Latest / truthunedited / Maryam Rostampour_Imprisoned in Iran for Secretly Sharing 20_000 Bibles Then Revival Broke Out

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Maryam Rostampour_Imprisoned in Iran for Secretly Sharing 20_000 Bibles Then Revival Broke Out · truthunedited

0:00
Speaker 1: For 40 days, every day, we had long hours of
0:02
Speaker 1: interrogation for like seven, eight hours, blindfolded by two interrogators.
0:08
Speaker 1: They were constantly asking questions, and they were basically trying
0:12
Speaker 1: to put pressure on us to deny our faith in
0:14
Speaker 1: Jesus and convert back to Islam. And also, they wanted
0:18
Speaker 1: us to give them information about.
0:37
Speaker 2: Guys, welcome to the Jesus People podcast.
0:39
Speaker 3: Today we have a really special guest, someone that is
0:42
Speaker 3: near and dear to my heart, to Annie's heart, to
0:44
Speaker 3: the Miller family's heart. We have Miriam Rostenborg-Keller on the podcast.
0:48
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for being with us, Miriam.
0:50
Speaker 1: Well, thank you, Ryan, for having me. You are an
0:52
Speaker 1: amazing friend to me, you and Annie, and I'm just
0:56
Speaker 1: humbled and honored and blessed to be here.
0:59
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
1:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, guys, I'm telling you, If I've got a Mount
1:04
Speaker 3: Rushmore of people that commune deeply with Jesus, that I'm like,
1:08
Speaker 3: I'm so inspired by this person's faith. I feel the
1:11
Speaker 3: spirit of God on this person, the power of God,
1:13
Speaker 3: the love of God on this person. Miriam is like
1:15
Speaker 3: the top of that list. So you are a hero
1:18
Speaker 3: of the faith. You were imprisoned in Iran for a
1:22
Speaker 3: long time. You have experienced a lot of what this
1:27
Speaker 3: regime stands for. And now you're living in America, married
1:30
Speaker 3: one of my good buddies, which– Stoked about that because
1:34
Speaker 3: now we get to hang out.
1:35
Speaker 2: We were just hanging in D.C. a little while ago.
1:37
Speaker 3: So that was fun and had no idea that this
1:39
Speaker 3: situation was going to happen in Iran. And Miriam and
1:43
Speaker 3: I have both been praying about the right time for
1:45
Speaker 3: her to come on the podcast and felt like this
1:48
Speaker 3: was the right time.
1:49
Speaker 2: So excited.
1:50
Speaker 3: I want to get into your story, your backstory in Iran.
1:55
Speaker 3: I want to hear about your take on what's happening
1:57
Speaker 3: in Iran currently, horrific things going on. the killings of
2:03
Speaker 3: thousands of Iranians right now. And then I want to
2:06
Speaker 3: hear stories of how Jesus has stories that I know,
2:10
Speaker 3: but our viewer doesn't know of just miracles on miracles
2:13
Speaker 3: of what Jesus performed for you and for Marzi, your
2:16
Speaker 3: friend in prison. So take us into your, your background
2:20
Speaker 3: a little bit. How'd you come to know Jesus and
2:23
Speaker 3: how'd you get thrown into prison in Iran? Yeah.
2:27
Speaker 1: It happened years ago. You know, just to give you
2:30
Speaker 1: a quick version of my background story, I have always
2:33
Speaker 1: been searching for God. You know, I grew up in Iran.
2:37
Speaker 1: I was raised there. I was born into a nominal
2:40
Speaker 1: Muslim family. When I say nominal Muslim, you know, majority
2:44
Speaker 1: of Iranians in Iran do not practice Islam. They are
2:48
Speaker 1: just called Muslims, but majority of them don't even read
2:52
Speaker 1: the Koran. They don't know Arabic. We speak Farsi. But
2:55
Speaker 1: I've always been searching for the truth because I had
2:59
Speaker 1: this hunger in my heart to know God and to
3:01
Speaker 1: be able to communicate with him. Fast forward, when I
3:05
Speaker 1: was around 17 years old, I received a booklet from
3:10
Speaker 1: my sister, which was part of Book of Luke. She
3:14
Speaker 1: said she had received it from someone at Assemblies of
3:18
Speaker 1: Church in Tehran, which was across the street from her university.
3:22
Speaker 1: And then she gave it to me, you know, that
3:25
Speaker 1: day when I read that little booklet. I had an
3:28
Speaker 1: amazing encounter with Jesus. For three hours I was in
3:32
Speaker 1: my room just reading, you know, 20, 30 pages of booklet.
3:37
Speaker 1: And every word I was reading, I could feel that
3:41
Speaker 1: Jesus was standing right in front of me, speaking the
3:44
Speaker 1: words to my heart. And I can't describe what happened
3:49
Speaker 1: in that room that day. I knew that it was different.
3:53
Speaker 1: It was a different experience from whatever I had experienced before.
3:58
Speaker 1: I could feel the presence of God for the first
4:01
Speaker 1: time in my life. Jesus was speaking the words to
4:04
Speaker 1: my heart. You know, those were strange words. I've never heard,
4:08
Speaker 1: you know, in my life that all I knew about
4:10
Speaker 1: Jesus was that he was only a prophet of love
4:13
Speaker 1: and peace. That's how Muslims describe Jesus. But when I
4:17
Speaker 1: read about Jesus as the son of, he's the son
4:20
Speaker 1: of God, and he went on the cross for our sins,
4:23
Speaker 1: that he provided a way for us to be able
4:27
Speaker 1: to communicate with God. You know, none of those words
4:31
Speaker 1: sounded strange for me. You know, in Islam, all of
4:35
Speaker 1: these are considered blasphemy. But that day, I experienced something
4:39
Speaker 1: beyond words. I met Jesus, and I had a real
4:43
Speaker 1: encounter with him. And I believe that it wasn't me
4:48
Speaker 1: doing something to know Jesus. It was him knowing my
4:51
Speaker 1: hunger for him. And he prepared my heart for hearing
4:55
Speaker 1: the truth. And that day, he revealed the truth to me.
4:59
Speaker 1: After three hours being in my room, I gave my
5:02
Speaker 1: heart to Jesus without any doubt, accepted him as my
5:05
Speaker 1: Lord and Savior. And then at different times, the rest
5:09
Speaker 1: of my family members also became a Christian member. And
5:13
Speaker 1: then I started following Jesus, you know, and I started
5:16
Speaker 1: sharing Jesus with everyone, with family members, strangers, and found
5:20
Speaker 1: the church. I started going to Assemblies of God Church
5:24
Speaker 1: in Tehran. And, you know, after that, you know, because
5:28
Speaker 1: the pastors in the church knew that I was so
5:30
Speaker 1: passionate to share Jesus with people. Even I remember from
5:33
Speaker 1: the first week that I gave my heart to Jesus,
5:36
Speaker 1: I started talking to people about him. Um, I had
5:39
Speaker 1: no idea what Christianity was. I, my knowledge of the
5:42
Speaker 1: Bible was so limited, but I was talking to people
5:45
Speaker 1: about the love of God and I wanted them to
5:48
Speaker 1: taste the same love. Um, you know, and after years I, um,
5:52
Speaker 1: got more, um, you know, trainings from the church and
5:56
Speaker 1: I began to read the whole Bible and the pastors
5:59
Speaker 1: from the church recommended I go to Turkey to study
6:04
Speaker 1: some theology courses and, um, learning leadership house leadership because
6:09
Speaker 1: in Iran it was impossible that's why in 2005 I
6:13
Speaker 1: went to Turkey and I met Marzia in Turkey and
6:19
Speaker 1: then after a few months we went back to Iran
6:23
Speaker 1: because we both had the same heart to evangelize Iranian
6:27
Speaker 1: people and to share Jesus with them that was our
6:29
Speaker 1: heart but You know, when we went back to Iran
6:33
Speaker 1: for the first few months, we did not have a
6:35
Speaker 1: clear vision. We didn't know how to do this.
6:39
Speaker 3: And Marzia, just so people know, Marzia is another one
6:42
Speaker 3: of our great friends who you met in Turkey, both Iranian,
6:47
Speaker 3: and then went back to do ministry.
6:48
Speaker 2: Together in Iran.
6:49
Speaker 1: Yes. And we both love Jesus and we both had
6:52
Speaker 1: the same heart for Iranian people. And we wanted to
6:55
Speaker 1: share this message with them. We knew how many Iranians
6:59
Speaker 1: are thirsty for the truth, and they don't have access
7:01
Speaker 1: to Bible. So after a few months of praying and,
7:04
Speaker 1: you know, how God spoke to us and showed us
7:06
Speaker 1: step by step how to do this, we started evangelizing
7:10
Speaker 1: people by distributing Bibles. Because we realized at the time, especially,
7:14
Speaker 1: people had no access to Bible. You know, I... I
7:18
Speaker 1: learned about Jesus by reading a small booklet. And so
7:23
Speaker 1: we prayed about it. We talked to the pastors we
7:25
Speaker 1: knew in London at the time, and they provided all
7:29
Speaker 1: these New Testaments for us. And in about two years,
7:32
Speaker 1: we distributed 20,000 Bibles in Tehran. Which was amazing. We
7:40
Speaker 1: could do this by God's strength. And he really protected
7:45
Speaker 1: us every single night. we went out to the street.
