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Jesus People Podcast
Imprisoned in Iran for Smuggling 20,000 Bibles (Then Revival Broke Out): Maryam Rostampour | The Jesus People Podcast Episode 56
01:05:21
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- [00:00]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
For 40 days, every day. We had long hours of interrogation for, like, seven, eight hours, blindfolded by two interrogators. They were constantly asking questions, and they were basically trying to put pressure on us to deny our faith in Jesus and convert back to Islam. And also they wanted us to give them information about.
- [00:38]
Ryan
Guys, welcome to the Jesus People Podcast. Today we have a really special guest, someone that is near and dear to my heart, to Annie's heart, to the Miller family's heart. We have Miriam Rosten Bor Keller on the podcast. Thank you so much for being with us, Miriam.
- [00:50]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
Oh, thank you, Ryan, for having me. You are an amazing friend to me, you and Annie, and I'm just humbled and honored and blessed to be here.
- [01:00]
Ryan
Absolutely. Yeah. Guys, I. I'm telling you, if I. If I've got a Mount Rushmore of people that commune deeply with Jesus, that I'm like, I'm so inspired by this person's faith. I feel the spirit of God on this person, the power of God, the love of God on this person. Miriam is like, the top of that list. So you are a hero of the faith. You were imprisoned in Iran for a long time. You have experienced a lot of what this regime stands for, and now you're living in America. Married one of my good buddies, which stoked about that because now, now we get to hang out. We were just hanging in D.C. a little while ago, so that was fun. And had no idea that this situation was going to happen in Iran. And Miriam and I have both been praying about the right time for her to come on the podcast and felt like this was the right time. So excited. I want to get into your story, your backstory in Iran. I want to hear about your take on what's happening in Iran currently. Horrific things going on, the killings of thousands of Iranians right now. And then I want to hear stories of how Jesus has stories that I know but our viewer doesn't know of. Just miracles on miracles of what Jesus performed for you and for Marzi, your friend in prison. So take us into your background a little bit. How did you come to know Jesus, and how did you get thrown into prison in Iran?
- [02:26]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
It was. It happened years ago. You know, just to give you a quick version of my background story, I have always been searching for God. You know, I grew up in Iran. I was raised there. I was born into a nominal Muslim family. When I say nominal Muslim, you know, majority of Iranians in Iran do not practice Islam. They are just called Muslims, but majority of them don't Even read the Quran, they don't know Arabic, we speak Farsi. But I've always been searching for the truth because I had this hunger in my heart to know God and to be able to communicate with Him. Fast forward. When I was around 17 years old, I received a booklet from my sister which was part of book of Luke. She said she had received it from someone at assemblies of church in Tehran, which was across the street from her university. And then she gave it to me. You know, that day when I read that little booklet, I had an amazing encounter with Jesus. For three hours I was in my room just reading, you know, 20, 30 pages of booklet. And every word I was reading, I could feel that Jesus was standing right in front of me, speaking the words to my heart. And I can't just, I can't describe what happened in that room that day. I knew that it was different. It was, it was a different experience from whatever I have I had experienced before. I could feel the presence of God for the first time in my life. Jesus was speaking the words to my heart. You know, those were strange words I've never heard, you know, in my life that all I knew about Jesus was that he was only a prophet of love and peace. That's how Muslims describe Jesus. But when I read about Jesus as the son of, he's the Son of God and he went on the cross for our sins, that he provide a way for us to be able to communicate with God, you know, none of those words sounded strange for me. You know, in Islam all of these are considered blasphemy. But that day I've experienced something beyond words. I met Jesus and I had a real encounter with him. And I believe that it wasn't me doing something to know Jesus, it was him knowing my hunger for him. And he prepared my heart for hearing the truth. And that day he revealed the truth to me. After three hours being in my room, I gave my heart to Jesus without any doubt, accepted him as my Lord and Savior. And then at different times, the rest of my family members also became a Christian. And then I started following Jesus, you know, and I started sharing Jesus with everyone, with family members, strangers, and found the church, started going to Assemblies of God church in Tehran. And you know, after that, you know, because the pastors in the church knew that I was so passionate to share Jesus with people. Even I remember from the first week that I gave my heart to Jesus, I started talking to people about him. I had no idea what Christianity was. My knowledge of the Bible was so limited. But I was talking to people about the love of God, and I wanted them to taste the same love, you know. And after years, I got more, you know, trainings from the church, and I began to read the whole Bible. And the pastors from the church recommended I go to Turkey to study some theology courses and learning leadership, house leadership. Because in Iran, it was impossible. That's why in 2005, I went to Turkey and I met Marzia in Turkey. And then after a few months, we went back to Iran because we both had the same heart to evangelize Iranian people and to share Jesus with them. That was our heart. But, you know, when we went back to Iran, for the first few months, we did not have a clear vision. We didn't know how to do this.
- [06:39]
Ryan
But God and Marzia, just so people know, Marzia is another one of our great friends who you met in Turkey, both Iranian, and then went back to do ministry together in Iran.
- [06:50]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
Yes. And we both love Jesus and we both had the same heart for Iranian people, and we wanted to share this message with them. We knew how many Iranians are thirsty for the truth and they don't have access to Bible. So after a few months of praying and, you know, how God spoke to us and showed us step by step how to do this, we started evangelizing people by distributing Bibles because we realized at the time, especially people had no access to Bible. You know, I learned about Jesus by reading a small booklet. And so we prayed about it. We talked to the pastors we knew in London at the time, and they provided all these New Testaments for us. And in about two years, we distributed 20,000 Bibles in Tehran and cities, which was amazing. We could do this by God's strength. And he really protected us. Every single night we went out to the street, he was with us and he was protecting us. And during that time, nothing happened to us. Anything could happen to us. We had backpacks full of New Testaments carrying them, and, you know, anything could happen to us. But he protected us because this was a mission from him and he wanted us to finish that. And after two years, you know, at the same time, we also had. We were leading house churches in our own apartment for.
