Latest / Challenges of Faith Radio Program / At any cost! Ep 3453
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Challenges of Faith radio program. I'm
- 0:04Speaker 1: Gary McCance. Thank you for joining. Thank you for joining
- 0:08Speaker 1: here on episode 3453. At any cost, Iranian Christians lose
- 0:17Speaker 1: their church buildings. Faith's imprisonment. Recently, workmen under orders from
- 0:25Speaker 1: the Iranian regime bulldozed the evangelical church of Mashhad. Without explanation,
- 0:34Speaker 1: the church was roughly 80 years old but had been
- 0:38Speaker 1: closed by Iranian officials for more than two decades. Still,
- 0:44Speaker 1: some Iranian Christians hoped that it would one day reopen,
- 0:48Speaker 1: despite a 2012 government ban on Iranian churches holding any
- 0:53Speaker 1: services in Farzad. I was sitting with a brother from
- 0:58Speaker 1: that church a few hours after it happened, said a
- 1:00Speaker 1: frontline worker. He was crying. The Iranian government also seized
- 1:06Speaker 1: his store at St. Peter Evangelical Church in Tehran, evicting
- 1:11Speaker 1: 20 families who lived there. Christians in Iran are harshly opposed,
- 1:17Speaker 1: often being fired from their jobs or facing difficulty in
- 1:21Speaker 1: finding jobs or renting homes. A significant number of Christians
- 1:26Speaker 1: in the country, including Christian leaders and pastors, are currently
- 1:31Speaker 1: in prison. According to the International Christian Concern, where this
- 1:36Speaker 1: report comes from, our persecuted brothers and sisters like those
- 1:40Speaker 1: in Iran boldly and faithfully follow Christ at any cost.
- 1:47Speaker 1: International Christian Concern says that the underground are those who
- 1:54Speaker 1: are forced to practice their faith behind closed doors. The
- 1:59Speaker 1: imprisoned are those who have been wrongfully jailed for crimes
- 2:04Speaker 1: related to their faith. Let me ask you this before
- 2:09Speaker 1: I continue. Of course, I had to take a sip
- 2:12Speaker 1: of my water. You don't mind, do you? As a
- 2:19Speaker 1: believer of the household of faith, as a follower of
- 2:21Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, if you were arrested today for being a
- 2:28Speaker 1: follower of Jesus Christ, would they have enough evidence, would
- 2:35Speaker 1: the prosecutor have enough evidence to convict you? Well, would they? No.
- 2:44Speaker 1: International Christian Concern identifies the abused as those facing sexual
- 2:48Speaker 1: violence and forced marriage. The attacked are those facing personal assaults,
- 2:55Speaker 1: church attacks, and community-wide violence. And the penalized are those
- 3:00Speaker 1: who are facing discrimination and legal hurdles that make it
- 3:04Speaker 1: difficult to practice their faith openly. And the converts are
- 3:08Speaker 1: those facing social isolation and physical danger for leaving their
- 3:12Speaker 1: previous faith and the oppressor of those facing religious freedom, limitation,
- 3:17Speaker 1: and socialist and communist regimes. And finally, as you think
- 3:23Speaker 1: about all that was shared today, and even in your
- 3:27Speaker 1: own life, a lump of clay felt the harsh pressure
- 3:32Speaker 1: of the potter's hand spinning and pushing it into a
- 3:35Speaker 1: tight shape. In pain, the clay cried out, Why are
- 3:40Speaker 1: you doing this to me? The potter smiled gently and said,
- 3:44Speaker 1: Be patient. You're not just a lump. I'm making something beautiful.
- 3:50Speaker 1: What's the lesson? God uses trials, challenging trials and hard
- 3:55Speaker 1: seasons to shape believers of the household of faith, you know, Christians,
- 4:00Speaker 1: into a purposeful design. Are you letting him do that
- 4:06Speaker 1: in your own life today, irrespective of the challenge of
- 4:10Speaker 1: your faith? Why are you?