Ep 1115 ｜ Islam Taught Her to Hate Christians — Then She Became One ｜ Guest： Lily Meschi
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
141.3282
Summary
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.
Transcript
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Lily Meshi is a former Muslim Iranian-American who is here today to share her amazing testimony,
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what it was like growing up as a little girl in Iran, fearing the morality police, and
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what it's like now to be liberated by Christ, and how she and the ministry that she is a
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part of are working to share the gospel with the people of Iran.
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You will be so encouraged by her testimony and by this conversation.
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It's brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers.
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Lily, thanks so much for taking the time to join us.
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If you could tell everyone who you are and what you do.
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First and foremost, I'm a daughter of the Most High God, and professionally, I serve at a
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ministry called Iran Alive Ministries, where we air the love of Christ through satellite
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TV into people's homes in Iran and Afghanistan and some other regions in the Middle East.
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And when I was 16, my parents wanted us to emigrate from Iran to outside of Iran.
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So anywhere except Iran, due to some, you know, economical challenges and my dad's business
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And so we moved to Germany, where my mom's side of the family lived at the time.
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And then my dad started a business venture in the U.S. with my uncle, who had been here
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And about a year after I moved to the U.S., I came to know Christ.
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And, you know, ever since it's been over 24 years now, ever since I've been just growing
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So I'm just privileged to be able to serve there and share my faith with my other Iranians
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Tell me what that was like, especially living in Iran.
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I can tell you the culture is such a shame and honor culture.
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And so growing up, I really faced lots of challenges with shame and fear in general.
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You know, if we had a couple extra strands of hair showing from under our head covering,
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And we would even be arrested to go to the police station.
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My mom and dad were always nervous about us going out by ourselves because they were like,
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we don't want to pick you up from the police station because one or two many of your hair
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And what would happen if there was a young woman who, say, had a strand of hair showing
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from under her hijab and the morality police came and arrested her?
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And as you may remember, back in 2021, a girl by the name of Masa Amini was taken to
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And she was beat up so severely that she died while in the custody of the police.
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And so this has been happening over four decades now since the revolution, the Islamic revolution.
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And people are just so scared and afraid because the government intimidates them by, you know,
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scared tactics and all kinds of different fearful intimidation tactics that they have instilled
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You know, you know, you know, that the consequences are going to be severe for just one strand of your hair
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Tell me a little more about the Islamic revolution.
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I don't know much about that, but I have seen pictures of Iran before the Islamic revolution
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where it looked like the women were dressed kind of like American women, right?
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They were leading what seemed like normal lives.
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And then what happened during the Islamic revolution that changed everything?
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So I also was born after the Islamic revolution.
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So what happened was, um, Persian empire was, was one of the largest, you know, empires back
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in the day when, um, Cyrus the King in the Bible, um, actually founded Persian empire.
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And so, um, the monarchy for 2,600 years of monarchy turned into theocracy almost overnight
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when the revolution happened in Iran and, um, people, um, it was actually, um, um, the desires
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of the people for this Islamic revolution because they thought that, you know, um, the King was,
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was, uh, doing them ugly and was, um, you know, using the, the, the rich resources of, of the
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And, um, and, you know, they, they don't really do, um, um, justice for, for the people.
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And so, um, they thought that the Islamic revolution, a religion can save them because back then it
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was very secular in Iran, like the secularism was, was prevalent and, um, no religion was
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really being practiced as like the dictatorship, Islamic government.
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There were a lot of Muslims there, but it wasn't really a matter of morality police coming
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around and making sure that you're obeying all the laws, right?
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And then the Islamic revolution happened and they said, nope, this is now a matter of this
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We're going to make sure you abide by all of these laws.
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And so you're, um, as someone that was born after the revolution, um, they just give you
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I didn't have the choice to, um, or the freedom to choose my own religion.
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I am automatically a Muslim if I was born after the revolution.
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So that's, that's something that not only is it being enforced, but it's, it's being, um,
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it's being, um, impressed upon, like it's being forced on you.
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And so, um, so anyways, um, that's how it, uh, it turned into theocracy, um, uh, through
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the revolution and people thought that religion or Islam can save them.