- [08:18]
Ryan
We don't pause you there, Miriam. 20,000 Bibles you passed out in Iran. Two ladies over two years. I'm just doing the math in my head. Bibles are not light. It's a book. And anyone that, you know, has been around the Jesus People podcast for a while or follows my social media knows how passionate I am about smuggling Bibles into persecuted countries. So where did you get these Bibles? How do you even store 20,000 Bibles over two years? And how do two women just go berserk just blasting Bibles in the largest city in Iran?
- [08:56]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
You know, that's why I say this was not our effort. It wasn't a human effort. It was a vision from God. And this was something he had put in our hearts. And he provided everything step by step. As I mentioned, we were working with this ministry that was based in London, and they provided those New Testament for us. They were actually light New Testament. It was just the New Testament. And, you know, they would provide them, they would smuggle them into Iran. We don't know how. Who. Who was smuggling those Bibles. But we had a person in Iran. We were getting our Bibles from that person and in different, like, you know, smaller portions every time, like 1000, 2000. And we would store them in our basement. You know, we had, like, at each time, we had 1 or 2,000 Bibles in our basement. And every night, we would put about 70 new testaments in our backpack, would go to one area, put them in mailboxes under the doors. And then, you know, we had a map, huge map of Tehran on our wall. And we would just pick one area, go to that area, distribute the Bibles. And when we were going back, we would go back home, we would just pray for that area, and we would pray that God use those Bibles and pray for those people who were finding those Bibles in their mailboxes.
- [10:24]
Ryan
Well, I mean, it's incredible. And I know of organizations. I mean, I talk about global Christian relief all the time, that are working with multiple organizations that can't be named and in countries that can't be named, much like yours, but countries that are. I mean, shoot. That are nearly impossible to get into. And there are missionaries right now that are at every single piece of the chain that are doing their best to smuggle Bibles into these countries for Christians like yourself that are brave enough boots on the ground to risk their lives to distribute these Bibles. And I think what most Americans don't realize is it costs $5 to smuggle a Bible into a persecuted country. So even if you're hearing Miriam's story right now, and you're like, cut to the heart, we're gonna put a link in the show notes for a ministry that's smuggling Bibles. And again, they might not be the one that's actually boots on the ground there. They might not be the One that is, you know, getting them across the border. But they're working with all of those organizations, and the money's going directly to those organizations to get Bibles into countries that, again, I can't speak of. But if your heart's being moved, click that link. Smuggle a Bible. $5 a Bible. Think about what that would be. If you just gave up coffee for a week each month and smuggled Bibles, how many Bibles could that reach in unreached peoples, in persecuted Christians? So, anyway, I'm incredibly inspired. I don't mean to cut you off there, Miriam. I want to keep hearing because I know the story keeps getting better, but it's just incredible what, what you guys were able to do. I still can't really wrap my mind around 20,000 Bibles from two ladies.
- [11:58]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
Yeah, yeah. You know, later we realized that the Iranian regime found out about this, that the distribution of Bible. And in the parliament, they announced it and they thought it was a big Christian group organization that was behind this. They didn't know it was just the two of us, you know, ordinary people distributing Bibles. I shouldn't say just what it was just the two of us. We had Jesus. I believe we had Jesus with us every night we were going out.
- [12:29]
Ryan
But two ladies distributing 20,000 Bibles in Iran is just insane. That's like the coolest thing ever.
- [12:38]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
I know. It was an amazing experience. Sometimes, you know, we had to walk through snow in Iran, you know, during winter we have snow, and it was just an amazing experience. But we were full of joy when we were doing this, and we could feel God's presence with us, you know, and at the same time, we were, as I mentioned, we were leading house churches. And, you know, beside that mission of distributing Bibles at nights, every day we were going out, we had a few New Testaments in our purse. You know, we were going to restaurants or getting a taxi or go shopping. Every day we were talking to people. During the day, we were handing those Bibles to people and would start a conversation with them, you know, and share Jesus with them. And some of these people joined our house church. We also had a house church for widows in Iran who were, you know, participating in temporary marriage, you know, which is a practice. It's a common practice in Iran and some Islamic countries that, you know, women can have temporary marriage for. They just sign a contract. It's not a formal marriage. They sign a contract. It can be for a day, for two hours, for a few months, and that, you know, in exchange for some money. And this way women support themselves. And we, we got.
- [14:06]
Ryan
Is this kind of like prostitution?
- [14:07]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
In a way it is a prostitution, but they wouldn't call it prostitution because it is really prostitution. But in Islam, this is a common practice. You know, the prophet of Islam.
- [14:18]
Ryan
I mean, is it for sex though? Like, are they getting temporarily married for like a couple hours just to have sex or what's the point?
- [14:25]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
Exactly. It's the purpose is for men to have sex with these women. And a lot of government officials and judges were involved with this and encourage this so they can abused these women who, you know, a lot of them were, you know, when you, when we listened to their stories, they had sad stories of, you know, they just needed money, they just needed to support themselves. That's why they were engaging in these activities. And then we started with two women, they introduced us to other women. And at the end we were working, I believe with 40 women who were doing this practice. Yeah. For I can say around four years, we had this mission of evangelizing and leading house churches in Iran. And eventually in 2009, as a result of all these activities, we got arrested.