7:50
Speaker 1: He was with us and he was protecting us. And
7:53
Speaker 1: during that time, nothing happened to us. Anything could happen
7:56
Speaker 1: to us. We had backpacks full of New Testaments carrying them. And,
8:01
Speaker 1: you know, anything could happen to us. But he protected
8:04
Speaker 1: us because this was a mission from him and he
8:06
Speaker 1: wanted us to finish that. And after two years, you know,
8:11
Speaker 1: at the same time, we also had, we were leading
8:15
Speaker 1: house churches in our own apartments. Can I pause.
8:18
Speaker 2: You there, Miriam?
8:22
Speaker 3: 20,000 Bibles you passed out in Iran. Two ladies over
8:25
Speaker 3: two years. I'm just doing the math in my head.
8:28
Speaker 3: Bibles are not light.
8:31
Speaker 2: It's a book.
8:32
Speaker 3: And anyone that has been around the Jesus People podcast
8:34
Speaker 3: for a while or follows my social media knows how
8:36
Speaker 3: passionate I am about smuggling Bibles into persecuted countries. So
8:40
Speaker 3: where did you get these Bibles? How do you even
8:42
Speaker 3: store 20,000 Bibles over two years and How do two
8:48
Speaker 3: women just go berserk, just blasting Bibles in the largest
8:53
Speaker 3: city in Iran?
8:56
Speaker 1: You know, that's why I say this was not our effort.
8:59
Speaker 1: It wasn't a human effort. It was a vision from God.
9:03
Speaker 1: And this was something he had put in our hearts.
9:06
Speaker 1: And he provided everything step by step. As I mentioned,
9:10
Speaker 1: we were working with this ministry that was based in
9:14
Speaker 1: London called And they provided those New Testament for us.
9:18
Speaker 1: They were actually light New Testament. It was just the
9:21
Speaker 1: New Testament. And, you know, they would provide them, they
9:25
Speaker 1: would smuggle them into Iran. We don't know how, who
9:29
Speaker 1: was smuggling those Bibles. But we had a person in Iran.
9:33
Speaker 1: We were getting our Bibles from that person. And in
9:37
Speaker 1: smaller portions every time, like 1,000, 2,000. And we would
9:41
Speaker 1: store them in our basements. You know, we had like
9:45
Speaker 1: at each time we had one or two thousand Bibles
9:47
Speaker 1: in our basement and every night we would put about
9:51
Speaker 1: 17 New Testaments in our backpack, go to one area,
9:56
Speaker 1: put them in mailboxes under the doors and then. um
10:00
Speaker 1: you know we had a map huge map of tehran
10:03
Speaker 1: on our wall and we would just pick one area
10:06
Speaker 1: go to that area distribute the bibles and when we
10:09
Speaker 1: were going back we would go back home we would
10:12
Speaker 1: just pray for that area and we would pray that
10:15
Speaker 1: god used those bibles um and pray for those people
10:20
Speaker 1: who were finding those Bibles in their mailboxes.
10:23
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, it's incredible. And I know of organizations.
10:30
Speaker 3: I mean, I talk about global Christian relief all the
10:31
Speaker 3: time that are working with multiple organizations that can't be
10:35
Speaker 3: named and in countries that can't be named much like yours,
10:38
Speaker 3: but countries that are, I mean, shoot, that are nearly
10:42
Speaker 3: impossible to get into. And there are missionaries right now
10:45
Speaker 3: that are at every single piece of the chain that
10:49
Speaker 3: are doing their best to smuggle Bibles into these countries
10:53
Speaker 3: for Christians like yourself that are brave enough boots on
10:56
Speaker 3: the ground to risk their lives to distribute these Bibles.
10:59
Speaker 3: And I think what most Americans don't realize is it
11:02
Speaker 3: costs $ 5 to smuggle a.
11:04
Speaker 2: Bible into a persecuted country.
11:06
Speaker 3: So even if you're hearing Miriam's story right now, and
11:08
Speaker 3: you're like cut to the heart, we're going to put
11:10
Speaker 3: a link in the show notes for a ministry that's
11:12
Speaker 3: smuggling Bibles. And again, they might not be the one
11:15
Speaker 3: that's actually boots on the ground there. It might not
11:17
Speaker 3: be the one That is getting them across the border,
11:19
Speaker 3: but they're working with all of those organizations, and the
11:22
Speaker 3: money is going directly to those organizations to get Bibles
11:25
Speaker 3: into countries that, again, I can't speak of. But if
11:28
Speaker 3: your heart is being moved, click that link. Smuggle a Bible,
11:31
Speaker 3: $ 5 a Bible. Think about what that would be if
11:33
Speaker 3: you just gave up coffee for a week each month
11:36
Speaker 3: and smuggled Bibles. How many Bibles could that reach in
11:40
Speaker 3: unreached peoples and persecuted Christians? So anyway, I'm incredibly inspired.
11:46
Speaker 3: I don't mean to cut you off there, Miriam. I
11:47
Speaker 3: want to keep hearing. because I know the story keeps
11:49
Speaker 3: getting better, but it's just incredible what you guys were
11:52
Speaker 3: able to do. I still can't really wrap my mind
11:54
Speaker 3: around 20,000 Bibles from two ladies.
11:58
Speaker 1: Yeah. You know, later we realized that the Iranian regime
12:03
Speaker 1: found out about this, the distribution of Bible, and in
12:07
Speaker 1: the parliament they announced it. And they thought it was
12:11
Speaker 1: a big Christian group organization that, that was behind this.
12:16
Speaker 1: They didn't know it was just the two of us,
12:18
Speaker 1: you know, ordinary people distributing Bibles. I shouldn't say just
12:23
Speaker 1: what it was just the two of us. We had Jesus.
12:25
Speaker 1: I believe we had Jesus with us every night we
12:27
Speaker 1: were going out.
12:29
Speaker 3: But two ladies distributing 20,000 Bibles in Iran is just insane.
12:35
Speaker 2: That's like the coolest thing ever.
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Speaker 1: I know. It was an amazing experience. Sometimes, you know,
12:40
Speaker 1: we had to walk through snow in Iran, you know,
12:42
Speaker 1: during winter we have snow, and it was just an
12:46
Speaker 1: amazing experience, but we were full of joy when we
12:49
Speaker 1: were doing this, and we could feel God's presence with us.
12:53
Speaker 1: You know, and at the same time, we were, as
12:55
Speaker 1: I mentioned, we were leading house churches, and, you know,
12:59
Speaker 1: beside that mission of distributing Bibles at nights, every day
13:03
Speaker 1: we were going out, we had a few New Testaments
13:06
Speaker 1: in our purse, you know, we were going to restaurants,
13:09
Speaker 1: or getting a taxi, or go shopping every day we
13:13
Speaker 1: were talking to people during the day uh we were
13:16
Speaker 1: handing those bibles to people and would start a conversation
13:20
Speaker 1: with them you know and share jesus with them and
13:23
Speaker 1: some of these people joined our house church we also
13:26
Speaker 1: had a house church for widows um in iran um
13:31
Speaker 1: who were you know participating in temporary marriage um um,
13:37
Speaker 1: you know, which is a practice, uh, it's a common
13:39
Speaker 1: practice in, in Iran and some Islamic countries that, um,
13:44
Speaker 1: you know, women can have temporary marriage, um, for this,
13:48
Speaker 1: just sign a contract. It's not a formal marriage. They
13:51
Speaker 1: sign a contract. It can be for a day, for
13:54
Speaker 1: two hours, for a few months. And that, um, you know,
13:58
Speaker 1: in exchange for some money and this way women support themselves, um,
14:04
Speaker 1: and we.
14:05
Speaker 2: We got this kind of like prostitution in a way.
14:08
Speaker 1: It is a prostitution, but they wouldn't call it prostitution, um,
14:11
Speaker 1: because it is really prostitution. Um, but in Islam, this
14:16
Speaker 1: is a common practice, you know, the prophet of Islam.
14:18
Speaker 2: I mean, is it for sex though?
14:19
Speaker 3: Like, are they getting temporarily married for like a couple
14:22
Speaker 3: hours just to have sex or what's the point?
14:25
Speaker 1: Exactly. It's the purpose is, uh, for men to have
14:28
Speaker 1: sex with these women. And a lot of, um, government
14:31
Speaker 1: officials and judges, um, were involved with this and encouraged
14:36
Speaker 1: this so they can abuse these women who, you know,
14:40
Speaker 1: a lot of them were, you know, when we listened
14:43
Speaker 1: to their stories, they had sad stories of, you know,
14:46
Speaker 1: they just needed money. They just needed to support themselves.
14:49
Speaker 1: That's why they were engaging in these activities. And then
14:53
Speaker 1: we started with two women. They introduced us to other women.
14:58
Speaker 1: And at the end, we were working, I believe, with
15:00
Speaker 1: 40 women who were doing this, uh, practice. Um, yeah, for, for,
15:07
Speaker 1: I can say maybe around four years, um, we, we
15:10
Speaker 1: had this mission of the evangelizing and leading house churches
15:13
Speaker 1: in Iran. And eventually in 2009, as a result, as
15:17
Speaker 1: a result of all these activities, we got arrested. Wow.
15:22
Speaker 2: And take me into that moment where you were arrested.
