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Illuminating News about Iranian protests and the Iranian Church · Centrally Speaking

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: Centrally speaking, is the central point of the church's public end.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: It speaks about issues that would be of interest to our society.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: In particular, it addresses how a Christian worldview intersects with Western secular culture.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: In the spirit of the church's founder, we take the perspective of the middle way, which is in agreement with the historic Christian church.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Dr.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_02: Drake Williams, Minister of Mission and Theology at the Church.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_02: Our website is www.cscfamily.org.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_02: It's part of the involvement that the church has in our area of the world to be connected with those who are in very different parts of the world but share a common faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: And we're fortunate today to be able to talk about some of the latest news in Iran in the midst of protests.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm fortunate to have Merdod joining us today.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_02: He's an Iranian Christian who lives uh in Armenia and has been part of an underground church in Iran.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: And he will uh be able to share with us uh some news uh today about what's taking place in Iran.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_02: So, Mirdad, uh welcome to Centrally Speaking.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: We're honored to have uh you with us uh today.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, it's an honor to be here too.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, it's our pleasure.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_02: Perhaps you might uh share a little bit about uh your testimony first as a Christian, and then also uh share a little bit about what it means to be part of an underground church, as many of our listeners will be less familiar with that.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so uh how I uh came to Christ, actually, it's a very long story, but I'm going to share briefly that uh I come from a family with uh two different beliefs.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: My mom was a Shia Muslim, her background was a Shia, and my father was a Sunni Muslim.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: And for those who don't know, these are the two major denominations in the Islamic belief.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: As Sunnis are the minority in Iran, but Shias are the minority in the whole Muslim world.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, my mom's side was Shia Muslim, and my dad's side was Sunni, and my dad's side actually was very proud of their belief and their faith because they kept their original belief, because Iran used to be under a Sunni empire, but in the 15th century, Iran converted to Shiaism.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: So they were really proud of it and they were practicing it very strongly.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: And my mom's side also the same, they're very proud of their Shiaism.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: And there was no sense of respect in the family that I grew up toward each other, uh, between my parents.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: They were always uh debating, there was always disagreement.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: So growing up, I was listening to the both sides, even relatives.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes they had these family meetings and immediately started uh debate about the which side is the true side.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I grew up with the sense of seeking for the truth and uh always wanted to know which side is telling the truth.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Eventually, when I turned 15, I guess, or 16, yeah, I decided to do my own research, especially there was a narrative that uh we have been told through the education system and media that uh Iran became a Muslim country willingly.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: The message of Islam was so beautiful that the Persian Empire decides to just uh embrace that beautiful message.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: So that was the story.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: But for me, that didn't make sense because I knew that the Persian Empire was a huge empire that couldn't fit.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I did my own research.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: I found a book from a library and from the black market.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, it was a forbidden book.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I read about the history, I realized that actually Persian was were resistant toward the Islam, and there was protest even centuries later, Persians wanted to come out of the uh Islamic empire.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I did all those research that made me uh more curious about knowing okay, what else I've been told that is not true through the education system.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I studied the Quran for myself, this time with the critic eyes, not to do something uh good and to please God, but I really wanted to know uh what is written there.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I read it in Arabic, I read it in far C, and I realized that this cannot be definitely from God.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I studied the life of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, and I realized that this man cannot be from God.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I studied the history of Islam, and then I realized that no, this cannot be from God.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: So eventually at the age of 18, I uh decided to leave Islam.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: I even told my mom, and uh for me it was even offensive to be called a Muslim.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: I got really against even God, and uh yeah, I started a very uh unhealthy lifestyle after that because at that point the the uh sin didn't matter anymore.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Sin lost its meaning, uh, true or false lost its meaning.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I just yeah, started a very unhealthy lifestyle, sleeping around, going to the parties and uh cheating on people, breaking people's heart.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: So at the age of 25, eventually, while I was uh at one of my friends' house, he had a table in his dining room, and uh, we both considered ourselves very strong atheists, and that's why we were close friends.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I was in his house and I found a book there, and I started to read that book.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: And uh he was like, Yeah, this book is about positive energy.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: This is a very interesting energy.