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Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey
Ep 1115 | This Former Muslim Was Taught to Hate Christians — Then She Became One | Guest: Lily Meschi
00:56:54
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- [00:01]
A
Lily Meshi is a former Muslim Iranian American who is here today to share her amazing testimony what it was like growing up as a little girl in Iran fearing the morality police and what it's like now to be liberated by Christ and how she and the ministry that she is a part of are working to share the gospel with the people of Iran. You will be so encouraged by her testimony and by this conversation. It's brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers. Go to good ranchers.com use code ALI at checkout. That's goodranchers.com code ALLY. Lily, thanks so much for taking the time to join us. If you could tell everyone who you are and what you do.
- [00:55]
B
Yes, of course. Ali, thank you so much for having me here. It's such an honor. Thank you. So my name is Lily Meshi. First and foremost, I'm a daughter of the most high God. And professionally, I serve at a ministry called Iran Alive Ministries, where we air the love of Christ through satellite TV into people's homes in Iran and Afghanistan and some other regions in the Middle East.
- [01:22]
A
Wow. And tell me about your upbringing. How did you come to do what you do now?
- [01:27]
B
Yes. So I was born and raised in Iran, and When I was 16, my parents wanted us to emigrate from Iran to outside of Iran, so anywhere except Iran, due to some, you know, economical challenges and my dad's business and all that. And so we moved to Germany, where my mom's side of the family lived at the time, and I lived there for a couple of years. And then my dad started a business venture in the US with my uncle, who had been here for a long time. And we, one by one, we moved to the US and about a year after I moved to the US I came to know Christ. And, you know, ever since it's been over 24 years now, ever since, I've been just growing in my faith and wanting to serve. So I'm just privileged to be able to serve there and share my faith with other Iranians and other Muslims from Iran.
- [02:34]
A
So you were raised Muslim?
- [02:35]
B
Yes.
- [02:36]
A
Tell me what that was like, especially living in Iran.
- [02:38]
B
Yes, it was very restrictive when I was in Iran. I can tell you, the culture is such a shame and honor culture. And so growing up, I really faced lots of challenges with shame and fear in general. If we had a couple extra strands of hair showing from under our head covering, we would be shamed by morality police and we would even be arrested to go to the police station.
- [03:17]
A
As a child, as a child, were you ever Arrested?
- [03:20]
B
No, I wasn't, but I was always afraid that I would be. My mom and dad were always nervous about us going out by ourselves because they were like, we don't want to pick you up from the police station because one or too many or one too many of your hair is showing from your under.
- [03:38]
A
And what would happen if there was a young woman who say, had a strand of hair showing from under her hijab and the morality police came and arrested her. She was taken to the police station. What would be the consequence for her?
- [03:51]
B
Yeah, so basically they, they go into detention and as you may Remember back in 2021, a girl by the name of Mahsa Amini was taken to the police station by the morality police and she was beat up so severely that she died while in the custody of the police. And so this has been happening over four decades now since the revolution, the Islamic revolution. And people are just so scared and afraid because the government intimidates them by, you know, scare tactics and all, all kinds of different fearful intimidation tactics that they, they have instilled in people. You know, you know, that the consequences are going to be severe for just one strand of your hair showing and for non compliance and all that. Yeah, it's, it's been, it's been brutal.
- [04:57]
A
Tell me a little more about the Islamic revolution. You said that was 40 years ago. I don't know much about that, but I have seen P of Iran before the Islamic revolution where it looked like the women were dressed kind of like American women. Right. They were going to school, they were leading what seemed like normal lives. And then what happened during the Islamic revolution that changed everything.
- [05:22]
B
Yes. So I also was born after the Islamic revolution. It happened in 1979. So what happened was Persian Empire was one of the largest empires back in the day when Cyrus, the king in the Bible actually founded Persian empire. And so the monarchy for 2,600 years of monarchy turned into theocracy almost overnight. When the revolution happened in Iran and people, it was actually the desires of the people for this Islamic revolution because they thought that, you know, the king was doing them ugly and was, you know, using the rich resources of the country for their own goods and benefits. And you know, they don't really do justice for, for the people. And so they thought that the Islamic revolution a religion can save them because back then it was very secular in Iran. Like the secularism was, was prevalent and no religion was really being practiced as like the dictatorship Islamic government.