15:25
Speaker 1: Oh, it was just, um, it was, uh, you know,
15:28
Speaker 1: terrible experience. Um, I believe one day in the morning,
15:33
Speaker 1: someone from the security office called Marzia and, you know,
15:39
Speaker 1: lied to her and said there was some problem with
15:43
Speaker 1: her car documents and asked her to go to the
15:46
Speaker 1: police station. Later, she realized that it was just a
15:49
Speaker 1: lie and they knew about us and our activities. We
15:52
Speaker 1: don't know exactly who reported about us, but, you know,
15:57
Speaker 1: we were very public. We Every day we were talking
16:00
Speaker 1: to people about Jesus in restaurants. Anyone could have reported us.
16:03
Speaker 1: Did you know you were going.
16:05
Speaker 2: To get arrested?
16:06
Speaker 3: I mean, because if you're doing this and you're openly
16:08
Speaker 3: talking to people, were you just like resigned to the
16:11
Speaker 3: fact that I'm probably going to get caught?
16:13
Speaker 2: I'm probably going to get thrown into prison.
16:15
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, it was a possibility. We knew that
16:17
Speaker 1: this was, this was, we were living in Islamic Republic
16:21
Speaker 1: of Iran and, you know, it's anti-Christian and, um, Also,
16:26
Speaker 1: the fact that we are cumbered Christians, we were not
16:29
Speaker 1: born as Christians, that in itself is a crime of
16:33
Speaker 1: apostasy in Iran. And, you know, and then when you
16:36
Speaker 1: have activities, it's just worse. Yes, we knew that that
16:39
Speaker 1: could happen to us one day. You know, and then
16:43
Speaker 1: they came to our apartment. I was home. They did
16:46
Speaker 1: a complete search. They found all the Bibles we had
16:49
Speaker 1: at our home. and they took everything that they could
16:52
Speaker 1: find related to Christianity's other books. We had DVDs of
16:56
Speaker 1: Jesus movies and they took us to the police station.
16:59
Speaker 1: We had long hours of interrogation until midnight. And, um,
17:04
Speaker 1: you know, we were in different places. Um, we were
17:06
Speaker 1: in prison for about nine months. Um, uh, for the
17:10
Speaker 1: first 15 days, we were in, in, in a detention
17:12
Speaker 1: center in a basement, a terrible place, um, you know, for, um,
17:19
Speaker 1: for the, for the initial interrogations. Um, and then, then
17:23
Speaker 1: they transferred us to Evin prison, which is famous in Iran. Um,
17:27
Speaker 1: a lot of political prisoners, you know, Christians today are
17:30
Speaker 1: in that prison. Um, and also we had the experience
17:34
Speaker 1: of being in, um, solitary confinement. Uh, there's a building
17:38
Speaker 1: inside Evin prison. It's called 209. And they, they transferred
17:43
Speaker 1: us to solitary confinement for 40 days. Um, for the
17:47
Speaker 1: purpose of interrogation. They purposefully separate people, you know, they
17:51
Speaker 1: separated me and Marzia. And for 40 days, every day,
17:55
Speaker 1: we had long hours of interrogation for like seven, eight hours,
17:59
Speaker 1: blindfolded by two interrogators. They were constantly asking questions and
18:05
Speaker 1: they were basically trying to put pressure on us to
18:07
Speaker 1: deny our faith in Jesus and convert back to Islam.
18:11
Speaker 1: And also they wanted us to give them information about,
18:14
Speaker 1: you know, the people who were going to our house
18:16
Speaker 1: churches and our activities. Wow.
18:20
Speaker 3: So you're in the most infamous or notorious prison in Iran,
18:25
Speaker 3: Evan prison, and you're.
18:28
Speaker 2: In solitary confinement for 40 days, you said? Yes. Being blindfolded.
18:32
Speaker 3: How do you, how do you not mentally crack under
18:35
Speaker 3: that pressure of being blindfolded for the majority of the day,
18:38
Speaker 3: being alone for 40 straight days outside of just these
18:41
Speaker 3: brutal interrogations? I, I, I, It wasn't easy.
18:46
Speaker 1: You know, now I'm sharing this story. This happened in 2009.
18:49
Speaker 1: Sometimes I think about it. And, you know, the first
18:54
Speaker 1: few days that we got arrested, for me, it was
18:58
Speaker 1: the most difficult time, you know, because you are in
19:01
Speaker 1: a shock. Even though, you know, we knew that that
19:05
Speaker 1: could happen to us one day. But I remember I
19:08
Speaker 1: was in a shock. I was so scared that I
19:10
Speaker 1: couldn't even speak. My mouth was so dry. I wasn't
19:14
Speaker 1: able to answer the question of the interrogators. And they
19:18
Speaker 1: were threatening us to physical torture. And they were putting
19:22
Speaker 1: us in this terrible condition, cells in the basement, dirty
19:25
Speaker 1: place until, you know, and you are tired physically, you're
19:29
Speaker 1: tired until midnight, you know, for hours, they're asking you questions,
19:34
Speaker 1: threatening you, threatening your families. Especially the first few days
19:39
Speaker 1: was very difficult. And then after that, that they transferred
19:43
Speaker 1: us to that detention center that I mentioned at the beginning.
19:46
Speaker 1: We were there for 40 to 50 days. 15 days, sorry.
19:53
Speaker 1: But then, you know, what I experienced is that after
19:57
Speaker 1: the first few days, when we had the opportunity to
20:02
Speaker 1: get together with other prisoners in that cell and listen
20:06
Speaker 1: to their stories and we began to pray for them
20:09
Speaker 1: and we just realized that God had a purpose for
20:13
Speaker 1: sending us to that dark place. Everything has changed. We
20:18
Speaker 1: were not as scared. I was not as scared as before,
20:22
Speaker 1: especially for the first few days. I was just shocked.
20:25
Speaker 1: But then when we started getting together with other prisoners
20:29
Speaker 1: in that detention, a lot of them were prostitutes, like
20:31
Speaker 1: those women that I just mentioned to you. In that
20:34
Speaker 1: detention center, every day they would bring more and more women.
20:39
Speaker 1: They were, you know, as young as 15, 16 years old.
20:43
Speaker 1: And we had a chance to sit with them and
20:47
Speaker 1: to listen to their stories and to pray for them.
20:50
Speaker 1: You know, I remember there were times that we would
20:53
Speaker 1: gather with all these women, like seven, eight of us.
20:57
Speaker 1: And we were all talking and we pray for them.
20:59
Speaker 1: We would pray for them, share our stories, how, you know,
21:03
Speaker 1: we ended up in prison, you And then we realized
21:06
Speaker 1: that God had a purpose. It wasn't for nothing, you know,
21:10
Speaker 1: and that changed everything. Not that, you know, it made
21:13
Speaker 1: it easier, but we knew that he was there. There
21:18
Speaker 1: was a purpose.
21:20
Speaker 3: Now, can you take me into this prison real fast, Miriam?
21:22
Speaker 3: I'm trying to like visualize what it looks like. Cause
21:25
Speaker 3: the only thing, the only context I have are like
21:27
Speaker 3: the shows you see on TV of like American prisons.
21:31
Speaker 2: Was it dirty? Was it inhumane? Like, What was it
21:35
Speaker 2: like in Evin prison?
21:36
Speaker 1: It's nothing like American prisons. You know, they don't care
21:40
Speaker 1: about people. They don't care. It doesn't matter who you are,
21:44
Speaker 1: whether you're a political, religious or just a prostitute or addicted.
21:49
Speaker 1: The first detention center that we went to, I remember
21:52
Speaker 1: we got there around 1 a.m. It was completely dark.
21:56
Speaker 1: It was this long hallway, dark, long hallway in the basements.
22:00
Speaker 1: Very cold. We got arrested in winter and we entered
22:03
Speaker 1: this place. The guards told us, just grab some blankets
22:06
Speaker 1: and sleep in one cell. So there's this concrete floor.
22:10
Speaker 1: There's nothing there. And it's freezing cold. And the blankets
22:14
Speaker 1: were wet, strongly smelling of urine. And we realized, you know,
22:19
Speaker 1: later that there were a lot of addicts in that
22:22
Speaker 1: detention center. They wouldn't use the bathroom. And then we
22:26
Speaker 1: had to use some of the blankets because it was
22:28
Speaker 1: really cold and sleep on concrete floor. I remember for
22:32
Speaker 1: the first few days, we didn't even eat. We were
22:35
Speaker 1: so thirsty. We were hungry. And they would, after a
22:39
Speaker 1: few days, they would bring some, they would throw some,
22:42
Speaker 1: you know, food inside each cell. And it was so dirty.
22:45
Speaker 1: I remember the toilets in that detention center. It was
22:49
Speaker 1: inside that hallway. It was just that the smell was
22:53
Speaker 1: all over, you know. And I remember Marzi and I
22:55
Speaker 1: decided to clean those toilets. It was really disgusting. And
23:01
Speaker 1: Evin Prison was the same. You know, Evin Prison, when
23:03
Speaker 1: we were in the public ward, there are different rooms.
23:07
Speaker 1: In each room, there were, I don't know how many women,
23:10
Speaker 1: about 20, 30 women. There were bunks in each room.
23:14
Speaker 1: But a lot of times, there were more women there. then,
23:18
Speaker 1: you know, they had enough bunks and people were sleeping
23:21
Speaker 1: on the floor. The condition, the quality of food was terrible.