- [15:22]
Ryan
Wow. And take me into that moment where you were arrested.
- [15:25]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
It was just, it was a terrible experience. I believe one day in the morning, someone from the security office called Marzie and you know, lied to her and said there was some problem with your car docket, with her car documents and asked her to go to the police station. Later she realized that it was just a lie and they knew about us and our activities. We don't know exactly who reported about us, but you know, we were very public every day. We were talking to people about Jesus in restaurants. Anyone could have reported us.
- [16:05]
Ryan
Did you know you were going to get arrested? I mean, because if you're doing this and you're openly talking to people, were you just like resigned to the fact that I'm probably going to get caught, I'm probably going to get thrown into prison?
- [16:15]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
No. I mean, it was a possibility. We knew that this was, this was. We were living in Islamic Republic of Iran and you know, it's anti Christian. And also the fact that we are cumbered Christian, we were not born as Christians. That in itself is a crime of apostasy in Iran. And you know, and then when you have activities, it's just worse. Yes, we knew that that could happen to us one day, you know, and then they came to our apartment. I was home. They did a complete search. They found all the Bibles. We had our home. And they took everything that they could find related to Christianity, other books. We had DVDs of Jesus movies. And they took us to the police station. We had long hours of interrogation until midnight. And, you know, we were in different places. We were in prison for about nine months. For the first 15 days, we were in a detention center in a basement. Terrible place, you know, for the initial interrogations. And then they transferred us to Evin prison, which is famous in Iran. A lot of political prisoners, you know, Christians today, are in that prison. And also we had the experience of being in solitary confinement. There is a building inside Evin prison, it's called 209. And they transferred us to solitary confinement for 40 days for the purpose of interrogation. They purposefully separate people, you know, they separated me and Marzia. And for 40 days, every day, we had long hours of interrogation for like, seven, eight hours, blindfolded by two interrogators. They were constantly asking questions, and they were basically trying to put pressure on us to deny our faith in Jesus and convert back to Islam. And also they wanted us to give them information about, you know, the people who were going to our house, churches, and our activities.
- [18:20]
Ryan
Wow. So you're in the most infamous or notorious prison in Iran, Evan prison. And the. You're in solitary confinement for 40 days, you said.
- [18:31]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
Yes.
- [18:31]
Ryan
Being blindfolded. How do you. How do you not mentally crack under that pressure of being blindfolded for the majority of the day? Being alone for 40 straight days outside of just these brutal interrogations.
- [18:45]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
It wasn't easy. You know, now I'm sharing this story. This happened in 2009. Sometimes I think about it and, you know, the first few days that we got arrested, for me, it was the most difficult time, you know, because you are in a shock. Even though, you know, we knew that that could happen to us one day. But I remember I was in a shock. I was so scared that I couldn't even speak. My mouth was so dry. I wasn't able to answer the question of the interrogators. And they were threatening us to physical torture. And they were putting us in this terrible condition, south in the basement, dirty place, until, you know, and you are tired, physically, you are tired until midnight. You know, for hours, they're asking you questions, threatening you, threatening your families especially. The first few days was very difficult. And then after that, they transferred us to that detention center that I mentioned at the beginning. We were there for 40 to 50 days, 15 days. Sorry. But then, you know, what I experienced is that after the first few days, when we had the opportunity to get Together with other prisoners in that cell and listen to their stories. And we began to pray for them. And we just realized that God had a purpose for sending us to that dark place. Everything has changed. You know, we were not as scared. I was not as scared as before. You know, especially for the first few days. I was just shocked. But then when we started getting together with other prisoners in that detention, a lot of them were prostitutes, like those women that I just mentioned to you in that detention center. Every day they would bring more and more women. They were as young as 15, 16 years old. And we had a chance to sit with them and to listen to their stories and to pray for them. You know, I remember there were times that we would gather with all these women, like seven, eight of us, and we were all talking and we pray for them. We would pray for them, share our stories, how, you know, we ended up in prison. And then we realized that God had a purpose. It was for nothing, you know, and that changed everything. Not that, you know, it made it easier, but we knew that he was there. There was a purpose.
- [21:20]
Ryan
Now, can you take me into this prison real fast, Miriam? I'm trying to, like, visualize what it looks like, because the only thing, the only context I have are like, the shows you see on TV of like, American prisons. Was that dirty? Was it inhumane? Like, what was it like in Evan prison?
- [21:36]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
It's nothing like American prisons. You know, they don't care about people. They don't care. It doesn't matter who you are, whether you're a political, religious or just prostitute or addicted. The first detention center that we went to, I remember we got there around 1am it was completely dark. It was this long hallway, Dark, long hallway in the basement. Very cold. We got arrested in winter, and we entered this place. The guards told us, just grab some blankets, sleep in one cell. So there's this concrete floor. There's nothing there, and it's freezing cold. And the blankets were wet, strongly smelling of urine. And we realized, you know, later that there were a lot of addicts in that detention center. They wouldn't use the bathroom. And then we had to use some of the blankets because it was really cold, and sleep on concrete floor. I remember for the first few days, we didn't even eat. We were so thirsty. We were hungry. And they would. After a few days, they would bring some. They would throw some food inside each cell, and it was so dirty. I remember the toilets in that detention center. It was inside that hallway. It was just. The smell was all over And I remember Marzi and I decided to clean those toilets. It was really disgusting. And Evan prison was the same. Evan prison. When we were in the public ward, there are different rooms. In each room there were, I don't know how many women, about 20, 30 women. There were bunks in each room. But a lot of times there were more women than, you know, they had enough bunks that, and people were sleeping on the floor. The, the condition, the quality of food was terrible. You know, they don't care about, they don't consider these people in prison human. That's why, you know, that the, everything, the condition was horrible. I remember, you know, I once I, I was, I was so sick because of the food they gave us that they had to transfer, transfer me to clinic. After hours of throwing up and being in the hallway, I almost passed out. And eventually they had to transfer, transfer me to a clinic. And every time we got sick, we couldn't see a doctor. I remember we had earaches, we had sore throat. We were just so sick in that prison. And they wouldn't give us medical care or especially for us. At the time we were the only Christians in Evin prison. And they want to put more pressure on you. They don't want you to feel comfortable in that place.