- [06:48]
A
It wasn't being enforced, it wasn't being enforced. People had the freedom wasn't being enforced. There were a lot of Muslims there but it wasn't really a matter of morality police coming around and making sure that you're obeying all the laws.
- [07:02]
C
Right.
- [07:02]
A
And then the Islamic revolution happened and they said nope, this is now a matter of this state.
- [07:07]
C
We're going to make sure you abide by all of these laws.
- [07:09]
B
Yes. And so you're, as someone that was born after the revolution, they just give you a religion. Like I was born as a Muslim. I didn't have the choice to or the freedom to choose my own religion. I am automatically a Muslim if I was born after the revolution. So that's something that not only is it being enforced but it's being impressed upon like it's being forced on you.
- [07:43]
A
Yeah.
- [07:44]
B
And so anyways that's how it turned into theocracy through the revolution. And people thought that religion or Islam can save them. But then after 40 plus years now they realized that Islam is not the solution but the very problem. And so most Iranians are rejecting Islam now even though a lot of people think that Iran is an Islamic country because of what the brutality and the cruelty that Iranians have been faced with because of Islam. A lot of them have turned into different religions. Most of them are seeking other religions. They think gospel is something that they, they need to cling on. That's why it's open heaven in Iran right now. People's hearts and minds are ready to for something new because they're sick and tired of of Islam and what has been doing to the people of Iran.
- [09:02]
A
Quick pause to tell you about our.
- [09:03]
C
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- [09:59]
A
When you were living in Iran as a child, learning about Islam you mentioned the morality police, but what else were you told about Islam, about women in Islam? I'm not, I know a little bit about Islamic beliefs, but I'm interested in what children are taught from an early age.
- [10:21]
B
Yes. So from early age they taught us in school that Islam is the only religion then that can get to God. Every other religion is false except Islam. And basically they indoctrinate that type of theology into the children's minds to where everyone else is in the wrong except Muslims. And so they put the fear and hatred inside of children's hearts towards Americans who are not Muslims, towards Israel, especially because they're, you know, they're Zionist and in their belief that, you know, they have to be wiped off the map and they're the enemy and all that. And so as children in school, we don't know why this hatred exists or I didn't even know and I just knew that this was the way of life and it was ingrained in me until I moved to America. And like, I now have a totally different worldview, but it was definitely, it is still happening in Iran. They indoctrinate their own beliefs and their own mindset in the hearts and the minds of the children to really brainwash them.
- [12:03]
A
Anti west, anti America, anti Israel, anti Christian, anti Judaism. And do women and girls, I mean, I know you've already described kind of the violence that they have to endure, but can you tell us a little bit more about what it's like to be a woman or a girl in Iran?
- [12:21]
B
Yes. So women in Iran are treated as second class citizens. The women really struggle with their identity in Iran because it is more about what can a woman do for a man as opposed to who is she? Nobody cares about who she is. They all care about what can she contribute to add value to a man's life. And a lot of times maybe it's not publicly or openly talked about, but they're treated as a possession. Their rights are violated in Iran. One of the things that's really bothersome and it irritates me every time I talk about it, is that a woman's testimony in court is worth half of a man's. So which really works against women. For imagine family laws, custody laws. A lot of times women are subject to advances to their male superior at work. And so imagine if a woman is exploited at work, her own testimony is counted as half of a man's. So they don't even listen to her because her testimony is worthless. It's half of a man's. And so that's really, that's a practice that's happening. Inheritance law are favored towards men. Men get double portion of whatever the inheritance is when even though women in Iran are very, very smart, very intelligent, like the number of enrollment at universities, women are twice as many as men's in.
- [14:29]
A
So women are allowed to go to university.
- [14:30]
B
They are, yes. They are allowed to earn education. However, only 19% of them are reported to be in the workforce.
- [14:42]
A
Okay.
- [14:42]
B
And the gender gap is around 40%. So men earn for the same job 40% more than women do. And so it's just they do face economic challenges a lot. And I think the system is set up to where women have absolutely no or very little autonomy. And they want women to be dependent upon men for financial gains, for financial necessity. And one thing that one practice is of course child marriages. The legal age to marry for a woman is 13, which leads to child marriages for men. Guys is 15. And so that right there, it just leads to physiological challenges, psychological challenges for women from early age. Then the workforce issues because of all the, you know, they're vulnerable at workplaces and so they're being taken advantage of and all that. And so one of the practices in Iran is called temporary marriages. And what happens is temporary marriage is really a loophole for legalized prostitution in Iran. And what happens is it's a period of time that a man and a woman agree upon to be legally married so that the man could sexually have relationship with the woman without any implications. And they have made it legalized for a certain period of time, for a certain amount of money. It could be two hours, it could be a week, it could be months, whatever they determine it is. But they have legalized it so men could have the freedom to have sex with other women with no consequences or implications of the marriage.
