the Afghans, Libyans and Iraqis who have given up hope that their nations will stabilize.  Then there are the economic refugees from various parts of Africa and the steady “brain-drain” of Christians from Egypt and other parts of the Arab world.

    We will have to keep reading and hearing about it because it is one of the great, human tectonic shifts of our world.  It will keep flowing for a long time.  And it is changing our world.

    Within that big, attention-grabbing mass movement of suffering people, there are a number of sub-stories that are worth some attention.  One of those stories is the very large number of Muslims who have become, or want to become Christians.

    The Greek government noticed that story a few weeks ago and responded by shutting down faith-based aid groups in the Athens area.  I understand that.  It is a form of manipulation or exploitation to try to persuade people to change their religion when they are desperate—right?  I assume that was the tone of discussions behind the doors of Greek politicians.  Most European, and probably most American, politicians would take that view.

    Again, I understand that IF:

    Christian aid agencies were only offering assistance to Christian and withholding it from others.

    Threats were issued.

    Longer term benefits, such as residency was being offered to converts. Refugees were being forced to listen to propaganda against their will.

    I now know of at least 200 volunteers from YWAM alone, who are helping these same refugees and there will be thousands of other Christian volunteers.  If I visited every location where these Christians are working, I doubt that I would find even one instance of the practices I have just listed.  I say that because such practices are simply not Christian and Christians know that.

    I think there are some reasons why it is good and right to present the Christian message to refugees.  Evangelism, after all, means “good news”.  So here are the reasons.

    1. Many of those who are fleeing are looking for a new life.  Their governments and their religion have failed them.  They would like some good news.
    2. One of the amazing sub-stories is the hundreds or thousands of people who have had visions, or dreams or experiences of healing or miracles where Jesus is the central figure. There is something supernatural going on here.  God is answering the prayers and labours of recent decades or even the prayers and sacrifices of Christians for centuries and many Muslims want to know more about Jesus.  (And remember, they already revere him more than most of our fellow citizens in the secular Western nations.)
    3. It is not uncommon for people to come to faith when they are in very difficult circumstances. Desperation can result in a deep, heart honesty leading to faith.
    4. Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that, “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”

    When Article 18 was adopted in 1948, many Muslim nations signed it, including Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey.

    When a nation or religion tries to withdraw that right, they are in violation of one of the most foundational documents in history.  Not only that, but they are encroaching upon a universal right that was extended by our Creator.  He gave the issues of personal beliefs and conscience to each individual and each individual will be accountable to their Creator for their beliefs, how they obeyed their conscience and the choices they made.

    Tyranny is when a religion or government (or any other authority) attempts to coerce people at the level of their personal beliefs.  The river of human misery flowing primarily from the heart of the Arab, Muslim world is fleeing the spread of that exact brand of tyranny.  Can we, in good conscience, withhold from them the wonderful faith that first gave birth to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

    Jesus said, “Freely you have received.  Freely give!”  This precious gift should be available to all.

    Lynn Green.