- [24:22]
Ryan
And you're with these women who are prostitutes, but some of them are 15 years old, 16 years old, and they're there because a lot of. Was it because of poverty? Were they forced into these marriages by these men and then deemed prostitutes by the country? Like, were a lot of these women victims? Were all of them victims?
- [24:43]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
I would say all of them, all of them were victims of this Islamic regime and Islamic laws. You know, in Iran women are considered second class citizens. They have no rights. And there were young girls in prison who were forced into marriages that, you know, at the end those marriages became abusive. We had a woman in prison, was very young and she was in prison in charges of murder. You know, when we were outside prison, we did not know. I mean, we would hear the news, we could see all these stories in the news. But in prison it was very real. Like who is a murderer? You know, this young woman very, she was shy that she didn't even, she couldn't even speak. She was very young and, you know, innocent. But she was forced into marriage with. And the marriage became abusive and her husband was beating her eventually to defend herself. One day I believe she threw something to him and hit his head and he was killed. And that then she was in prison being a murderer. You know, and then eventually they hanged her. This was just one example. You know, a lot of these women were victims of this. These Islamic laws. As I said, this, we call them prostitutes. But when we heard their stories, how, like, the difficulties and the struggles they had to face from childhood, you know, one of these women, I remember, she opened her mouth and she had no teeth in her mouth. And she grew up in poverty. And, you know, Ryan, honestly, sometimes we were speechless. We had nothing to say, you know, and that's why a lot of times we were just praying for them. Because when you see the pain of people and what they go through in life, it seems like a lot of them were not in control of anything that was happening in their life. And they ended up in prison. And again, in prison, they were abusing them. Some of these women would go to the court and the judges would just suggest that if they were doing temporary marriage with them, they would be released from prison. And some of these women accepted their offer, you know, and that this is sad. And this is, you know, they were being abused by outside prison, inside prison, by judges, by. By all these men who consider themselves, you know.
- [27:27]
Ryan
Right. Yeah. These temporary marriages, it reminds me of, like, in America, some rundown motels. You can rent the motel for, like, two hours or an hour.
- [27:36]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
Yeah.
- [27:36]
Ryan
And it's like, well, clearly, what are you renting it for? It's like, this isn't a real marriage. This is prostitution. And then it's not the men that get in trouble, it's the women that get in trouble. Can you take me into. Tell me one story of your time in prison in Iran with some of these women, that they were impacted by you and Marzi's faith in a deep way.
- [27:55]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
There were a lot of. A lot. I would say every day. Every day we had a chance to sit with these women, listen to their stories. That made a huge difference. They wanted someone to listen to them and understand that they are victims. Yes, therefore, a crime. They had a crime, but they were all victims of the Islamic laws. And, you know, I remember a miracle that happened the first few days when we were in the detention center. I remember, as I told you, I was very scared. And I remember they took Marzia for interrogation. I was downstairs in a room alone, and I was just walking in the room and praying. Praying in tongues. I didn't even know how to pray. I just was praying for myself, for Marzia, who was in interrogation. And I remember there was this guard, you know, opened the door, started screaming at me. And I knew that wasn't that was like a spiritual attack. And she was so mad that I was praying and walking and praying in that room. She started screaming at me and told me to shut up. And then I just. My heart broke, Really. I felt like my heart broke. And I started praying for her. And I said, God, please, I want to forgive her. I started praying for her. And then a few days after that, you know, Marzi and I were in this cell waiting for them to transfer us to Evin Prison. The same guard came to me and looked into my face. Her face completely changed. Her behavior changed. Very kindly, you know, asked how I was doing. And I said, how are you doing? And I was, like, shocked, like, she's asking me how I'm doing. And then she. I felt like she wanted to start a conversation with me and talk to me, and, you know, kind of apologized for her behavior before. And then in the taxi, when they were driving, driving us to Evin prison, she told me, and she apologized for her behavior, and she asked me to pray for her. And she said, you know, this is. I have to do this. This is my job. And I realized she was again in poverty. And she said, I have sick father. He has cancer. Can you pray for him? She asked me to for her father. And, you know, this was completely a moment that I felt that God spoke to her, and she felt that she needed to come to me and apologize for her behavior and asked me to pray for her. This was a guard, you know. And then in prison, so many prisoners, every time we sat with someone and prayed for them, we could see that, you know, even in that detention center that I mentioned to you that these women, these prostitutes, youth, were crying, and some of them were raising their hands, giving their hearts to Jesus and praying with us. We could see the miracles every single day.
- [30:58]
Ryan
Wow. And then you started to hear pretty clearly from the Holy Spirit. He would give you some revelation, some dreams, some visions. Can you tell me about that a little bit?
- [31:07]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
You know, I was. You asked about the solitary confinement?
- [31:10]
Ryan
Yeah.