- [17:02]
A
And what happens if the woman gets pregnant?
- [17:05]
B
Nothing. They ask them to abort the baby. In fact, it's funny you mentioned that we had a testimony that came to our ministry about the same thing. Woman gets pregnant, the woman wants to keep the baby. The man says, no, it's my reputation, you have to abort the baby. Then he brings in an Arab guy to sell the 11 days old baby to an Arab. And the woman flees and goes in hiding and all that. And in one of the places that she was hiding, they were broadcasting gospel in their own ethnic language, which was one of our programming. And she came to Faith right then and there. She started praying that he would change his mind about selling the baby. And so she comes to Faith, she starts you know, praying. And then he comes to faith and they come back together and they turn the temporary marriage into permanent marriage. And they're living happily ever after, serving the Lord now. But there are, there are incidences that, you know, the woman becomes pregnant and they don't want to have anything to do with. With that it. Which is very unfortunate.
- [18:36]
C
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- [19:36]
A
You were married young, correct?
- [19:37]
B
Yes.
- [19:38]
A
Tell me about that.
- [19:39]
B
So When I was 18, I was introduced to my dad's business partner who was 14 years older than me. And so in a way, this marriage was arranged for me and the string attached to it was the business that he was helping my dad. Dad to open. And so in a way, I was forced by circumstances to marry him. I did not like him. I was not attracted to him at all. But from the get go, he started manipulating me. You know, he exploited me sexually before marriage to seal the deal, so to speak, to say, hey, you know, if I exploit her, she's going to stay with me. And I was just scarred. I was, I was very hurt after that, but I felt like I needed to be the savior of my family and just keep on going with this, with this arranged marriage, which turned very toxic, very abusive on all fronts.
- [20:53]
A
And was this in the U.S. it.
- [20:54]
B
Was in the U.S. okay, so a.
- [20:57]
A
Muslim man came to your dad.
- [20:59]
B
Yes.
- [21:00]
A
And was like, yeah, I want to marry your daughter. And your dad, who is, was, I guess, strict theologically when it came to Islam, thought, yeah, this is great. This is a custom that we need to continue. And so that's how that was set up.
- [21:14]
B
Absolutely. So growing up, my dad was very, very strict. He, he Was very overprotective. And I thought of my dad always as my hero. He was always very honoring, honorable. And I thought, if my dad is introducing this guy to me, he must be really good at age 18. And it's worth to mention that when I was in Iran, it was a societal norm. I had seen and witnessed, you know, young girls being arranged to marry an older man who's semi well off. And this was the way of life. You know, I did not think anything of it. I didn't even think it was a thing like arranged marriage. Later on, you know, I learned about arranged marriages, but I thought this was the culture. This was something that we do as Iranians and as Muslims. And so, yeah, he asked for my dad's permission to speak with me, and my dad arranged that. And he thought that he was doing me a favor. But, you know, it turned south.
- [22:29]
A
Yeah. So tell me about the beginning of the marriage and how it turned abusive.
- [22:33]
B
Yes. So from the beginning, the foundation of this relationship was based on fear, intimidation, manipulation. And so going into it, it was very hurtful emotionally, because then, you know, my dad's business was always held over my head. Like, I helped your dad do this and that and my. And he would just use that as, you know, the winning card on me and all that. And so he started. He started, like, asserting his dominance. And like, he wanted to say, hey, I'm the dominating, you know, figure here in this marriage.
- [23:19]
A
You said you were 18?
- [23:20]
B
I was 18.
- [23:21]
A
And he was in his 30s.
- [23:22]
B
Yes. 32. Okay. Yes. And so he wanted, from the beginning, he wanted to make sure that I know that he's the alpha. He is the guy that dominates. He is, you know, his word is the final say. And all that. And all of that is cultural disposition that he also had learned from back from home. And so, you know, it turned abusive. It turned into physical abuse. Sometimes he would accuse me of liking other men so much that it just became the biggest fear of his life. And so one time, this actually happened a few times. But one time, I remember, like, as I was sleeping, he started throttling my neck. And because he had a dream that, you know, I was with another man, like, he was very jealous, very controlling. I woke up feeling I was being choked.
