At the age of 17 I had a supernatural experience, an epiphany. But I only found that out after I eventually read the Gospels. Seeing the sign of the cross and Jesus Christ was enough for me to know that God wants me to become a Christian. And I obeyed. I woke up around 8 and as soon as I opened my eyes I realized that I had to find myself a copy of the Bible. But this is forbidden literature in Iran and Tehran is a huge city. Finding a copy of the Bible in Tehran can be harder than finding a needle in a haystack. The first clue that I had was a local Armenian church. Armenians are a local Christian minority who have lived as Dhimmies for centuries. They have their own language and culture and Christian tradition. I entered this church and soon a church worker came to me and said something to me in Armenian which I couldn’t understand. I answered in Farsi: “Hi! I was wondering do you have any Bibles in Farsi for sale at your church?” As soon as he noticed that I am a Muslim and that I am looking for a Bible he got very agitated and asked me to leave the premisses immediately. At that time I was not aware of how dangerous it was for him to have this conversation with me and I was a bit offended that at least he wasn’t more courteous when he kicked me out of the church. But later I found out what awaits Armenians who share their faith with the Muslims. While I was leaving the church, near the gates of the church yard a guy who had heard my conversation with the church worker started to clandestinely call me to himself. He was standing near the gate and said: “Pssss, hey! You! Come here!” I went closer. Then he put a piece of paper in my hand. At first I thought he is a boy who wants to date me. I thought this guys wanted to give me his phone number. But when I went closer while slipping the piece of paper to me he said: “Here is the address of a place where you can get a Bible in Farsi.” and then he quickly went away. [...] I found the place. It looked like a bookstore but it was close in midday and there were signs that showed that it must have been closed for a long time. For example the book covers on the shop window had turned yellow from the sunlight and the window was really dusty. I thought to myself: “Darn!!! It is closed down. Perhaps the authorities had found out that they were selling Bibles and closed them down!” I was very disappointed. I had no more clues left and I had to soon head back home. So in my desperation I prayed to God like this: “God! You wanted me to become a Christian and I came all this way to obey you and get a Bible. This shop was my last clue. If I cannot get inside and talk to the owners of this shop right now I have to go home and maybe will never have a chance to go and look for a Bible again. So if you really want me to become a Christian you have to get me inside this place right now! The ball is in your court now! Amen!” As soon as this prayer ended I noticed that two people walked to the side of the building of the bookstore and rang a doorbell and someone opened the door to them. I thought: “This is my chance!” and I jumped inside the building right behind them. When I got in the guy who had opened the door to us asked me: “Who are you?!” I said: “Someone at the Armenian church gave me your address and said that I can buy a Bible in Farsi here. Is that so?” The guy asked: “Are you a theology student? I said: “No! I am still in high school.” The man said: “Then I cannot sell you the Bible now. I can give you a free copy of the New Testament after you come to our Bible classes for a while. But if you want to read the Gospels you can read them here now. But you cannot take one home” This was a safety measure for them. This place happened to be a secret church. At the basement of this building Iranian Christians (mostly Muslim converts) met and worshipped and studied the scriptures. I simply couldn’t believe it! What a miracle!! I woke up that morning around 8 am with the decision to find a Bible in that huge megapolis of Tehran and by11 am, only three hours later not only I had a copy of the New Testament in my hand but I had found a small cell of secret Christians!! ****************************** Proto-Protestantism is one of the few ways Christianity can survive under systematic persecution...
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 09:20:56 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015