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: So in that season, I really wanted something positive because deep inside I was really struggling uh with depression.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I read that book, and uh, it wasn't the gospel, but the author used a lot of Bible verses there, especially Jesus' words there.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: So those really spoke to my heart, especially uh the one that Jesus talks to the Pharisees and he calls them, you are like a tomb, you know, outside is beautiful, shining, but inside is death.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: And that I could really connect to that verse because it was me exactly.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: I was always looking good outside, and uh I was the star of each gathering, every gathering, and but inside I really felt empty, I really felt um dead.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: So that really got my attention.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: I realized that this Jesus guy he knows something, he knows something deeper.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where my journey started, uh, getting to know more about him.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: And eventually I found the Bible, which was very difficult.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I found a pastor there who was running an underground church there, and I joined their meetings.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: That was the first time that I heard people praying in my own language, which was very strange at that time.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: It was the first time I heard worship songs, and you know, in Islam music is not permissible in Iran, especially.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't uh it's not permissible.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I could see that people are can sing to God.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Not only singing is allowed, but you can sing to God.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: So all of those was very, very new and strange and at the same time peaceful to me.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, after spending eight or nine months with this pastor, he he was using his office, and uh we used to be like very careful going there.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: He had a camera there so that we could see what's going on.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: And we used to gather at 4 a.m.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: every Friday at his place.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, this is uh where eventually I gave my heart to Christ in his office.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_02: Amazing.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it's a great story.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_02: And then you're a part of um a church that uh meets underground.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_02: What does what does that mean?
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_02: Not literally under the ground, or maybe it does mean literally that.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but uh uh can you explain that to our listeners?
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sure.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: So in Iran we have Armenian churches which are allowed to practice their faith, so that would consider as cultural also slash uh faith.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: So for Armenians, it's pretty much allowed to have their own church, but we have a different type of church which is for convert Christians, ex-Muslim Christians, people like me who were born in an Islamic family, but eventually at some point they gave give their heart to Christ.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: So that church we call it underground because it's not permissible, it's not approved by the government, and in fact, it's the persecuted church in Iran.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I want the viewers to understand that of course we have Armenian churches in Iran, but Iran allows them as an ethnicity that is part of Iran, but even their priests are under pressure, they cannot baptize an ex-Muslim person, they cannot really share that much information, they cannot evangelize, they can just have their own community.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: So Iran uses that those churches to show to the world that, hey, we have freedom of religion.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: Look, Christians are practicing their faith, but the question is that what about an ex-Muslim Christian?
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: So basically, that's what we call underground church.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: So underground churches are people, maybe six or seven maximum, and they have a leader, they usually have their home groups.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, if the uh congregation grows more, they have to split.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: So we cannot have more than 10 people maximum.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: And if there are 10 people for a one home group, they will split into five different home groups.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and these groups are growing.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we understand uh in Iran and uh one of the fastest uh places where church is growing around the world, uh which many of our listeners may not know.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_02: Well, let me ask you a few questions now about some of the protests that are taking place.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, can you share um the extent of these protests that are taking place in Iran currently?
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_02: Are they is it are these uh mostly in uh Tehran or uh is this widespread throughout the country and other cities too?
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the protests are widespread throughout the whole country.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: It started from Tehran, of course, from the the Great Bazaar, great uh market.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: So after the very fast uh inflation that happened in the past uh month, all the businessmen and workers they stopped working and they started with a peaceful protest.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: They shut down their shops and they just wanted to show their protest this way.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: And after a few days, they started coming on the streets.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: So it started from Tehran, but very quickly went into other cities like the city of Mashat, Tabriz, Esfahan, Shiraz.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: So they all joined that movement, and after that, it went into the towns as well.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: So they also started to coming on the streets.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_02: So so throughout not only uh a big city like Tehran, but multiple other cities and also out in the countryside, too, correct?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: We have uh many footages of uh uh even smaller cities that people are out there and they're chanting.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, have you seen any of these protests, or is it mostly by film or is it by word of mouth that you've heard?