23:26
Speaker 1: You know, they don't care about, they don't consider these
23:29
Speaker 1: people in prison human. That's why, you know, everything, the
23:34
Speaker 1: condition was horrible. I remember, you know, once I was
23:41
Speaker 1: so sick because of the food they gave us. that
23:44
Speaker 1: they had to transfer me to clinic after hours of
23:49
Speaker 1: throwing up and being in the hallway. I almost passed out.
23:52
Speaker 1: And eventually they had to transfer me to a clinic.
23:56
Speaker 1: And every time we got sick, we couldn't see a doctor.
23:59
Speaker 1: I remember we had earaches. We had sore throat. We
24:02
Speaker 1: were just so sick in that prison. And they wouldn't
24:05
Speaker 1: give us medical care, especially for us. At the time,
24:10
Speaker 1: we were the only Christians in any prison. And they
24:14
Speaker 1: want to put more pressure on you. They don't want
24:17
Speaker 1: you to feel comfortable in that place.
24:22
Speaker 3: And you're with these women who are prostitutes, but some
24:27
Speaker 3: of them are 15 years old, 16 years old.
24:29
Speaker 2: And they're there because a lot of– was it because
24:32
Speaker 2: of poverty?
24:33
Speaker 3: Were they forced into these marriages by these men and
24:35
Speaker 3: then deemed prostitutes by the country? Like were a lot
24:39
Speaker 3: of these women victims?
24:41
Speaker 2: Were all of them victims? Yes.
24:43
Speaker 1: I would say all of them. All of them were
24:45
Speaker 1: victims of this Islamic regime and Islamic laws. You know,
24:50
Speaker 1: in Iran, women are considered second class citizens. They have
24:55
Speaker 1: no rights. And there were young girls in prison who
24:59
Speaker 1: were forced into marriages that, you know, at the end
25:03
Speaker 1: they died. those marriages became abusive. We had a woman
25:08
Speaker 1: in prison, was very young, and she was in prison
25:12
Speaker 1: in charges of murder. You know, when we were outside prison,
25:18
Speaker 1: we did not know. I mean, we would hear the news.
25:21
Speaker 1: We could see all these stories in the news, but
25:23
Speaker 1: in prison, it was very real. Like, who is a murderer?
25:27
Speaker 1: You know, this young woman, she was shy that she
25:31
Speaker 1: didn't even She couldn't even speak. She was very young and,
25:36
Speaker 1: you know, innocent. But she was forced into marriage and
25:40
Speaker 1: the marriage became abusive and her husband was beating her
25:43
Speaker 1: eventually to defend herself. One day, I believe she threw
25:47
Speaker 1: something to him and hit his head and he was killed.
25:52
Speaker 1: And then she was in prison being a murderer, you know,
25:57
Speaker 1: and then eventually they hanged her. This was just one example.
26:02
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of these women were victims of this,
26:05
Speaker 1: this Islamic laws. And as I said, this, we call
26:09
Speaker 1: them prostitutes, but when we heard their stories, how like
26:12
Speaker 1: the difficulties and the struggles they had to face from childhood,
26:18
Speaker 1: you know, one of these women, I remember she opened
26:20
Speaker 1: her mouth and she had no teeth in her mouth
26:23
Speaker 1: and she, she, grew up in poverty. And, you know, um, Ryan, honestly,
26:30
Speaker 1: sometimes we were speechless. We had nothing to say, you know,
26:34
Speaker 1: and that's why a lot of times we were just
26:36
Speaker 1: praying for them. Um, because when you see the, the, the,
26:40
Speaker 1: the pain of people and what they go through, um,
26:44
Speaker 1: in life, um, it seems like, you know, a lot
26:47
Speaker 1: of them were not in control of anything that was
26:49
Speaker 1: happening in their life and they ended up in prison.
26:51
Speaker 1: And again, in prison, they were abusing them. Some of
26:55
Speaker 1: these women would go to the court and the judges
26:59
Speaker 1: would just suggest that if they were doing temporary marriage
27:03
Speaker 1: with them, they would be released from prison. And some
27:08
Speaker 1: of these women accepted their offer. You know, and this
27:13
Speaker 1: is sad. And this is, you know, they were being
27:16
Speaker 1: abused by outside prison, inside prison, by judges, by, by
27:21
Speaker 1: all these men who consider themselves, you know, right. Yeah.
27:27
Speaker 2: These temporary marriages.
27:28
Speaker 3: It reminds me of like in America, some rundown motels,
27:32
Speaker 3: you can rent the motel for like two hours or
27:35
Speaker 3: an hour.
27:36
Speaker 1: Yeah.
27:36
Speaker 3: And it's like, well, clearly what are you running it for?
27:38
Speaker 3: It's like, this isn't a real marriage. This is prostitution.
27:41
Speaker 3: And then it's not the men that get in trouble.
27:43
Speaker 3: It's the women that get in trouble. Can you tell
27:46
Speaker 3: me one story of your time in prison in Iran
27:49
Speaker 3: with some of these women that they were impacted by
27:52
Speaker 3: you and Marzi's faith in a deep way?
27:55
Speaker 1: There were a lot of, I would say every day,
27:58
Speaker 1: every day we had a chance to sit with these women,
28:01
Speaker 1: listen to their stories. That made a huge difference. They
28:06
Speaker 1: wanted someone to listen to them and understand that they
28:09
Speaker 1: are victims. Yes, they're for a crime. They had a crime.
28:13
Speaker 1: but they were all victims of the Islamic laws. And,
28:18
Speaker 1: you know, I remember a miracle that happened. The first
28:23
Speaker 1: few days when we were in the detention center, I remember,
28:27
Speaker 1: as I told you, I was very scared. And I
28:30
Speaker 1: remember they took Marzia for interrogation. I was downstairs in
28:35
Speaker 1: a room alone. And I was just walking in the
28:39
Speaker 1: room and praying. praying in tongues. I didn't even know
28:43
Speaker 1: how to pray. I just was praying for myself or
28:46
Speaker 1: Marzia who was in interrogation. And I remember there was
28:49
Speaker 1: this guard, you know, opened the door, started screaming at me.
28:54
Speaker 1: And I knew that was like a spiritual attack. And
28:59
Speaker 1: she was so mad that I was praying and walking
29:02
Speaker 1: and praying in that room. She started screaming at me
29:05
Speaker 1: and told me to shut up. And then I just,
29:09
Speaker 1: my heart broke. Really, I felt like my heart broke.
29:13
Speaker 1: And I started praying for her. And I said, God, please,
29:16
Speaker 1: I want to forgive her. I started praying for her.
29:19
Speaker 1: And then a few days after that, you know, Marzi
29:22
Speaker 1: and I were in the cell waiting for them to
29:25
Speaker 1: transfer us to Evin Prison. The same guard came to
29:28
Speaker 1: me and looked into my face. Her face completely changed.
29:32
Speaker 1: Her behavior changed very kindly. You know, asked how I
29:38
Speaker 1: was doing. And I was like, how are you doing?
29:39
Speaker 1: And I was, like, shocked. Like, she's asking me how
29:42
Speaker 1: I'm doing. And then I felt like she wanted to
29:45
Speaker 1: start a conversation with me and talk to me and,
29:49
Speaker 1: you know, kind of apologize for her behavior before. And
29:52
Speaker 1: then in the taxi when they were driving us to
29:56
Speaker 1: Evin Prison, She told me that she apologized for her
30:02
Speaker 1: behavior and she asked me to pray for her. And
30:05
Speaker 1: she said, you know, this is I have to do this.
30:09
Speaker 1: This is my job. And I realized she was, again,
30:12
Speaker 1: in poverty. And she said, I think father, she had
30:15
Speaker 1: he has cancer. Can you pray for him? She asked
30:18
Speaker 1: me to pray for her father. And, you know, this
30:21
Speaker 1: was completely a moment that I felt that God spoke
30:25
Speaker 1: to her and she felt that she needed to come
30:28
Speaker 1: to me and apologize for her behavior and asked me
30:30
Speaker 1: to pray for her. This was a guard, you know,
30:33
Speaker 1: and then in prison, so many prisoners, every time we
30:36
Speaker 1: sat with someone and prayed for them. We could see that,
30:40
Speaker 1: you know, even in that detention center that I mentioned
30:42
Speaker 1: to you, that these women, these prostitutes were crying and
30:46
Speaker 1: some of them were raising their hands, giving their hearts
30:49
Speaker 1: to Jesus and praying with us. We could see the
30:53
Speaker 1: miracles every single day. Wow.
30:59
Speaker 3: And then you started to hear pretty clearly from the
31:01
Speaker 3: Holy Spirit. He would give you some revelations, some dreams,
31:04
Speaker 3: some visions. Can you tell me about that a little bit?
31:06
Speaker 1: You know, you asked about the solitary confinement. I forgot
31:13
Speaker 1: to answer that question. You know, it was different. You know,
31:16
Speaker 1: when we were in public prison, it was different because
31:20
Speaker 1: every day we could sit with women, talk to them,
31:22
Speaker 1: pray for them, and that was strengthening us, encouraging us.
31:26
Speaker 1: But then later when they transferred us to solitary confinement,
31:30
Speaker 1: we were alone. I was alone in a cell with
31:32
Speaker 1: one woman. Marzi was alone with someone else. And I
31:36
Speaker 1: remember there was a day that we got back to
31:40
Speaker 1: the cell from the court and I could not feel
31:43
Speaker 1: God's presence. And it was the scariest moment in my life.