- [24:33]
A
Oh, my goodness.
- [24:33]
B
Because of that. And so there were just the physical struggle, the emotional and mental, verbal. It was just constant, constant accusations, constantly. I was trying to prove myself trustworthy, that he can trust me. He can't. You know, we can have a relationship based on trust, but he always would Just find other ways to accuse me of different things.
- [25:06]
A
And were you still wearing like a hijab at this point in America?
- [25:11]
B
Okay.
- [25:11]
A
Oh, you were not?
- [25:12]
B
Okay. So the, the hijab is only enforced in Iran. Yeah. And, like, if you're not a devout Muslim, you. If it's not in, you know, so.
- [25:25]
A
Your dad didn't make you do that.
- [25:27]
C
Your husband didn't make you do that.
- [25:28]
B
We were nominal Muslim. Like, again, you know, because we were born into that culture. We were known as Muslims, but we weren't really practicing it to a T. Yeah.
- [25:43]
C
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- [26:40]
A
When did you become a Christian? Did you become a Christian while you were married?
- [26:44]
B
So I became a Christian a year after I got married.
- [26:48]
A
Okay.
- [26:48]
B
And that's the story of me coming to Faith because I was, you know, the relationship was very toxic. And I was so depressed at age 18. Back then, I was 19. It was a year after I literally had no hopes for my life. I felt trapped with him because of the way he was behaving, the way he was treating me. He wouldn't let me go. He would just, you know, manipulate me in every which way possible to keep me in this marriage. And I didn't know if I wanted to continue education. I started going to college. He would follow me to college, peek through the windows of the classroom to see who I was sitting next to. And then he would monitor my phone afterwards to see who I was talking to and whatnot. He was just, you know, like that. And so, you know, it was an Outlet for me to go to college and you know, study and thinking that I'm doing something good, of value for my life. But then I would come home and he would just make me cry from his accusations and the way he treated me and all that. I just didn't know what to do anymore. It was a period of my life that I was very, very down and depressed and in complete darkness thinking that I'm trapped in this, in this relationship and there's no way out. That's when some of our friends came to visit us out of a blue. And they brought Jesus film with them and they brought Bibles, came to visit.
- [28:28]
A
You to your house.
- [28:29]
B
They came to visit my parents. They were family friends from back when we were in Iran. They had moved to Oklahoma and when we moved to the U.S. we were in Austin, Texas. They came to visit us after so long. And so they had become Christians in Oklahoma. And so they wanted to share the gospel with us as well. And so when I went to visit them at my parents house, they were watching Jesus film in Farsi in my parents living room. And so when I went in I started watching it with them. Didn't think anything of it. I was more of a dead person walking. I was so numb to myself. I thought I was betrayed by my own family being, you know, put up with this guy and in my marriage, marital issues and all that. I just didn't have any hopes. I was just very aimless. No purpose in my life. Didn't see the light at the end of the tunnel. And so I sat there, watched, watched the movie and got up to leave. One of the women there said, lily, I know you've been through a lot. Did you know that when you come to Christ all your past will be gone and you will become a new creation in Christ and everything will become new in him. And that just struck a chord with me because I had been wanting a new fresh start. I thought, well, my life had been wasted. What would have happened if I could have a do over, if I could have a fresh start. And when she said that, I knew the Holy Spirit was speaking through her. And so I didn't know back then, but I know now that the Holy Spirit was speaking through her because that was the very thing I needed to hear back then. And so when I got up to leave, the daughter of this woman that said that to me walked me to the door and said, lily, I know that things are looking very dark in your life and I know you've been struggling, but know that there is Hope and Christ can pull you out of this dungeon that you're in. Do you mind if I share a couple of verses from the Bible with you? And at this point, I am thinking, she's plotting something against me. Everyone's against me. Everyone wants to destroy me and whatnot. And I was like, okay, whatever. I mean, I've got.
- [31:01]
A
Why did you think that everyone wanted to destroy you?