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_02: Tell us how you're getting this news uh yourself.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, our strongest evidence is of course the videos that we can see, but at the same time, I have friends in Iran, I have relatives in Iran, and I'm also in touch with some of the Christians there as well, who are part of the underground church.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I've heard that from there as an eyewitness testimony that what was going on, especially in Tehran and Mashhad, because Mashhat is a very religious city, is the real, like actual capital of Shia Islam in the whole war.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's why the security there is very strong and restrict.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: So many people got killed from Mashhat and Tehran, these two major cities.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, yeah, again, videos are there, and at the same time, hearing it directly from people uh would be my source of information.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's helpful for us.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, can you tell us uh can you try and describe uh what these protests are like?
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: Uh the videos we've seen are lots of people on the street, thousands.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_02: Uh maybe uh you're talking about chanting.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe you could share with us uh you know what are people chanting?
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_02: Uh how many people are protesting?
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, based on what we see on the uh news and the videos, you can see that thousands of uh people are on the streets.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: So if you combine all of them together, different regions of a city, even millions of people are out there, especially in the big cities.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: So so many people are out there, they're chanting.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: This time is different because we used to say that, oh, we don't want these mullahs, we don't want this regime in the past.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: But this time I feel like people have come with alternative as well.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not only we don't want this mullah, but also we have chosen our leader, which is the uh prince who is exiled and now currently he's living in uh US, and also we had our own flag, the flag that we had before this Islamic revolution.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: So this time was really purposeful, and that's why I feel like so many people are being killed, because this was a revolution with a purpose.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why governments saw this as a real threat.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's why they became even more brutal toward people, and they just wanted to remove them.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Would you consider these uh protests to be peaceful?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: So the protest originally started peacefully, but uh as the uh RGC forces started to oppress people and uh they were beating people, and at the end they were shooting people, people also had to defend themselves.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: And uh to to protest, there are different aspects of protest.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, sometimes you keep silent, sometimes you stop working, sometimes you come on the go on the streets and chant.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes, as a sign of your protest, you need to, you know, make sound, you need to make it seen in order to be seen.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: So we know that uh people knew that how brutal this regime are, and they're gonna have their own propaganda and say that hey, this is uh we're not treating them bad.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why people wanted to be louder this time.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, there were some attacks toward the mosque, especially.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I know so many people can consider that uh not good, but you should everybody should remember that we have been under the Islamic regime and we have been oppressed by them.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: So people did that as a sign to show that not only are we against this government, but we are also against this ideology, ideology that is oppressing us for decades.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: So it started originally peacefully, but people had to really defend themselves.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: And as you can see on the footages, there are so many that these uh RGC guards are shooting directly to the people.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: So people also wanted to defend themselves, so they were throwing stones, they were throwing sticks, and uh sometimes making their own stuff to just fight with the forces, and of course, from their side, there was some of them, many of them got killed as well.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because as you watch the videos, in the past, we used to like re-be really scared of the regime forces, and they they were the dominant one, but this time people were stepping to help each other, so they would really go after the uh forces just to try and defend themselves.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I would say that at the end it became violent because people again needed to defend themselves.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_02: What's at the root of these protests as you see it, Mir Tad?