- [31:13]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
I forgot to answer that question. You know, it was different. You know, when we were in public prison, it was different because every day we could sit with women, talk to them, pray for them, and that was strengthening us, encouraging us. But then later, when they transferred us to solitary confinement, we were alone. I was alone in a cell with one woman. Marzi was alone with someone else. And I remember there was a day that we got back to the cell from the court, and I could not feel God's presence. And it was the scariest moment in my life, and I could not hear his voice. I just felt I cannot feel God. And I remember I just laid down on the floor and I started crying, and I felt like God was asking me to worship, start worshiping. You know, in that building, you can't speak loudly. They can't hear your voice. But I. Very loudly. I started singing in tongues. And then I started singing in some Farsi worship songs about Jesus being God. My cellmate was so scared, and she told me, maryam, please, can you stop singing? They will come punish you. But I think for half an hour, I was just singing and worshiping. And then I felt an overwhelming presence of God all over me. And that's so that. And God told me something, and he taught me something. He said, you know, it's not about your emotions. Sometimes you feel me, sometimes you don't. You feel I'm far away, but I'm always close to you. And that day, my cellmate, she was a political prisoner, an older woman, she also felt the presence of God and asked me to teach her some of the worship songs so she can sing them with me. And then later at that night, one of the guards came to the cell and told me that, you know, you did whatever you wanted today. And I realized that they. Even the guards even heard me, but no one came to stop me. An amazing experience with the Holy Spirit that, you know, yes, we were in prison, and God had a plan for us to share Jesus with women who needed to hear the message of. Of salvation. But also God had something for us. He wanted us to experience him in a different way. And I had an amazing experience with God that I. Sometimes I tell people, even though it was a horrific experience, but it was one of the best experiences of my life.
- [33:47]
Ryan
It's beautiful. Just because I know the story, Miriam and I. I know that you need to get back to your little guy and to Tom. I want to. I want to flash forward a little bit to when you guys were set to be executed. And the executioner. Could you tell us about that and just kind of take us into that whole story, how he began to hear as well, through dreams.
- [34:13]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
Well, there. There were a few incidents, you know, that went to different courts. And also, yes, we were. Our charge was apostasy because we converted from Islam to Christianity. And in each court, the judges told us that they want. They would make sure that we will face execution. And for me, that was really, you know, not knowing what will happen to you. It's just that you don't. You don't know what? You know, we knew that they are capable of doing anything. This regime is evil. But it was just hard to hear that. But I remember that, you know, one example I can give you about the guards that really experienced Jesus in prison was that, you know, one day we were in a public ward with Marcia, and we heard our names from the loudspeaker. They asked us to go to the prison manager's office. And when we went there, we saw all these guards that were famous for going to prison and punishing prisoners. And they were sitting there. And once we entered the room, he asked the prison manager to leave the room so he could speak with us alone. And then once she left, he said, you know, I'm here to help you. And he shared with us that he had a dream about Jesus. And in his dream, Jesus. Jesus asked him to come to prison and help us. And at the same time, his friend, who was living in a different city, had a dream about Jesus. And Jesus told his friend to tell his friend to come to prison, see us, and see how he can help us. And he did. This was towards the end that we were going to be free. And he smuggled some supplements, some medicines to prison for us. And. And after prison, he also invited us to his house and asked us to go to his house, which was, you know, at the time, we were not sure if it was a trap or if. But we accepted and we went to his house. He was there with his wife and children. And his friend, who had a dream about Jesus, was also there. And he asked us to walk in his house to pray over his house. This is a religious man. His wife was covered with Islamic hijab. But he experienced Jesus. He had a dream about Jesus, and he asked us to pray for him and his family. Unfortunately, after we got released, we heard from some of our friends in prison that he was exiled to another city. We don't know what happened to him, but we know that they monitor all these guards and, you know, people who are in charge of prisoners.
- [36:52]
Ryan
Okay, so you're in this prison. It's dirty, it's disgusting. You're being blindfolded, interrogated. But you have this amazing ministry to these women. Some of them eventually were executed by the Iranian government. How did you guys then get out? How were you guys not hanged for apostasy?
- [37:14]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
You know, a lot of Christians, since the beginning of arrest, have been praying for us and advocating for individual Christians, Christian organizations, missions. When they heard about our stories, they started PR praying for us and that those prayers made a Huge difference. But at the same time, you know, they. They got involved. They started advocating on our behalf. Other governments, you know, became aware of our situation. U.S. state Department, some other European countries got involved. They started talking to the Iranian government and asking for our release. And also, as I mentioned, the former Pope wrote a letter to the Iranian regime and asked for our release. As a result of all of this, you know, we could see towards the end that their behavior was changing, basically. You know, I remember it was right before we got out of prison. Our interrogators took us to a room and, you know, they sat with us and they told us, you know, basically trying to. Before we got out, trying to tell us that, you know, we were trying just to protect you. There are radical Muslims out there in the society. Basically. They were trying to tell us that we were in prison because they wanted to protect us.
- [38:36]
Ryan
Yeah, right.
- [38:37]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
But. Which was a lie. But they were under so much pressure. And I think at the time, because we were the first Christian women who were in prison because of our Christian faith and activity activities, our case received a lot of attention. Nowadays, you know, today there are hundreds of Christians in prison. They have charges like, some of them have 10, 15 years sentence to be in prison. But because we were the first people, you know, in prison for our Christian faith that, you know, our case received a lot of attention, international attention, and they put a lot of pressure on the government. As a result, they. They had to release us, but they threatened us also. After we got out of prison, we had one last court that we had to go to. I mean, six months after we got, you know, out of prison, we had to go to that court, and they threatened us. The judge threatened us and told us that, we are monitoring you. We are watching you. You can't continue your Christian activity. You can't be in contact with your Christian friends. And we realized, you know, we were free, but we were on a house arrest.
- [39:49]
Ryan
Right.