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Um, but then after 40 plus years now, they realized that Islam is not the solution, but
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Um, even though, um, the, um, a lot of people think that, you know, Iran is an Islamic country,
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um, because of what the, um, uh, brutality and the cruelty that Iranians have been faced
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with because of Islam, a lot of them have turned into different religions.
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Um, some, most of them are seeking other religions.
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Um, they, they think gospel, um, is something that they, they need to cling on.
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And that's why it's open heaven in Iran right now, people's hearts and minds are ready to,
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for something new because they're sick and tired of, of Islam and what has been, um, doing
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When you are living in Iran as a child, learning about Islam, you mentioned the morality
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police, but what else were you told about Islam, about women in Islam?
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I know a little bit about Islamic beliefs, but I'm interested in what children are taught
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So from early age, they taught us in school that Islam is the only religion that can get
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And basically, they indoctrinate that type of theology into the children's minds to where
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And so they put the fear and hatred inside of children's hearts towards Americans who are
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not Muslims, towards Israel, especially because they're Zionist and in their belief that they
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have to be wiped off the map and they're the enemy and all that.
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And so as children in school, we don't know why this hatred exists or I didn't even know.
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And I just knew that this was the way of life and it was ingrained in me until I moved to
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And like, I now have a totally different worldview, but it was definitely, it is still happening
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They indoctrinate their own beliefs and their own mindset in the hearts and the minds of
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Anti-West, anti-America, anti-Israel, anti-Christian, anti-Judaism.
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And do women and girls, I mean, I know you've already described kind of the violence that
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they have to endure, but can you tell us a little bit more about what it's like to be
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So women in Iran are treated as second class citizens.
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The women really struggle with their identity in Iran because it is more about what can a woman
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They all care about what can she contribute to add value to a man's life.
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And a lot of times, you know, maybe it's not publicly or openly talked about, but they're
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You know, one of the things that's really bothersome and it irritates me every time I talk about
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is that a woman's testimony in court is worth half of a man's, which really works against women
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A lot of times, women are subject to advances to their male superior at work.
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And so imagine if a woman is exploited at work, her own testimony is counted as half of a man's.
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So they don't even listen to her because her testimony is worthless.
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And so that's really, that's a practice that's happening.
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Men get double portion of whatever the inheritance is.
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Even though women in Iran are very, very smart, very intelligent.
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Like the number of enrollment at universities, women are twice as many as men's enrollment.
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However, only 19% of them are reported to be in the workforce.
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So men earn, for the same job, 40% more than women do.
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And so it's just, they do face economic challenges a lot.
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And I think the system is set up to where women have absolutely no or very little autonomy.
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And they want women to be dependent upon men for financial gains, for financial necessity.
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And one thing that, one practice is, of course, child marriages.
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The legal age to marry for a woman is 13, which leads to child marriages.
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And so that right there, it just leads to physiological challenges, psychological challenges for women from early age.
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Then the workforce issues, because of all the, you know, they're vulnerable at workplaces.
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And so they're being taken advantage of and all that.
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And so one of the practices in Iran is called temporary marriages.
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And what happens is, temporary marriage is really a loophole for legalized prostitution in Iran.
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And what happens is, it's a period of time that a man and a woman agree upon to be legally married
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so that, you know, the man could sexually have relationship with the woman without any implications.
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And they have made it legalized for a certain period of time, for a certain amount of money.
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But they have legalized it so men could have the freedom to have sex with other women
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with no consequences or implications of the marriage.
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We had a testimony that came to our ministry about the same thing.
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Then he brings in an Arab guy to sell the 11 days old baby to an Arab.
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And the woman flees and goes in hiding and all that.
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And in one of the places that she was hiding, they were broadcasting, you know, gospel in
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their own ethnic language, which was one of our programming.
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She started praying that, you know, he would change his mind about selling the baby.
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She starts, you know, praying and then he comes to faith.
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And they come back together and they turn the temporary marriage into permanent marriage.
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And they're living happily ever after, serving the Lord now.
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But, um, there are, there are incidences that, you know, the woman becomes pregnant and they
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don't want to have anything to do with, with that.
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So when I was 18, I was introduced to my dad's business partner, who was 14 years older than
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And so in a way, this marriage was arranged for me.
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And the string attached to it was the business that he was helping my dad to open.
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And so in a way, I was forced by circumstances to marry him.