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the roots, uh, I would say that this is a continuous protest from the very beginning of this regime.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: We have been protesting so many times, but this is the biggest one, which is the most global one.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: So the roots are being oppressed for years and decades by this regime.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: And this time, since it got so big, I think people saw this opportunity to join to this movement.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: And uh also being we are not really part of the world map.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: Iran is disconnected from the whole world.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: Iran has been displayed under a very, very bad light because of this government.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: So people really, after the growth of the internet and social media, people can see other countries' lifestyle and they can simply compare it to themselves, and especially for the Gen Z, they're not really watching Iran's national TV.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: They have access to the whole world.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: So they are the majority of the protesters, actually.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: So they can see, they can compare, and we want to fight for the basic human rights.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: So basically, so many things like a lack of stability in politics, lack of stability in economy, these were the main reasons, and also being oppressed by the government.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like these were the very roots of this uh protest recently.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_02: And you provide an estimate for us of the numbers who have been killed or imprisoned or wounded.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_02: Uh the stats uh that we have in the states are, I think, are far less than what really are taking place.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so the conformed one, unfortunately, we cannot say exactly how much, and that was the very goal of the regime by cutting off the internet so that they can create this debate among us so that we cannot agree upon a number and they can spread their propaganda easier.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: The confirmed one is 36,000 people, 36,500 to be more precise.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: Based on the footages that I have seen, based on the crowd that I have seen out there, I'm pretty sure the numbers are even higher.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: There are so many people, their bodies are missing, especially women.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: Their bodies are gone, and families are trying to search for these people.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's the number I personally think that it's a lot larger than that.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: And also, let's not forget those who are who have been arrested.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: We also don't have an exact number, how many people have been arrested.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: All across the country, I've heard something between 70,000, 80,000 people have been arrested.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: And let's not forget executions as well.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Executions are happening in this kind of situation in secret.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: So even government does it in secret, not also all the authorities are aware of it.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's also something else that they do.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: So ultimately, uh, we can never find out what was the number, but I'm pretty sure it's much bigger than what we know on the media.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_02: And these executions are what people taken in prison, and then all of a sudden uh they're killed silently.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so so basically, uh, this is not uh related to this protest, but I had a friend back in Iran, and uh he was a rapper, in fact, and he got arrested for his music.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: And uh he was telling me as an eyewitness, like people would disappear.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: They don't even let know the prisoner that hey, we're going to execute you.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: They just take them and at the end they lead them into a room in a darker room, in a smaller room, and they just execute them.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: So these are not public executions.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is all happening in secret and under the behind the closed doors.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, back to the protests, are they happening daily?
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, are they in plain sight?
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so the protest happened is happening, yeah, uh daily, mostly.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: There was some days that it didn't happen.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: So basically, people were waiting for the command of the prince, but based on those commands that were going outside, but it mostly happened daily.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_02: So people were closing their shops and they're going out into the streets, and it's thousands every single day.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: Business, especially on the city centers, all the shops and all the streets even were blocked.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like even my city, I was watching the videos, I could see that many main uh highways in my city were shut down.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: It was only people throughout the whole boulevard.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_02: How is the church uh involved with all this?
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_02: Uh is it directly, indirectly, uh, apart from this?
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_02: So, how how are people in the church in Iran uh intersecting with these protests?
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: So the the churches in Iran, uh, I think the their strongest weapon has been prayer, of course.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: So there have been prayers, but they have stopped meeting.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, when things like this happen, Christians prefer to not meet at all because a country is under the highest security level, so it's not wise for them to really gather.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: And again, for an ex-Muslim Christian, the danger is even double.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: So many of them they try to just be silenced to not be active on social media.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: Those people can easily get labeled of the spy, and if you get that level of accusation, you're over, you're done, you can get executed without no court and trial.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: So the church has been, I'm pretty sure I can't really share much information about their activities, but I'm pretty sure they have been part of the protest, at least the peaceful part, because we have frontliners, you know, that they go and they just want to take revenge of this regime.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: And we have some other people who are families, you know, sometimes they go with their kids and they are in the back.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: So we have these two types of people.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: Church has been involved based on one or two sources that I had, but again, with the highest security level and covering faces and stuff.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_02: Give you a moment if you'd like to share a story or two about the protests or about what's happening in your country before asking uh you for some prayer requests.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, might you have a story that you'd want to share that's um illustrates what's happening in Iran at the moment?