31:49
Speaker 1: And I could not hear his voice. I just felt
31:51
Speaker 1: like I cannot feel God. And I remember I just
31:56
Speaker 1: laid down on the floor and I started crying and
32:00
Speaker 1: I felt like God was asking me to worship, start worshiping.
32:04
Speaker 1: You know, in that building, you can't speak loudly. They
32:08
Speaker 1: can't hear your voice. But very loudly, I started singing
32:13
Speaker 1: in tongues. And then I started singing some Farsi worship
32:17
Speaker 1: songs about Jesus being God. My cellmate was so scared.
32:21
Speaker 1: And she told me, Marianne, please, can you stop singing?
32:24
Speaker 1: They will come punish you. But I think for half
32:28
Speaker 1: an hour, I was just singing and worshiping. And then
32:30
Speaker 1: I thought, an overwhelming presence of God all over me
32:34
Speaker 1: in that cell. And God told me something, and he
32:38
Speaker 1: taught me something. He said, you know, it's not about
32:41
Speaker 1: your emotions. Sometimes you feel me, sometimes you don't. You
32:45
Speaker 1: feel I'm far away, but I'm always close to you.
32:48
Speaker 1: And that day, my cellmate, she was a political prisoner,
32:52
Speaker 1: an older woman. She also felt the presence of God
32:55
Speaker 1: and asked me to teach her some of the worship
32:58
Speaker 1: songs so she can sing them with me. And then
33:01
Speaker 1: later at that night, one of the guards came to
33:04
Speaker 1: the cell and told me that, you know, you did
33:06
Speaker 1: whatever you wanted today. And I realized that they even,
33:09
Speaker 1: the guards even heard me, but no one came to
33:12
Speaker 1: stop me. Um, an amazing experience with the Holy spirit that, um,
33:18
Speaker 1: you know, yes, we were in prison and God had
33:20
Speaker 1: a plan for us to, um, share Jesus with women
33:24
Speaker 1: who needed to hear the message of salvation, but also
33:27
Speaker 1: God had something for us. Um, He wanted us to
33:31
Speaker 1: experience him in a different way. And I had an
33:35
Speaker 1: amazing experience with God that I sometimes I tell people,
33:40
Speaker 1: even though it was a horrific experience, but it was
33:42
Speaker 1: one of the best experiences of my life.
33:47
Speaker 2: It's beautiful.
33:48
Speaker 3: Just because I know the story, Miriam, and I know
33:51
Speaker 3: that you need to get back to your little guy
33:54
Speaker 3: and to Tom.
33:56
Speaker 2: I want to flash forward a little bit to.
34:00
Speaker 3: when you guys were set to be executed and the executioner.
34:05
Speaker 2: Could you tell us about that?
34:06
Speaker 3: And, um, just kind of take us into that whole story,
34:09
Speaker 3: how he began to hear as well through dreams.
34:12
Speaker 1: Well, there, there were a few incidents, you know, that
34:16
Speaker 1: went to different courts and also, um, yes, we were,
34:20
Speaker 1: our charge was apostasy because we converted from Islam to Christianity. Um,
34:25
Speaker 1: and in each court, the judges told us that they wanted,
34:28
Speaker 1: they would, make sure that we will face execution. And
34:34
Speaker 1: for me, that was really, you know, not knowing what
34:36
Speaker 1: will happen to you. It's just that you don't know what's,
34:42
Speaker 1: you know, we knew that they are capable of doing anything.
34:45
Speaker 1: This regime is evil. But it was just hard to
34:49
Speaker 1: hear that. But I remember that, you know, one example
34:53
Speaker 1: I can give you about the guards that really experienced
34:56
Speaker 1: Jesus in prison was, was that one day we were
34:59
Speaker 1: in a public ward with Marcia, and we heard our
35:02
Speaker 1: names from the loudspeaker. They asked us to go to
35:07
Speaker 1: the prison manager's office. And when we went there, we
35:11
Speaker 1: saw all these guards that were famous for going to
35:14
Speaker 1: prison and punishing prisoners. And they were sitting there, and
35:18
Speaker 1: once we entered the room, he asked the prison manager
35:23
Speaker 1: to leave the room so he could speak with us alone.
35:27
Speaker 1: And then once she left, he said, you know, I'm
35:31
Speaker 1: here to help you. And he shared with us that
35:34
Speaker 1: he had a dream about Jesus. And in his dream,
35:38
Speaker 1: Jesus asked him to come to prison and help us.
35:42
Speaker 1: And at the same time, his friend who was living
35:44
Speaker 1: in a different city had a dream about Jesus. And
35:48
Speaker 1: Jesus told his friend to tell his friend to come
35:51
Speaker 1: to prison, see us and see how he can help us.
35:54
Speaker 1: And he did it. This was towards the end that
35:57
Speaker 1: we were going to be free. And he smuggled some supplements,
36:01
Speaker 1: some medicines to prison for us. And after prison, he
36:05
Speaker 1: also invited us to his house and asked us to
36:08
Speaker 1: go to his house, which was, you know, at the
36:09
Speaker 1: time we were not sure if it was a trap
36:12
Speaker 1: or not. But we accepted and we went to his house.
36:15
Speaker 1: He was there with his wife and children and his
36:18
Speaker 1: friend who had a dream about Jesus was also there.
36:21
Speaker 1: And he asked us to walk in his house to
36:24
Speaker 1: pray over his house. This is a religious man. His
36:27
Speaker 1: wife was covered with Islamic hijab, but he experienced Jesus.
36:32
Speaker 1: He had a dream about Jesus and he asked us
36:34
Speaker 1: to pray for him and his family. Unfortunately, after we
36:37
Speaker 1: got released, we heard from some of our friends in
36:40
Speaker 1: prison that he was exiled to another city. We don't
36:42
Speaker 1: know what happened to him, but we know that they
36:46
Speaker 1: monitor all these guards and people who are in charge
36:51
Speaker 1: of prisoners.
36:52
Speaker 3: Okay, so you're in this prison. It's dirty.
36:55
Speaker 2: It's disgusting.
36:56
Speaker 3: You're being blindfolded, interrogated, but you have this amazing ministry
37:01
Speaker 3: to these women. Some of them eventually were executed. by
37:06
Speaker 3: the Iranian government, how did you guys then get out?
37:10
Speaker 3: How were you guys not hanged for apostasy?
37:14
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of Christians since the beginning of
37:18
Speaker 1: arrest have been praying for us and advocating for individual Christians,
37:23
Speaker 1: Christian organizations, missions. When they heard about our stories, they
37:28
Speaker 1: started praying for us and that those prayers made a
37:31
Speaker 1: huge difference. But at the same time, you know, they
37:35
Speaker 1: got involved. They started advocating on our behalf. Other governments,
37:41
Speaker 1: you know, became aware of our situation.
37:43
Speaker 3: U.S.
37:43
Speaker 1: State Department, some other European countries got involved. They started
37:49
Speaker 1: talking to the Iranian government and asking for our release.
37:53
Speaker 1: And also, as I mentioned, the former pope wrote a
37:57
Speaker 1: letter to the Iranian regime and asked for our release.
38:01
Speaker 1: As a result of all of this, you know, we
38:03
Speaker 1: could see towards the end that their behavior was changing. Basically,
38:09
Speaker 1: you know, I remember it was right before we got
38:11
Speaker 1: out of prison, our interrogators took us to a room and,
38:17
Speaker 1: you know, they sat with us and they told us,
38:19
Speaker 1: you know, basically trying to, before we got out, trying
38:23
Speaker 1: to tell us that, you know, we were trying just
38:26
Speaker 1: to protect you. There are radical Muslims out there in
38:30
Speaker 1: the society. Basically, they were trying to tell us that
38:33
Speaker 1: we were in prison because they wanted to protect us.
38:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, right.
38:37
Speaker 1: Which was a lie. But they were under so much pressure.
38:41
Speaker 1: And I think at the time, because we were the
38:44
Speaker 1: first Christian women who were in prison because of our
38:47
Speaker 1: Christian faith and activities, our case received a lot of attention. Nowadays,
38:54
Speaker 1: you know, today there are hundreds of Christians in prison.
38:58
Speaker 1: They have charges like Some of them have 10, 15
39:01
Speaker 1: years sentence to be in prison. But because we were
39:05
Speaker 1: the first people, you know, in prison for our Christian faith, that,
39:09
Speaker 1: you know, our case received a lot of attention, international attention,
39:14
Speaker 1: and they put a lot of pressure on the government.
39:16
Speaker 1: As a result, they had to release us. But they
39:20
Speaker 1: threatened us also after we got out of prison. We
39:23
Speaker 1: had one last court that we had to go to
39:27
Speaker 1: six months after we got you know, out of prison.
39:31
Speaker 1: We had to go to that court and they threatened us.
39:34
Speaker 1: The judge threatened us and told us that we are
39:37
Speaker 1: monitoring you. We are watching you. You can't continue your
39:41
Speaker 1: Christian activities. You can't be in contact with your Christian friends.
39:45
Speaker 1: And we realized, you know, we were free, but we
39:47
Speaker 1: were on a house arrest.
39:49
Speaker 3: Right.
39:50
Speaker 1: We could not do anything else. That's why we decided
39:52
Speaker 1: to leave Iran. We realized that our time in Iran
39:56
Speaker 1: was over. Wow. Wow. Wow.
40:01
Speaker 3: So the Pope wrote a letter for your release. Did
40:04
Speaker 3: you ever connect with him?