- [39:50]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
We could not do anything else. That's why we decided to leave Iran. We realized that our time in Iran was over.
- [39:58]
Ryan
Wow, wow, wow. So the Pope wrote a letter for your release. Did you ever connect with him?
- [40:07]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
No, no, unfortunately, we didn't.
- [40:13]
Ryan
That's incredible. Okay, so then what? So then you're. You realize, hey, we're pretty much in prison, even though we're not in prison in Iran. And so how did you guys eventually land up in the States?
- [40:24]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
Well, we had. We left Iran in 2010. We went to Turkey first, and then through the UN we got refugee status, and we were in Turkey for a year, almost a year. And then we got our refugee status, ended up in the US we went to Atlanta, Georgia. We had some friends, and then, you know, came to a new country, knew everything, had to learn the language, culture, and, you know, and. But we knew that God and got your degree, right?
- [40:59]
Ryan
That's masters.
- [41:01]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
Yeah. We wrote a book about our prison experiences. It took us three years. It's called Captive in Iran. And we tried to share some of the stories of women whom we met in prison. It wasn't just sharing our story. And we knew we were not in prison for no reason. God had a purpose. That's why we shared all those stories. And for, I would say, 10, 11 years after, remember, moved to the U.S. we were just speaking and sharing our prison stories and human rights violations going on in Iran. That what we have been doing. And also at the same time, as you mentioned, yeah, we were in school, getting degrees. You know, I finished bachelor and master's in International affairs in Atlanta. It was a lot.
- [41:52]
Ryan
It's awesome. It's amazing. And then we got to hang out. So then we met through a mutual friend. And then you met one of my mutual friends, fell in love. The Lord put you guys together. Now you've got sweet little baby who's just the cutest little guy ever. I'm gonna put the link for Captive in Iran in the show notes as well, guys. Or in the description. If you're on YouTube, please read this book. It's an amazing read. It's been a number of years now since I've read it, but I was hooked up, and now what? I want to get to Marzi, because you have a degree in international relations. You're brilliant. You've had this experience. You understand the regime, you understand the way the American government works, the way the Iranian government works. What can you just give us, like, for the next little bit of time here, tell us what's happening in Iran right now and what the world, what the west, what America should really be know, knowing about this.
- [42:50]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
Well, you know that the Iranian people are hostage. For nearly 50 years, 47 years now, this Islamic regime has taken the Iranian people hostage. And what we hear today in the news, it's not new. It's nothing new, you know, but recently we know that there have been massive nationwide protests across Iran. And, you know, these recent protests started, I believe, late December and are still continuing. And this is the. Many people say that this is the largest challenge to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution. Millions of people came to the Streets in almost every city. And you know this, and this is, as I mentioned, this is not new. Every time something, something triggers these protests. Last one was a few years ago, killing of Mahso Amini, a 22 year old Kurdish Iranian woman who was killed by the morality police for not having proper hijab. And as a result, again, thousands of people came to the street. And these recent protests that started late December, what triggered it was economic collapse and high inflation. But we all know that the main reason, you know, for these uprising, not just this one, all the previous uprising as well, is that people are done with this regime. And the ayatollahs, you know, they are calling for a major political change, not just a reform because people believe that this regime cannot be reformed. They are asking for regime change. That's why they are coming to street. But what has been happening is that the regime security forces, as you know, killed thousands of people just the past two weeks. There are different numbers out there. 10, 12, 20,000. I believe the number is much higher than what we hear and see in the news. And they are killing, you know, children as young as three years old, women, and arrested thousands of people whom we know that you know will face execution in the future. So this is what is happening in Iran. And I saw even like yesterday or two days ago that according to an Iraqi security force that the Islamic regime imported about 5,000 Iraqi militia members to help them with the crackdown. And they entered Iran under the guise of, you know, religious pilgrimage. And this is just. And the scary thing is that I believe since January 8th. What's today? January, January 8th. Yeah, it's more than a week, that regime cut off all means of communication. No Internet, no phone, no satellite services. And this means that they are hiding their crimes. And this is, that means that they are continuing the massacre. And that's just horrific, you know, just knowing that the darkness that is happening, you know, the trustees that are happening in Iran. But you know, as I said, what I feel like about these recent protests is that you see a bravery, a common encouraging people that we haven't seen before. It's, it's like people are done and they are, they don't even care if they get killed. And, and I know that I've dealt with this, this regime. I've dealt with the agents. I know how scary they are. It's not easy. You know, it's easy for us to sit here and say, yeah, go to the street and fight this regime. But I know it's not easy. You are facing Evil, true evil. And for people to go to the street bare hands, they have. They're not arms standing against them. They have arms. They're shooting at people, but still they're going to the street. Millions of people went to the street and, you know, stood against this regime. But what is sad is that, you know, it seems like the Iranian people are alone in this fight. They are not getting the support they need to get from the international community. And that's heartbreaking, and that's very sad. We are very grateful, especially for President Trump, for his words of encouragement and support for Iranian people. They meant something to the people in Iran. I read the comments of people inside Iran under every single news. I read the comments of people, and they all love President Trump and they counted on him for support. And I believe that he started showing his support at the beginning of January and encouraging protesters to continue and to go out. And he even mentioned that if anyone gets shot, the US Will intervene. So, you know, people were already in the street. But I believe as a result of his words, more people went to the street and joined the protest because they were emboldened by his words. These are strong words. There is power in our words. And just three days ago, you know, this was this week, he again posted something on his social media and encouraging Iranians to go to the street and take over their institution. And he said, help is on its way. So people were hopeful that this time a US President is standing with them and is going to support them, which I hope, you know, I still hope that they will get some help and support. But, you know, what kind of help.
