By Melissa Nordell and Mark Ellis
His brother was executed by firing squad in Iran when he was only 16 for a minor political offense. But instead of taking revenge, Dr. Hormoz Shariat decided to share the Gospel with Muslims and love them into the Kingdom of God.
Dr. Shariat founded Iran Alive Ministries, which started as a church for Muslim background believers near San Jose, California. But now his television network has expanded to reach Muslims not only in the U.S. and Iran, but also throughout the Middle East, North Africa and Europe.
Inspired by a passage in the Book of Jeremiah, “I will set my throne in Elam (Iran) declares the Lord,” they bring salvation to the lost, and promote practical training and Bible studies to Farsi-speaking people around the world.
Farsi is spoken mainly in Iran and Afghanistan, but also in other countries under Persian influence, and by those who migrated to other parts of the world.
The network estimates that 3.6 million people are watching their programs. Since 2010, they have received 19,000 calls directly from Iran with questions about Jesus Christ, salvation, and requesting prayer.
Iran has a population of 72 million, with 66% under age 30 and 25% under 15; all 98% Muslim. Iran is listed as the country with the worst per capita drug addiction in the entire world due to the hopelessness, despair and political oppression. The network’s mission is to “transform Iran into a Christian nation in this generation.”
Dr. Shariat has been called “The Billy Graham of Iran.” He was born into a Muslim family in Iran, but came to Jesus Christ while a grad student attending USC in Southern California, where he received a PhD in computer engineering. He later earned a Bachelor’s degree in Bible and Theology. In 1987, he planted a church in San Jose that grew with hundreds of Muslim converts.
This church has become the largest congregation of Muslim-background believers in the United States.
Iran Alive Ministries had its first satellite broadcast directly to Iran immediately after Sept. 11, 2001. Currently, there have been 22,000 documented decisions for Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior as a result of these broadcasts.
Iran has more than 23 million Internet users and 50 to 70% have access to satellite TV. Iran Alive Ministries can reach many Muslims who secretly watch the programs in their homes, allowing access to the hearts of many unsaved and hurting souls lacking hope, going where missionaries and evangelism are not allowed.
The ministry’s goal is to reach millions of Farsi-speaking people with the gospel of Jesus Christ all over the world. The ministry not only promotes the gospel of Jesus Christ but also a positive attitude towards Christianity in the Muslim world.
The ministry asks for continued prayers for: its television ministry, freedom of religion in the Muslim world, salvation for Farsi-speaking people, and for the persecuted church in Iran. Many testimonies of salvations of Muslims can be witnessed on their website.
http://www.iranaliveministries.org/
I am so encouraged and blessed by this report. I am praying for the Iran Alive Ministries, Dr. Hormoz Shariat, and for the Muslim people to come to Jesus Christ.
May the Lord of Abraham, Jacob and Issac bless Dr. Shariat and his ministry to reach people in desperate need of our Savior Jesus. We have family in Iran and we thank God that finally there is a ministry such as this. God is faithful! Thank you, Lord Jesus, for IranAliveMinistries! In our prayers@
I am a christianity revolter living in USA.I have studied Bible and other faiths.I have this question from intelligent christians who think and ponder.
You say Jesus is God and son of God.Yet you can’t find a statement clearly in complete bible where he himself says so in clear terms.
You can’t find “Gospel according to Jesus.Jesus never taught from this english languaage gospel according to Mathew,Mark,Luke and John.This is surprising you can find the books on petry of great poets,their writings e.g.Shakespear and others.But you can’t find the gospe accrording to Jesus.Yet you call him God.Amazing.You say Jesus is prince of peace,yet christianity has used sword in its spread,look ,whole north,centrala nd south America ,whole Australia,newziland,and many many countires in Africa were over 3oo years ago of different faiths,but christian crusaders came to spread the”love of Jesus” and they killed all the men,raped all women and then came missionaries with bible in one hand and bread in the other and said “Jesus died for yoru sins” accept him as saviours.Yet the sinners were most these invaders who have a license to kill,rape and loot in the name of Jesus.Thin alone,and impartially.DOes this record of christianity can make you look in the eyes of Jesus?or God?You say you follow bible but there is none around.Jesus taught in Aramaic,where is that gospel?
MK greetings to you,
John 5:39-47The Message (MSG)
39-40 “You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren’t willing to receive from me the life you say you want.
41-44 “I’m not interested in crowd approval. And do you know why? Because I know you and your crowds. I know that love, especially God’s love, is not on your working agenda. I came with the authority of my Father, and you either dismiss me or avoid me. If another came, acting self-important, you would welcome him with open arms. How do you expect to get anywhere with God when you spend all your time jockeying for position with each other, ranking your rivals and ignoring God?
45-47 “But don’t think I’m going to accuse you before my Father. Moses, in whom you put so much stock, is your accuser. If you believed, really believed, what Moses said, you would believe me. He wrote of me. If you won’t take seriously what he wrote, how can I expect you to take seriously what I speak?”
And…if someone calls themselves a Christian then they will have love and peace in there heart, if they hate or kill they are not a true Christian.
God Is Love
7-10 My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.
11-12 My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!
13-16 This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.
To Love, to Be Loved
17-18 God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.
19 We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.
20-21 If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both.
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson
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