40:07
Speaker 1: No, no, unfortunately we didn't.
40:12
Speaker 2: That's incredible. Okay. So then what?
40:14
Speaker 3: So then you're, you realize, Hey, we're pretty much in prison,
40:18
Speaker 3: even though we're not in prison in Iran. And so
40:21
Speaker 3: how did you guys eventually land up in the States?
40:24
Speaker 1: Well, we left Iran in 2010. We went to Turkey first.
40:30
Speaker 1: And then through the UN, we got refugee status. And
40:35
Speaker 1: we were in Turkey for a year, almost a year.
40:37
Speaker 1: And then we got our refugee status. Ended up in
40:40
Speaker 1: the US. We went to Atlanta, Georgia. We had some friends.
40:45
Speaker 1: And then, you know... came to a new country, knew everything,
40:51
Speaker 1: had to learn the language, culture, and, you know, but
40:56
Speaker 1: we knew that God... You got your degree, right?
40:58
Speaker 2: That's your master's.
41:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, we wrote a book about our prison experiences. It
41:04
Speaker 1: took us three years. It's called Captive in Iran. And
41:07
Speaker 1: we tried to share some of the stories of women
41:12
Speaker 1: whom we met in prison. It wasn't just sharing our story.
41:16
Speaker 1: And we knew, you know, we were not in prison
41:20
Speaker 1: for no reason. God had a purpose. That's why we
41:22
Speaker 1: shared all those stories. And for, I would say, 10,
41:26
Speaker 1: 11 years after we moved to the U.S., we were
41:28
Speaker 1: just speaking and sharing our prison stories and human rights
41:34
Speaker 1: violations going on in Iran. That's what we have been doing.
41:38
Speaker 1: And also at the same time, as you mentioned, yeah,
41:40
Speaker 1: we were in the school. getting degrees, you know, I
41:45
Speaker 1: finished bachelor and masters in international affairs in Atlanta. It
41:49
Speaker 1: was a lot.
41:51
Speaker 2: It's awesome. It's amazing.
41:52
Speaker 3: And then we got to hang out. So then we
41:54
Speaker 3: met through a mutual friend and then you met one
41:58
Speaker 3: of my mutual friends, fell in love. The Lord put
42:01
Speaker 3: you guys together. Now you've got sweet little baby. Um,
42:05
Speaker 3: he's just the cutest little guy ever. Um, I'm going
42:08
Speaker 3: to put the link for Captive in Iran in the
42:11
Speaker 3: show notes as well, guys, or in the description if
42:13
Speaker 3: you're on YouTube.
42:14
Speaker 2: Please read this book. It's an amazing read.
42:17
Speaker 3: It's been a number of years now since I've read it,
42:20
Speaker 3: but I was hooked. And now what I want to
42:23
Speaker 3: get to, Marzi, because you have a degree in international relations.
42:28
Speaker 2: You're brilliant. You've had this experience. You understand the regime.
42:32
Speaker 3: You understand the way the American government works, the way
42:35
Speaker 3: the Iranian government works. What Can you just give us
42:38
Speaker 3: like for the next little bit of time here, tell
42:41
Speaker 3: us what's happening in Iran right now and what the world,
42:45
Speaker 3: what the West, what America should really be knowing about this?
42:50
Speaker 1: Well, you know that the Iranian people are hostage for
42:55
Speaker 1: nearly 50 years, 47 years now. This Islamic regime has
43:02
Speaker 1: taken the Iranian people hostage. And what we hear today
43:07
Speaker 1: in the news, it's not new. It's nothing new, you know.
43:10
Speaker 1: But recently we know that there have been massive nationwide
43:15
Speaker 1: protests across Iran. And, you know, these recent protests started,
43:20
Speaker 1: I believe, late December and are still continuing. And many
43:25
Speaker 1: people say that this is the largest challenge to the
43:28
Speaker 1: Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution. Millions of people came
43:33
Speaker 1: to the streets in almost every city. And, you know,
43:37
Speaker 1: this and this is, as I mentioned, this is not new.
43:40
Speaker 1: Every time something something triggers these protests. Last one was
43:44
Speaker 1: a few years ago, killing of Mahsa Amini, a 22
43:48
Speaker 1: year old Kurdish Iranian woman who was killed by by
43:53
Speaker 1: the morality police for not having proper hijab. And as
43:57
Speaker 1: a result, again, thousands of people came to the street.
44:01
Speaker 1: And these recent protests that started late December, you know,
44:05
Speaker 1: what triggered it was economic collapse and high inflation. But
44:11
Speaker 1: we all know that the main reason, you know, for
44:15
Speaker 1: these uprising, not just this one, all the previous uprising
44:19
Speaker 1: as well, is that people are done with this regime
44:22
Speaker 1: and the ayatollahs. You know, they are calling for a
44:26
Speaker 1: major political change, not just a reform, because people believe
44:30
Speaker 1: that this regime cannot be reformed. They are asking for
44:34
Speaker 1: regime change. That's why they are coming to the street.
44:38
Speaker 1: But what has been happening is that the regime security forces,
44:43
Speaker 1: as you know, killed thousands of people just the past
44:47
Speaker 1: two weeks. There are different numbers out there, 10, 12, 20,000.
44:53
Speaker 1: I believe the number is much higher than what we
44:55
Speaker 1: hear and see in the news. And they are killing,
44:58
Speaker 1: you know, children as young as three years old, women,
45:03
Speaker 1: and arrested thousands of people whom we know that will
45:07
Speaker 1: face execution in the future. So this is what is
45:10
Speaker 1: happening in Iran. And I saw even yesterday or two
45:14
Speaker 1: days ago that according to an Iraqi security force that
45:20
Speaker 1: the Islamic regime imported about 5,000 Iraqi militia members to
45:27
Speaker 1: help them with the crackdown. And they entered Iran under
45:31
Speaker 1: the guise of, you know, religious pilgrimage. And this is just,
45:37
Speaker 1: and the scary thing is that I believe since January 8th,
45:41
Speaker 1: what's today, January 8th, yeah, it's more than a week,
45:44
Speaker 1: that the regime cut off all means of communication. No internet,
45:50
Speaker 1: no phone. no satellite services, and this means that they
45:55
Speaker 1: are hiding their crimes, and this means that they are
45:58
Speaker 1: continuing the massacre. And that's just horrific, you know, just
46:04
Speaker 1: knowing that the darkness that is happening, you know, the
46:08
Speaker 1: atrocities that are happening in Iran. But, you know, as
46:12
Speaker 1: I said, what I feel like about these recent protests
46:16
Speaker 1: is that you see it, a bravery, a courage in
46:20
Speaker 1: people that we haven't seen before. It's like people are
46:24
Speaker 1: done and they don't even care if they get killed.
46:29
Speaker 1: And I know that I've dealt with this regime. I've
46:33
Speaker 1: dealt with the agents. I know how scary they are.
46:36
Speaker 1: It's not easy. It's easy for us to sit here
46:40
Speaker 1: and say, yeah, go to the street and fight this regime.
46:43
Speaker 1: But I know it's not easy. You are facing evil,
46:47
Speaker 1: true evil. And for people to go to the street,
46:51
Speaker 1: bare hands, they're not armed. And standing against them, they
46:55
Speaker 1: have arms. They're shooting at people. But still, they're going
46:59
Speaker 1: to the street. Millions of people went to the street
47:04
Speaker 1: and stood against this regime. But what is sad is
47:09
Speaker 1: that it seems like the Iranian people are alone in
47:14
Speaker 1: this fight. they do not, they're not getting the support
47:18
Speaker 1: they need to get from the international community. And that's heartbreaking.
47:22
Speaker 1: And that's very sad. You know, we are very grateful,
47:26
Speaker 1: especially for President Trump, for his words of encouragement and
47:31
Speaker 1: support for Iranian people. They meant something to the people
47:35
Speaker 1: in Iran. I hear, I read the comments of people
47:39
Speaker 1: inside Iran on their, every, every single, I read the
47:43
Speaker 1: comments of people and they all love President Trump and
47:45
Speaker 1: they counted on him for support, you know, and I
47:49
Speaker 1: believe that he started showing his support at the beginning
47:53
Speaker 1: of January and encouraging protesters to continue and to go out.
47:58
Speaker 1: And he even mentioned that if even if anyone gets shot,
48:02
Speaker 1: you know, the U.S. will intervene. So, you know, people
48:06
Speaker 1: were already in the street. But I believe as a
48:08
Speaker 1: result of his words, more people went to the street
48:12
Speaker 1: and joined the protest because they were emboldened by his words.
48:16
Speaker 1: These are strong words. There's power in our words. And
48:20
Speaker 1: just three days ago, you know, this was this week,
48:24
Speaker 1: he again posted something on his social media and encouraging
48:27
Speaker 1: Iranians to go to the street and take over their institution.
48:31
Speaker 1: And he said, help is on its way. So people
48:34
Speaker 1: were hopeful that this time, a U.S. president is standing
48:39
Speaker 1: with them and is going to support them, which I hope,
48:42
Speaker 1: you know, I still hope that they will get some
48:45
Speaker 1: help and support. What kind of help and.
48:48
Speaker 2: Support are you looking for? Like, what would you want
48:51
Speaker 2: him to do?