- [48:49]
Ryan
And support are you looking for? Like, what would you want him to do?
- [48:53]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
You know, let me tell you something. As I said, words matter. When we were in prison, I remember the first time we heard from our sisters through a visit that we had with them, that people were aware of our situation and were praying for us. These were just words that we heard. We got so encouraged. It's important to know that someone is watching and they are praying and they are supporting you. But if it was just words, nothing would happen. We wouldn't get free. After the worst, we saw actions. You know, as I mentioned, Christian organizations got involved. There were Christian organizations who encouraged Christians to write letters and send them to prison. And that made a huge difference. You know, the guards, authorities came to prison to tell us that they had a room full of letters, a room full of letters. And they were shocked. Why people are sending letters to prison for us, that was one action. You know, it Wasn't just prayer or words. It was action. Then, as I mentioned, the Pope got involved. The U.S. state Department got involved. European Parliament got involved. They put pressure on the Iranian regime. As a result, we got free. These are actions, and I don't know how they are going to support Iranian people, but it has to be more than words. There are ways that they can support Iranian people. Even Iranian expected the US to get involved. And, you know, they were thinking about a military intervention, which is really, you know, because this, what we are dealing with now is there's a war going on in Iran. It is a war because, you know, millions of people are in the street and there are armed forces shooting at people. It's a war, but people do not have arms to defend themselves. It's a massacre. So the international community, not just the US International community, should stand with the Iranian people and show some concrete actions, provide some support. Because, you know, it's like telling someone, you, you go ahead, I have your back. But then people and, you know, they count on these words, but there's no support, no help.
- [51:18]
Ryan
So what would your message to President Trump be if he was sitting in front of you right now? What would you tell him?
- [51:24]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
I would say, president Trump, I ask you, please take action. Take action. You know, we don't. I know it's complicated politically. It's called complicated to take action. There are so many things to consider for someone like President Trump. But I also know that, you know, there is a moment that we need to know, are we on the side of people, innocent people or an evil regime? We need to take side. We need to take the side of people, not the ayatollahs, because in long term, the United States, the whole region, the Middle east region, and other countries benefit if this regime falls. And this is something that the Iranian people has been fighting for, and I know this, that Iranians will eventually overthrow this regime with or without support from the west or international community. It's just how we get there. You know, are we going to sit and see millions of people are getting killed or we show that, you know, we care about humanity, we stay still care about humanity. And beyond politics, I know there are so many things to consider politically, but we have to decide, you know, do we care about people or politics?
- [52:43]
Ryan
Amen. Amen.
- [52:45]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
Well, what.
- [52:45]
Ryan
What can the American Christian that's watching this tangibly do? We've mentioned smuggling Bibles for global Christian relief. That is a tangible action. But for this crisis, this particular crisis, what would your ask be?
- [53:02]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
You know, my first, I Always say pray, pray. Because I believe in the power of prayers more than the power of politicians, more than the power of the United States or international community. There is power in our prayers. That's, that's what I've been doing since the beginning of these protests. And because we as Christians know that this is a spiritual battle. It's beyond what is happening politically. It's spiritual. I lived in Iran. I know the darkness that is over Iran. It's been 50 years, nearly 50 years. And we know that God needs to intervene. We need to pray for God to intervene on behalf of the Iranian people. And if anything needs to change, even if the international community needs to get involved, I pray that God changes the leaders heart leaders such as President Trump, other European countries leaders and guide them and give them discernment how to get involved. That's also very important. I know a lot of Christians this weekend. I've been with a group of Christians that prayed for hours. Powerful prayers for our leaders, just for our leaders that they, God gives them wisdom and discernment on how they should get involved and support the Iranian people. Because this is a spiritual. This is a spiritual battle. We know that. You know, in Ephesians 6 it says our struggle is not against flesh and blood. And I believe that also pray for Iranian families who have lost loved ones. I cannot imagine what they are going through. There are videos out there, you can see that they go and identify the bodies. They put the bodies in the street for families to go identify them. And even if they want to retrieve their families bodies, they have to pay thousands of US dollar to get the bodies of their families. We need to pray for them. I don't even know what they are going through. And also we need to pray for Iranians to be united. Something that was in my heart from the beginning of these protests was that God needs to unite people's hearts and give them a courage that is beyond worldly courage. Because it's not easy to face this evil regime. And I'm praying that God give them a courage to go out. Millions of people, not just thousands, millions of people go out and together against this regime. Because I believe there is power in unity. And if people are together, millions of them, no security force can stand against them. How many people can you kill? They need to be united, but they need to get that bravery and courage from God because it's not easy. And also I would pray for Christians who are in Iran. As I mentioned, Iran is the fastest growing church, underground church in the world. And there are many Christians in Iran right now and pray for those Christians because they have power. This is spiritual fight that they go to street, pray over the streets, pray for people during the protest, go show their support in any ways they can, because we know that they are the ones fighting this spiritual battle, that they will be protected and God shows them how they can support, support their fellow countrymen at this critical time. You know, prayer, prayer is very important. But also, as James says, faith without deeds or action is dead. We should pray, have faith in God, but also we need to take some actions. Reach out to your representative, congressmen, Congresswomen request that, you know, they urge President Trump to take some concrete action. If they live in European countries, do the same thing. Reach out to your representatives, you know, talk to your neighbors, talk to your colleagues. That's what I do. You know, I ask people around me, I ask my colleagues, do you know what's happening in Iran? You know, something you are doing right now, Ryan, you have a platform and you decided to cover this issue. Talk about Iran even as an American. And this is an action you are taking. You are trying to give a voice to the Iranian people, people who are getting killed every single day in Iran. There are so many ways, I don't know. Each one of us have know, you know, what we can do, but we need to pray and also take action at the same time.