- [31:04]
B
Because I felt that my immediate family was the blame for arranging this marriage, and they did that to destroy me. And, like, now I'm dealing with this man who's very toxic and doesn't trust me. And every. You know, every turn he moves, he. He just blames me for everything. And I. I saw everyone as someone who wants to harm me, who wants to do something to. To destroy my future and whatnot. I just had become very defensive because of all the hurts and the exploitation and all that. I was very sensitive, like, who. Who's talking to me? And about what. What do they want from me? Like, I thought that everyone wants something from me. And so when she shared that with me, she. She opened up the Word of God and she started reading John 1:1. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. John 1:14. And the moment she read these two verses, even though I had no knowledge, no prior knowledge about Jesus other than, you know, he was one of the prophets that performed many miracles, I knew that. I knew that. I knew that Jesus was my Lord and Savior. And I had this, you know, Holy Spirit encounter. Now I know that it was the Holy Spirit encounter that just made everything so clear to me. And all my questions were answered. Interestingly enough, that afternoon, my sister met me at the mall, and she said, lily, you know, these friends of my mom and dad's, they say Jesus is God. And I was like, that's ridiculous. Who calls a man God? They're so deceived. And so that afternoon I said that, and that evening it was revealed to me that Jesus is God. And it was so clear that I didn't even question it. The moment she said the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, I was like, that's God. That must be God.
- [33:30]
A
Yeah. That's amazing. And your parents, they, I guess, watched you said it was a Jesus film, which is like the Gospel of Luke, right?
- [33:37]
B
Yes.
- [33:38]
A
What was their immediate reaction to hearing this?
- [33:43]
B
They were. Their hearts were softened by it, and they saw something different in their friends that they had never seen in the past. You know, I talked with my dad and my mom. I was trying to record all their testimonies and as to how they came to faith. It's like, what were you thinking? Like, they were like, the kind of love we saw and witnessed in our friends was so different than anything we had experienced. And so we were intrigued to know more about Christ as they were speaking to us. And so it was through their love and genuine care that they accepted to read the Bible and to find out for themselves, they started praying. And they both have their own stories. One had a vision in his dream. My dad had a vision. And my mom just felt that conviction that Jesus is Christ one time at church. And so, yeah, they both came to faith. They didn't reject Christianity at all because even though their background was from Islam, they were open to hear the gospel. They weren't rejecting it or anything. My mom was afraid. My mom was scared because she thought that she was betraying God the Father if she calls Christ God. And so that took her a little bit to really receive that revelation.
- [35:28]
C
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- [36:39]
A
And what happened in your marriage after you became a Christian?
- [36:43]
B
So I changed. I started going to church. I started reading the Word. I started receiving the kind of peace that transcends all understanding. It was just. I was in the midst of so much hurts and abuse, but I had peace with it, and, but it was, I was going through the sanctification process when, you know, when I came to faith, I didn't know anything about Christ. I had to learn about who he is, what he does, what are his ways, how to even read the Word, how to interpret it, all that. So I was a very, very baby Christian. And so, but I was, I was committed to learning about Christianity. Nothing really changed to the dynamic of our marriage. In fact, it was getting more and more abusive because of the bipolar disorder that he had. Like he would wake up one day and say, oh yeah, Jesus is Christ and he's awesome. He's my best friend. All that. The next day, you know, you're being deceived, you're not, you know, Jesus is not who you think he is and all that. I would be reading my Bible in the living room and he would just grab my Bible and throw it across the room and say, this is all bs. Why are you deceiving yourself? What not So I was in a very difficult environment in a way, kind of persecution from my own husband, but was resident in our home. But I thought based on my very immature faith that he's in my life because he's my assignment. I thought that he's my cross to carry and I will not do anything against the word of God to divorce him or to, you know, separate from him or anything like that. I thought that, you know, to live is Christ and part of it, you know, may come with suffering and he's my suffering.
- [39:04]
A
And he was still physically abusing you at this point?