48:52
Speaker 1: You know, let me tell you something. As I said,
48:56
Speaker 1: words matter. When we were in prison, I remember the
49:00
Speaker 1: first time we heard from our sisters through a visit
49:03
Speaker 1: that we had with them that people were aware of
49:07
Speaker 1: Our situation and we're praying for us. These were just
49:10
Speaker 1: words that we heard. We got so encouraged. It's important
49:14
Speaker 1: to know that someone is watching and they are praying
49:18
Speaker 1: and they are supporting you. But if it was just words,
49:22
Speaker 1: nothing would happen. We wouldn't get free. After the words,
49:27
Speaker 1: we saw actions. You know, as I mentioned, Christian organizations
49:30
Speaker 1: got involved. There were Christian organizations who encouraged Christians to
49:37
Speaker 1: write letters and send them to prisons. And that made
49:40
Speaker 1: a huge difference. The guards, authorities came to prison to
49:44
Speaker 1: tell us that they had a room full of letters,
49:49
Speaker 1: a room full of letters. And they were shocked why
49:52
Speaker 1: people are sending letters to prison for us. That was
49:56
Speaker 1: one action. It wasn't just prayer or words. It was action. Then,
50:01
Speaker 1: as I mentioned, the Pope got involved. The U.S. State
50:04
Speaker 1: Department got involved. European Parliament got involved. They put pressure
50:07
Speaker 1: on the Iranian regime. As a result, we got free.
50:11
Speaker 1: These are actions. And I don't know how they are
50:14
Speaker 1: going to support Iranian people, but it has to be
50:18
Speaker 1: more than words. There are ways that they can support
50:23
Speaker 1: Iranian people. Even Iranians expected the U.S. to get involved,
50:28
Speaker 1: and they were thinking about a military intervention, which is
50:32
Speaker 1: really because what we are dealing with now is there's
50:37
Speaker 1: a war going on in Iran. It is a war because,
50:40
Speaker 1: you know, millions of people are in the street and
50:44
Speaker 1: there are armed forces shooting at people. It's a war.
50:48
Speaker 1: But people do not have arms to defend themselves. It's
50:51
Speaker 1: a massacre. So the international community, not just the U.S.,
50:55
Speaker 1: international community should stand with the Iranian people and show
50:59
Speaker 1: some concrete actions, provide some support. Because, you know, it's
51:04
Speaker 1: like telling someone, you go ahead, I have your back.
51:09
Speaker 1: But then people read and, you know, they count on
51:12
Speaker 1: these words, but there's no support, no help.
51:17
Speaker 3: So what would your message to President Trump be? If
51:20
Speaker 3: he was sitting in front of you right now, what
51:21
Speaker 3: would you tell him?
51:23
Speaker 1: I would say, President Trump, I ask you, please take action.
51:29
Speaker 1: Take action. You know, we don't I know it's it's
51:32
Speaker 1: complicated politically. It's complicated. There are so many things to
51:37
Speaker 1: consider for someone like President Trump. But I also know that,
51:43
Speaker 1: you know, there is a moment that we need to know,
51:46
Speaker 1: are we on the side of people, innocent people or
51:50
Speaker 1: an evil regime? We need to take side. We need
51:53
Speaker 1: to take the side of people, not the ayatollahs. Because
51:57
Speaker 1: in the long term, the United States, the whole region,
52:01
Speaker 1: the Middle East region, and other countries benefit if this
52:05
Speaker 1: regime falls. And this is something that the Iranian people
52:09
Speaker 1: has been fighting for. And I know this, that Iranians
52:13
Speaker 1: will eventually overthrow this regime, with or without support from
52:17
Speaker 1: the West or international community. It's just how we get there,
52:21
Speaker 1: you know. Are we going to sit and see millions
52:23
Speaker 1: of people are getting killed?
52:25
Speaker 3: Or.
52:26
Speaker 1: we show that, you know, we, we care about humanity.
52:29
Speaker 1: We still care about humanity and beyond politics. I know
52:33
Speaker 1: there are so many things to consider politically, but we
52:37
Speaker 1: have to decide, you know, do we care about people
52:40
Speaker 1: or politics?
52:42
Speaker 3: Hmm.
52:43
Speaker 1: Amen. Amen.
52:44
Speaker 3: Well, what, what can the American Christian that's watching this
52:48
Speaker 3: tangibly do? We've mentioned smuggling Bibles for global Christian relief.
52:52
Speaker 3: That is a tangible action. Um, But for this crisis,
52:57
Speaker 3: this particular crisis, what would your ask be?
53:01
Speaker 1: You know, my first, I always say pray, pray, because
53:05
Speaker 1: I believe in the power of prayers more than the
53:08
Speaker 1: power of politicians, more than the power of the United
53:12
Speaker 1: States or international community. There is power in our prayers.
53:17
Speaker 1: That's what I've been doing since the beginning of these protests.
53:21
Speaker 1: And because we as Christians know that this is a
53:24
Speaker 1: spiritual battle. It's beyond what is happening politically. It's spiritual.
53:31
Speaker 1: I lived in Iran. I know the darkness that is
53:34
Speaker 1: over Iran. It's been 50 years, nearly 50 years. And
53:40
Speaker 1: we know that God needs to intervene. We need to
53:43
Speaker 1: pray for God to intervene on behalf of the Iranian people.
53:46
Speaker 1: And if anything needs to change, even if the international
53:50
Speaker 1: community needs to get involved, I pray that God changes
53:54
Speaker 1: the leader's heart. leaders such as President Trump, other European
53:58
Speaker 1: countries' leaders, and guide them and give them discernment how
54:02
Speaker 1: to get involved. That's also very important. I know a
54:07
Speaker 1: lot of Christians this weekend, I've been with a group
54:10
Speaker 1: of Christians that prayed for hours, powerful prayers for our leaders,
54:16
Speaker 1: just for our leaders, that God gives them wisdom and
54:19
Speaker 1: discernment on how they should get involved and support the
54:23
Speaker 1: Iranian people because this is a spiritual battle. We know
54:28
Speaker 1: that in Ephesians 6 it says, our struggle is not
54:31
Speaker 1: against flesh and blood, and I believe that. Also pray
54:34
Speaker 1: for Iranian families who have lost loved ones. I cannot
54:38
Speaker 1: imagine what they are going through. There are videos out
54:42
Speaker 1: there you can see that they go and identify the bodies.
54:46
Speaker 1: They put the bodies in the street for families to
54:49
Speaker 1: go identify them. And even if they want to retrieve
54:53
Speaker 1: their families' bodies, they have to pay thousands of U.S.
54:56
Speaker 1: dollars to get the bodies of their families. We need
55:00
Speaker 1: to pray for them. I don't even know what they
55:02
Speaker 1: are going through. And also we need to pray for
55:05
Speaker 1: Iranians to be united. Something that was in my heart
55:08
Speaker 1: from the beginning of these protests was that God needs
55:12
Speaker 1: to unite people's hearts. And give them a courage that
55:16
Speaker 1: is beyond worldly courage because it's not easy to face
55:20
Speaker 1: this evil regime. And I'm praying that God give them
55:24
Speaker 1: a courage to go out, millions of people, not just thousands,
55:28
Speaker 1: millions of people go out and together against this regime.
55:33
Speaker 1: Because I believe there is power in unity. And if
55:36
Speaker 1: people are together, millions of them, no security force can
55:40
Speaker 1: stand against them. How many people can you kill? They
55:45
Speaker 1: need to be united, but they need to get that
55:47
Speaker 1: bravery and courage from God because it's not easy. And
55:50
Speaker 1: also I would pray for Christians who are in Iran.
55:53
Speaker 1: As I mentioned, Iran is the fastest growing church, underground
55:57
Speaker 1: church in the world. And there are many Christians in
56:01
Speaker 1: Iran right now. And pray for those Christians because they
56:05
Speaker 1: have power. This is a spiritual fight that they go
56:09
Speaker 1: to the street, pray over the streets, pray for people
56:12
Speaker 1: during the protests. Go show their support in any ways
56:16
Speaker 1: they can because we know that they are the ones
56:20
Speaker 1: fighting this spiritual battle, that they will be protected and
56:24
Speaker 1: God shows them how they can support their fellow countrymen
56:28
Speaker 1: at this critical time. You know, prayer. Prayer is very important.
56:32
Speaker 1: But also, as James says, faith without deeds or action
56:37
Speaker 1: is dead. We should pray, have faith in God, but
56:40
Speaker 1: also we need to take some actions. Reach out to
56:43
Speaker 1: your representative, congressmen, congresswomen. Request that, you know, they urge
56:49
Speaker 1: President Trump to take some concrete action. If they live
56:52
Speaker 1: in European countries, do the same thing. Reach out to
56:55
Speaker 1: your representatives. You know, talk to your neighbors. Talk to
56:58
Speaker 1: your colleagues. That's what I do. You know, I ask
57:01
Speaker 1: people around me. I ask my colleagues, do you know
57:03
Speaker 1: what's happening in Iran? You know, something you are doing
57:06
Speaker 1: right now, Ryan. You have a platform, and you decided
57:09
Speaker 1: to cover this issue, talk about Iran, even as an American.
57:13
Speaker 1: And this is an action you are taking. You are
57:15
Speaker 1: trying to give a voice to the Iranian people who
57:18
Speaker 1: are getting killed every single day in Iran. There are
57:21
Speaker 1: so many ways. I don't know. Each one of us
57:24
Speaker 1: has no, you know what we can do, but we
57:27
Speaker 1: need to pray and also take action at the same time. Amen. Amen.