- [57:32]
Ryan
Amen. Amen. Well, I would encourage everyone listening to do a few things. Number one, you should write your elected official. You should write your elected official and tell them that we care about Christians in Nigeria, in Iran, in Pakistan, in India, but we care about non Christians as well. We care about humans because we're made in the image of God. Whether you're Muslim or Christian, you are made in the image of God. And right now, there's an evil regime in Iran that is murdering, massacring tens of thousands of people daily and then charging the loved ones thousands of dollars to just get their body back. That's horrific. And to write a DM to your congressman. It's not a hard task to Ask Google or ChatGPT who your Congressman or congresswoman is or your senator and to just send them a message on Instagram, to write them an email, to send them a letter. That's not a hard action. And then give, give to organizations like Global Christian Relief. Again, we'll put the link in the show notes. Arm yourself with knowledge and then pray, pray, pray. Prayer is what moves the heart of God. It's what breaks the strongholds of the enemy. And Miriam you are a picture of that faith, that the whole heart of this podcast is to stir people towards faith that moves to action. And you're a picture of that. We need to be praying for Miriam, who's been given leadership. You were just in Mar A Lago. You have a voice. There are people that listen to you in both Iran and in the United States. And so praying for Miriam and the ministry that the Lord has given you. And so I think that's it. I think prayer that leads to action, faith that leads to action, with the end goal being fruit. If we abide in him, we bear fruit. Fruit means good deeds. It means action. I think so many Christians are scared of that because, like, oh, we're not saved by it. Well, of course you're not saved by it. But if you begin to hang out with Jesus, if your life has been transformed by Jesus, if you've been filled by the grace of God, that's going to flow out through your hands and through your mouth. And that's the other thing. Speak about this, whether you have a massive platform or not. Share about this on social media. Guys, this is, this is real. Tens of thousands are being slaughtered daily. And this is in a country that is growing more rapidly. The church is growing more rapidly than anywhere on the planet. So this is. This is a prime time to be buckling down, to be pleading the. The throne room of heaven to move, to take action, and then to be pleading our elected representatives, to be pleading Trump, to be pleading your congressman to do something tangibly here. And so, Miriam, thank you for your example. Thank you for your friendship. Tell Tom thank you for taking the little ones so you could hang out with me tonight. And yeah, love you. Hope to see you soon. Grateful for your voice. Would you do me a favor? Could you pray just to close us? Would you pray for the Iranian people? Would you pray for the American Christians? And any, any last things that you would want to say to someone that's listening to this podcast would love to hear it.
- [60:36]
Miriam Rosten Bor Keller
Now, Ryan, I just wanted to thank you again for your heart. I know you personally, I know your family. I know you have a heart for Jesus and you have a heart for people. God bless you and thank you. I thank you for giving a voice at this critical time to the Iranian people. This means a lot to me and I am very grateful. So let's pray. Lord, thank you, thank you for this opportunity, for this time that we had together to talk about you, Jesus, to talk about faith and how having faith in you can change our lives and because of you and who you are, that we are alive, we can serve you, we can exist. I thank you Jesus for the gift of salvation. I thank you for your presence in our life and I thank you for my brother Ryan, for, for this platform that you have given him. I pray for protection, for blessing over his ministry, over his family, Lord, bless him and give him more visions, greater visions and guidance and wisdom. And also at this moment, Lord, we lift up millions of Iranian people living in a prison called Iran these days, especially the past few weeks. We pray for all Iranians that have heavy hearts, those who have lost families, thousands of people, or don't even know what happened to their families. Please Jesus, be their comfort these days. I feel the more I hear even the like the spiritual mourning and the darkness and the fear among Iranian people. Jesus, please encourage their hearts, minister to them. I pray that you use every single Christian in Iran this, these days, strengthen them. I know that they are also carrying a heavy burden on their hearts. I pray that they receive encouragement and strength from you every single day. That they can go to streets and just serve these people, these Iranian people that are going through hell these days. Please Jesus, I pray that you, you see, I know that you see Iranian people. I know that you have seen their sufferings and cries, cries of mothers, fathers, children who have lost family members. You hear their cries. I know that. I believe that. Jesus, please come intervene and save Iranian people from this evil regime. I believe that your power is higher than any other power in this world. And we pray against the enemies power over Iran. We break the power of enemy over the skies of Iran and we declare freedom, true freedom over Iran and Iranian people. And I pray that Jesus and I believe that, that you can free Iran from this evil regime in one day. And I pray that you will come, you will come to the rescue. Jesus, please. And we pray that you use everyone, everyone that you want and show them how to, how to support Iranian people, whether it's it's an individual or governments or politicians. I pray that you choose, you use whoever you want and just change their hearts so they can't say no to you. They will follow you. Jesus, please speak to leaders hearts. I pray for leaders, especially for President Trump and the United States, his administration. I pray that you speak to him, speak to him, Jesus, and give him a courage to take the side of Iranian people, 80 million Iranian people, without considering some of the consequences that the politician might consider. Please Jesus, I believe that you can change his heart and I pray that you protect him. I pray that you give him discernment, wisdom, guidance, the whole administration on how they should involve, get involved and how they should send support to the Iranian people. Please, Jesus, in your name we pray. Amen.
- [65:10]
Ryan
Amen. Thank you, Miriam. Thank you so much, so much. Guys, thank you for being with us today. Continue to pray for Iran, continue to pray for Miriam, and we will see you guys next week on the Jesus People podcast.