- [39:08]
B
Yes, yes, he was very violent, he was very aggressive. And so anyways, I just, I just stayed in the marriage and let him, let him manipulate me every which way. And because of, you know, the word of God that says, you know, forgive and if your brother, you know, does you wrong, forgive seven times seven, you know, all that. But going into this new faith, I still brought in my performance based faith to where everything is on a skill system. Like I have to, I have to do enough good to deserve God's goodness and grace. And so I looked at my new faith as a Christian, as you know, I need to do everything right, such as bearing with his, you know, tolerating his abuse, carrying my cross bearing with him and let him abuse me, let him walk all over me, let him dominate me. Divorce is no option for me. It was very black and white and cut and dry. I did not understand that Christianity is not a religion. Christianity is our way to have a relationship with God the Father through what Christ has done for us and through the Holy Spirit that lives on the inside of us. I approached it as a religion and a set of do's and don'ts as opposed to I hear uniquely from the Holy Spirit. What is it that the Father wants for me? What is it that I need to accomplish? What is my purpose here? What does he want me to learn from the situation? Does the Father want me to stay in this abusive relationship? Or he wants peace for me, he wants growth for me, he wants me to live out my purpose. Which, which one is it that he wants for me? There may be for some people that I want you to stay in this relationship because I'm doing something in you. But for for me, after 14 years, the Lord clearly released me from, from this marriage because it wasn't my cross to carry to begin with. I just made it my own cross based on my own per my own misinterpretation of the word of God, my own failure to hear the voice of God for my life, uniquely for me, not based on set of rules of do's and don'ts.
- [42:02]
A
Yeah, Just to clarify a couple things that I'm sure that you would agree with. Anyone who is in an abusive relationship needs to find safety and should leave that, should absolutely leave that marriage. Yes. Sometimes marriages are difficult and there is disagreement. And I have Christian friends who are married to unbelieving husbands and that is, you know, very hard. And God does use those marriages to sanctify those women, to draw those women to Himself. Marriage isn't always going to be easy, but an abusive marriage, a woman needs to find refuge for herself, for her children. And also totally agree with you about the legalism that sometimes comes into our mind of this like performance based religion, that if we do this, then we get this in return, or if we don't do this, then God doesn't love us or he loves us less. Christianity is a religion in that, you know, like the book of James says, like pure religion is this. It's taking care of widows and orphans. And so it is a religion, but it's different than Islam. It's different than every other religion in that every other faith tells you this is how you can get to God, this is how you earn it. This is how you climb up the mountain, you show yourself worthy and then maybe God will look down upon you and show favor to you. But Christianity is that no, there's nothing you can do to earn it. Christ came down from the mountain, proverbial mountain, and came to you because you could not Save yourself. There's nothing you can do to climb up. There's nothing you can do to clean yourself up or to make yourself worthy of my love. Christ made us worthy. He gave us his righteousness.
- [43:45]
C
And so it is a religion in.
- [43:47]
A
A sense, but it's different because of that relationship aspect, because of the grace, because there's nothing we can do to earn our salvation. And no matter someone's background, that takes a long time. I mean, it might even take our whole lives for us to really understand God's love and grace for us through Christ.
- [44:08]
C
So I imagine it was especially transformative.
- [44:10]
A
For you considering your background.
- [44:13]
B
Yes, absolutely was. The one thing that sets Christianity apart from any other religions out there is that we are given this advocate and the comforter and the Holy Spirit that teaches us all things and we can rely on that. And that was the aspect that came to me as a revelation that I didn't understand as a baby in Christ. And you know, it. Just leaning in to hearing the promptings in our spirit through the Holy Spirit, leaning into hearing the voice of God through the Holy Spirit is something that absolutely sets, sets Christianity apart from every, every other religions out there.
- [45:07]
C
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- [46:00]
A
So you got out of that abusive marriage and how did you meet your current husband?
- [46:06]
B
We actually met through a mutual friend and it was very difficult for me to see myself with another man. It took about eight years of healing and recovery from all the hurts and the pains on the inside of me because I had developed this outlook that all men are abusive and controlling and jealous and they just want to exploit women. And I had closed myself up to any possibility of, you know, marriage or dating or anything like that. I just did not want to have any man in my life. And it took, it took a couple of years after I met my current husband for the Lord to really convict me of this mindset. Because I was absolutely against the institution of marriage. I was against it. And I thought that I knew that this was not God's will, but I was against it because of all the hurts and the pains and the experiences I had. And so I had formed this deception in my head that marriage is not for everyone. And that was a journey that the Holy Spirit convicted me of. That marriage is God's will. Marriage is something that God has in store for me. And you know, my perspective changed completely in that, in that period of time to where I wanted to do the will of God and to marry. Whereas before I was totally against it, totally against it. And it was through this marriage that the Lord redeemed me from all my pains and all my hurts in the past. I always say it was a divine encounter, that the moment I opened myself up to the will of God in my life, the Lord brought the right person into my life to be alongside me, to compliment me, to do ministry together, to serve together.
- [48:43]
A
Tell me about your ministry. What is it doing right now?