57:33
Speaker 3: Well, I would encourage everyone listening to do a few things.
57:35
Speaker 3: Number one, you should write your elected official. You should
57:38
Speaker 3: write your elected official and tell them that we care
57:40
Speaker 3: about Christians and In Nigeria, in Iran, in Pakistan, in India.
57:47
Speaker 3: But we care about non-Christians as well. We care about
57:51
Speaker 3: humans because we're made in the image of God. Whether
57:54
Speaker 3: you're Muslim or Christian, you are made in the image
57:57
Speaker 3: of God. And right now there's an evil regime in
57:59
Speaker 3: Iran that is murdering, massacring tens of thousands of people daily.
58:06
Speaker 3: And then charging the loved ones thousands of dollars to
58:09
Speaker 3: just get their body back.
58:11
Speaker 2: That's horrific.
58:12
Speaker 3: And to write a DM to your congressman, it's not
58:15
Speaker 3: a hard task to ask Google or chat GPT who
58:18
Speaker 3: your congressman or congresswoman is or your senator and to
58:21
Speaker 3: just send them a message on Instagram, to write them
58:24
Speaker 3: an email, to send them a letter. That's not a
58:26
Speaker 3: hard action. And then give, give to organizations like Global
58:30
Speaker 3: Christian Relief. Again, we'll put the link in the show notes.
58:32
Speaker 3: Arm yourself with knowledge and then pray, pray, pray. Prayer
58:35
Speaker 3: is what moves the heart of God. It's what breaks
58:38
Speaker 3: the strongholds of the enemy. And Um, Miriam, you are
58:42
Speaker 3: a picture of that faith that, um, the whole heart
58:46
Speaker 3: of this podcast is to stir people towards faith that
58:49
Speaker 3: moves to action. And you're a picture of that. Um,
58:52
Speaker 3: we need to be praying for Miriam. Who's been given leadership.
58:55
Speaker 3: You were just in Mar-a-Lago.
58:56
Speaker 2: You have a voice.
58:57
Speaker 3: There are, um, people that listen to you in both
59:01
Speaker 3: Iran and in the United States. And so praying for
59:05
Speaker 3: Miriam and, the ministry that the Lord has given you.
59:10
Speaker 2: And so I think that's it.
59:12
Speaker 3: I think prayer that leads to action, faith that leads
59:15
Speaker 3: to action, with the end goal being fruit.
59:19
Speaker 2: If we abide in him, we bear fruit. Fruit means
59:22
Speaker 2: good deeds. It means action.
59:24
Speaker 3: I think so many Christians are scared of that because
59:26
Speaker 3: they're like, oh, we're not saved by it. Well, of
59:27
Speaker 3: course you're not saved by it. But if you begin
59:29
Speaker 3: to hang out with Jesus, if your life has been
59:30
Speaker 3: transformed by Jesus, if you've been filled by the grace
59:33
Speaker 3: of God, that's going to flow out through your hands
59:35
Speaker 3: and through your mouth.
59:36
Speaker 2: And that's the other thing.
59:37
Speaker 3: Speak about this, whether you have a massive platform or
59:39
Speaker 3: not share about this on social media, guys, this is,
59:43
Speaker 3: this is real. Tens of thousands are being slaughtered daily.
59:47
Speaker 3: And this is in a country that is growing more rapidly.
59:50
Speaker 3: The church is growing more rapidly than anywhere on the planet.
59:54
Speaker 3: So this is, This is a prime time to be
59:57
Speaker 3: buckling down, to be pleading the throne room of heaven
1:00:01
Speaker 3: to move, to take action, and then to be pleading
1:00:03
Speaker 3: our elected representatives, to be pleading Trump, to be pleading
1:00:06
Speaker 3: your congressman to do something tangibly here. And so, Miriam,
1:00:09
Speaker 3: thank you for your example. Thank you for your friendship.
1:00:12
Speaker 3: Tell Tom thank you for taking the little one so
1:00:14
Speaker 3: you can hang out with me tonight. And, yeah, love you.
1:00:18
Speaker 3: Hope to see you soon. Grateful for your voice. Would
1:00:21
Speaker 3: you do me a favor? Could you pray– Just to
1:00:25
Speaker 3: close this, would you pray for the Iranian people? Would
1:00:27
Speaker 3: you pray for the American Christians? And any last things
1:00:31
Speaker 3: that you would want to say to someone that's listening
1:00:33
Speaker 3: to this podcast?
1:00:34
Speaker 2: Would love to hear it.
1:00:36
Speaker 1: No, Ryan, I just wanted to thank you again for
1:00:38
Speaker 1: your heart. I know you personally. I know your family.
1:00:42
Speaker 1: I know you have a heart for Jesus and you
1:00:45
Speaker 1: have a heart for people. God bless you and thank you.
1:00:48
Speaker 1: I thank you for giving a voice at this critical
1:00:52
Speaker 1: time to the Iranian people. this means a lot to
1:00:55
Speaker 1: me and I, I am very grateful. Um, so let's pray. Well, Lord,
1:01:01
Speaker 1: thank you. Thank you for this opportunity for, uh, this
1:01:05
Speaker 1: time that we had together to talk about you, Jesus,
1:01:08
Speaker 1: to talk about faith and how, um, having faith in
1:01:12
Speaker 1: you can change our lives. Um, and, um, it's because
1:01:17
Speaker 1: of you and who you are, that we are alive.
1:01:19
Speaker 1: We can serve you. We can, um, I thank you, Jesus,
1:01:25
Speaker 1: for the gift of salvation. I thank you for your
1:01:29
Speaker 1: presence in our life. And I thank you for my brother, Ryan,
1:01:35
Speaker 1: for this platform that you have given him. I pray
1:01:38
Speaker 1: for protection, for blessing over his ministry, over his family. Lord,
1:01:42
Speaker 1: bless him and give him more visions, greater visions and
1:01:45
Speaker 1: guidance and wisdom. And also at this moment, Lord, we
1:01:50
Speaker 1: lift up millions of Iranian people living in a prison
1:01:55
Speaker 1: called Iran these days, especially the past few weeks. We
1:02:01
Speaker 1: pray for all Iranians that have heavy hearts, those who
1:02:06
Speaker 1: have lost families, thousands of people, or don't even know
1:02:11
Speaker 1: what happened to their families. Please, Jesus, be their comfort.
1:02:15
Speaker 1: These days I feel the more I hear even the
1:02:19
Speaker 1: spiritual mourning and the darkness and the fear among Iranian people. Jesus,
1:02:25
Speaker 1: please encourage their hearts. Minister to them. I pray that
1:02:30
Speaker 1: you use every single Christian in Iran these days. Strengthen them.
1:02:35
Speaker 1: I know that they are also carrying a heavy burden
1:02:38
Speaker 1: on their hearts. I pray that they receive encouragement and
1:02:41
Speaker 1: strength from you every single day that they can go
1:02:44
Speaker 1: to streets and, um, just serve these people, these Iranian
1:02:48
Speaker 1: people that are going through, um, hell these days. Please, Jesus,
1:02:52
Speaker 1: I pray that you, um, you see, I know that
1:02:56
Speaker 1: you see Iranian people. I know that you have seen
1:02:59
Speaker 1: their sufferings and cries, cries of mothers, fathers, uh, children
1:03:04
Speaker 1: who have lost family members. You, you hear their cries.
1:03:07
Speaker 1: I know that. I believe that Jesus, please come, come intervene. And, um,
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Speaker 1: Save Iranian people from this evil regime. I believe that
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Speaker 1: your power is higher than any other power in this world.
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Speaker 1: And we pray against the enemy's power over Iran. We
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Speaker 1: break the power of enemy over the skies of Iran.
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Speaker 1: And we declare freedom, true freedom over Iran and Iranian people.
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Speaker 1: And I pray that Jesus, and I believe that. that
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Speaker 1: you can free Iran from this evil regime in one day.
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Speaker 1: And I pray that you will come. You will come
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Speaker 1: to the rescue, Jesus, please. And we pray that you
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Speaker 1: use everyone, everyone that you want, and show them how
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Speaker 1: to support Iranian people, whether it's an individual or governments
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Speaker 1: or politicians. I pray that you choose, you use whoever
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Speaker 1: you want. and just change their hearts so they can
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Speaker 1: say no to you. They will follow you, Jesus. Please
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Speaker 1: speak to leaders' hearts. I pray for leaders, especially for
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Speaker 1: President Trump and the United States, his administration. I pray
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Speaker 1: that you speak to him. Speak to him, Jesus, and
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Speaker 1: give him the courage to take the side of Iranian people.
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Speaker 1: 80 million Iranian people, without considering some of the consequences
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Speaker 1: that a politician might consider. Please, Jesus, I believe that
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Speaker 1: you can change his heart. And I pray that you
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Speaker 1: protect him. I pray that you give him discernment, wisdom, guidance,
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Speaker 1: the whole administration on how they should get involved and
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Speaker 1: how they should Send support to the Iranian people. Please, Jesus,
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Speaker 1: in your name we pray. Amen.
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Speaker 3: Amen.
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Speaker 2: Thank you, Miriam. Thank you so much.
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Speaker 3: Guys, thank you for being with us today. Continue to
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Speaker 3: pray for Iran. Continue to pray for Miriam. And we
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Speaker 3: will see you guys next week on the Jesus People podcast.