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the stories, unfortunately, they're very dark.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the things that we keep hearing are like horrible.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the amount of brutality, you cannot even describe it by words, like the IRGC regimes, for example, they're going on the in the hospitals, they shoot the uh wounded people there.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: And some women's bodies, especially, have been missing, which is a big question mark for the media, for the people.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: I know why they're hiding it for a woman to get arrested under this regime in the protest.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: That is against this regime, that's the worst thing that can happen.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: Death is the better one, actually.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: So they can get tortured, they can get raped.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that that's why the bodies have been kept hidden, because people can do examinations on it and know the truth and reality.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that happened in the previous protest in the woman life freedom movement.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I personally know why they're hiding it.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: So people from so many ages they have been killed, kids, people, talented people that have been killed by the regime.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: And simply for speaking the truth about this regime, so many activists actually have been uh arrested.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: We have even activists received threats outside of Iran who were trying to be the voice of people because we are exposing their propaganda.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: They started to come up with a smaller number of the dead people, but thanks to the activists who are really active outside of Iran, we were able to expose these propagandas.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: So there are so many terrifying stories that is happening.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I wanted to tell people actually, there are so many people who don't believe this massacre is happening.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: I just wanted to say that this has been happening throughout the whole history of this regime.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: People have protested before.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: And to say that, hey, these people are being driven by this organization, that organization is a huge disrespect to all these blood that are being shed on the streets.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: So those people, I'm pretty sure they don't know the history and they don't know Iranians.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: We are resistant people.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: We are the only one in the whole Middle East that we refuse to become Arab.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: They try to Arabize us, but we remain the Iranians, we remain Persians.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: They try to change our language, but we still speak our own language.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: So we are resistant people, we're proud of our culture.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: So we are even some part of this fight is to preserve our own identity.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, this is everything that we hear, it is real.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: I've been part of protests back in Iran when I was there, and I know and it was just us.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't get any information from anywhere.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: Simply, we just wanted to go there and uh fight for our own basic human rights.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: So, based on someone who has been there, it's just people and of course, countries who are supporting this, uh supporting this, they might also seek their own interests.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we cannot control someone else's interest, but we appreciate every type of support that we have received by the authorities and the medias all around the world.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_02: Or can uh you then share with us uh how we in the West can be praying uh for you in Iran at this time?
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, please keep praying for the people, keep praying for the people who are also outside of Iran.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: We all faced really a trauma, a real trauma.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine the internet is cut off and you just scrolling on social media, the faces of dead is coming, and you have no idea who the next person would be, someone that you know or not know.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: It was very hard for those who lived abroad as well.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: So pray for those who are outside of Iran as well.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: Pray for the protection of the underground church.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: As I told you, in this sensitive time, the government can go after anybody and put labels on people.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: So please, please pray for the safety and protection of the especially pastors in Iran, evangelists in Iran, those people who have who store a lot of Bibles in their basements, in their houses.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: And if any of these IRGC forces go to their houses and see all of those, they will be in a huge, huge trouble.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: So pray for their safety as well.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: And at the end, in a practical way, we can.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: I really expect others to share the news.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: I know all of these are very disturbing, but I hope they can just we are also in war outside of Iran.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: So the government ambassadors they just go out there and they share their own narration and they share their own propaganda.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: So this is our battlefield.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: We need to tell the truth what actually happened in Iran.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I really want other people, especially church, to bring this awareness to the world outside as well.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we hope that this podcast will uh will do that, uh, Mayor Don and we're thankful for the time that you took today.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, before uh we leave, I'd like to have a word of prayer for you, though.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_02: Okay?
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_02: Can we pray?
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Father in heaven, uh, we pray, Lord, for the church uh in Iran, and we pray today for its protection.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_02: We pray for pastors, evangelists, people sharing uh the Bible, and also those just within the church that you would protect them at this time where there is a sub upheaval.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_02: We pray for the people of Iran, those in the country, uh, those who are abroad, pray that uh you would bring uh peace in the heart and also that you would bring understanding and comfort uh for those who are traumatized.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we look to you, Father, and uh your son Jesus, who is the Prince of Peace, and uh pray for your protection today for those in Iran.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_02: We pray in Christ's name.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_02: And thank you so much for taking the time with us uh today.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for your time and your willingness to be our voice.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: Certainly.