- [48:47]
B
Yes. So right now, as we mentioned, darkness is so abundant in Iran. I mean the sexual immorality is increasing, suicide rate is increasing, rate of addiction is going through the roof. And people are becoming more desperate and more hopeless every day because of the governmental restrictions, the injust unfair treatments of people and so many different brutality that's happening in Iran. So what we do because missionaries cannot go to Iran and there's risks of persecution, execution, all that in Iran. And so through the satellite tv, we beam into people's homes the love of Christ and the gospel. And we basically broadcast church services for those that are believers. We share the gospel with non believers. You know, we have teachings for women and their identity on our channel and children, kids. So every movies that are faith based, they're all being aired in Farsi. And so over the years, Iran Alive Ministries has been ministering to Iranians since 2000. And so over the last 24 years, 100,000 people, over 100,000 people have contacted us and documented their salvation. And we know that so many others, because of, you know, the risk of getting found out and the persecution, they don't ever reach out or anything. We believe that there are millions of believers in Iran right Now, an estimated 2 million now. And the Christian movement is picking up momentum in Iran. The discipleship making movement is picking up momentum in Iran and more and more people are becoming open to the gospel and receiving Christ, which is an amazing phenomenon. Iran has the fastest growing evangelical population in the world. You know, the operations manual was saying that the, I think in 2019, Iran had a rate of 19% of evangelical population. So they're growing every single day. And because of the discipleship making movement, it's, you know, it's growing even more than that now.
- [51:42]
A
And what consequences do they face if it were found out that they were watching church services at home?
- [51:49]
B
So there are house raids that are happening, you know, almost every day. So people have to be very, very cautious to practice, practice Christianity in Iran. Even like during worship and praise, like if we do a lot of praise and worship in Farsi on our channel, they have to turn down the volume so much they can't even hear themselves worship because if a neighbor hears them and reports them, they're going to be arrested and sometimes execute that, sometimes are being sent to exile. It's just, you know, the repercussion of being a Christian in Iran is very severe.
- [52:30]
A
Have you guys received any formal opposition from the government there in Iran? Because y'all have distributed over 100,000 Bibles, right. Since 2001, I believe.
- [52:41]
B
Yes.
- [52:41]
A
And so I imagine they don't like Iran alive over there.
- [52:45]
B
They do not. They do not. We actually there were some governmental, government officials that came to faith and contacted us.
- [52:54]
A
Wow.
- [52:54]
B
And they said that the government is scared of the movement that is happening in Iran and they want to shut it off every, every way possible that they get. The founder of the ministry gets death threats all the time. I mean, they're threatening us, but they haven't been able to take down the satellite dishes and they haven't been able to prevail the move of God in Iran, which is great.
- [53:26]
A
Yes. Praise God.
- [53:27]
B
Yes.
- [53:28]
A
And what can this audience do? How can they support you guys?
- [53:34]
B
Pray for Iranians hearts and minds to open even more to the message of Christ and for the veil to be removed from their sights. Because the people of Iran are desperate and exhausted and they're seeking freedom, but they think that the freedom comes through democracy. But we want to bring to them the ultimate freedom that comes only by Christ. And so I would say just pray, share the stories that are coming. You know, we put them on our website, iranalive.org, share them with your neighbors, with your friends, with your circle of people. Bring awareness about what's happening in Iran because The misconception is that Iran is an Islamic country and most people think that the government and people are same, whereas the government is very separated from the people. People are open to the gospel while the government is an agent of Antichrist. And so, you know, so just bring awareness, support our work so that we can, we can continue on sharing the gospel with Iranians and the people in the Middle East. Yeah. Most importantly, just pray.
- [55:05]
A
Thank you so much. And I will put the link to the website where people can learn more about it, donate if they're able to. Can they follow you? Yes, they can. Okay.
- [55:16]
C
Where can they follow you?
- [55:17]
B
So I am personally on Instagram, Lily Meshi and Irana Live Ministries also is on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok and all that. All that good stuff. Yes. And we also have a phone number which, which if you don't mind me saying, I can just let people know they can text the word Iran to 85789 and we send them updates and stories. We have all become tech savvy nowadays, so we rather do text. So if they are interested in connecting with us, that's also another way.
- [55:54]
A
Okay, awesome. Well, Lily, thank you so much and God bless your ministry and just the courage that you guys have. We will definitely be praying. Thank you.
- [56:01]
B
I appreciate you, Ali. Thank you so much.