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But from the get-go, he started manipulating me.
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You know, he exploited me sexually before marriage to seal the deal, so to speak, to say,
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hey, you know, if I exploit her, she's going to stay with me.
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But I felt like I needed to be the savior of my family and just keep on going with this
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arranged marriage, which turned very toxic, very abusive on all fronts.
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So a Muslim man came to your dad and was like, yeah, I want to marry your daughter.
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And your dad, who was, I guess, strict theologically when it came to Islam, thought, yeah, this is
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And I thought, you know, if my dad is introducing this guy to me, he must be really good at age
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And it's worth to mention that when I was in Iran, it was a societal norm to, I had seen
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and witnessed, you know, young girls being arranged to marry an older man who's semi-well-off.
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I didn't even think it was a thing, like arranged marriage.
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Later on, you know, I learned about arranged marriages, but I thought this was the culture.
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This was something that we do as Iranians and as Muslims.
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And so, yeah, he asked for my dad's permission to speak with me.
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So tell me about the beginning of the marriage and how it turned abusive.
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So from the beginning, the foundation of this relationship was based on fear, intimidation,
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And so going into it, it was very hurtful emotionally because then, you know, my dad's business was
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And he would just use that as, you know, the winning card on me and all that.
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And so he started, he started, like, asserting his dominance.
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And like, he wanted to, to say, hey, I'm the dominating, you know, figure here in this marriage.
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And so he wanted, from the beginning, he wanted to make sure that I know that he's
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the alpha, he is the guy that dominates, he is, you know, his word is the final say and
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And all of that is cultural disposition that he also had learned from back from home.
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Sometimes he would, he would accuse me of liking other men so much that it had, it just became
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And so one time, this actually happened a few times.
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But one time I remember, like, as I was in, as I was sleeping, he started throttling my
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And because he had a dream that, you know, I was with another man.
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I woke up feeling I was being choked because of that.
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And so there were just the physical struggle, the emotional and mental, verbal, it was just
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Constantly, I was trying to prove myself trustworthy, that he can trust me.
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He can't, you know, he, we can have a relationship based on trust.
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But he, he always would just find other ways to accuse me of different things.
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And were you still wearing like a hijab at this point in America?
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And like, if you're not a devout Muslim, you, if it's not, you know, enforced.
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Like, again, you know, because we were born into that culture, we were known as Muslims,
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Did you become a Christian while you were married?
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So I became a Christian a year after I got married.
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And that's the story of me coming to faith because I was, you know, the relationship was
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I felt trapped with him because of the way he was behaving, the way he was treating me.
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He would just, you know, manipulate me in every which way possible to keep me in this marriage.
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And I didn't know if I wanted to continue education.
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He would follow me to college, peek through the windows of the classroom to see who I was
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And then he would monitor my phone afterwards to see who I was talking to and whatnot.
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And so, you know, it was an outlet for me to go to college and, you know, study and thinking
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that I'm doing something good, a value for my life.
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But then I would come home and he would just make me cry from his accusations and the way
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It was a period of my life that I was very, very down and depressed and in complete darkness,
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thinking that I'm trapped in this relationship and there's no way out.
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Um, that's when some of our friends, um, came to visit us out of a blue and, um, they brought
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Jesus's film with them and they brought Bibles.
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They were family friends from back when we were in Iran.
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And when we moved to the U S we were in Austin, Texas, they came to visit us after so long.
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And so they, they had become Christians in Oklahoma.
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And so they wanted to share the gospel with us as well.
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And so, um, when I went to visit them at my parents' house, um, they were watching Jesus's
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film, um, in, in Farsi in my parents' living room.
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And so when I went in, um, I started watching it with them, didn't think anything of it.
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I thought I was betrayed by my own family being, you know, put up with this guy and in
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I was just very aimless, no purpose in my life.
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Didn't, didn't see the light at the end of the tunnel.
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And so I sat there, watched, watched the movie and, um, got up to leave.
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Um, one of the, one of the women there said, um, Lily, I know you've been through a lot.
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Did you know that when you come to Christ, all your past will be gone and you will become
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a new creation in Christ and everything will become new in him.
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Um, and that just struck a chord with me because I had been wanting a new, fresh start.
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Um, I, I, what would it happen if I could have a do-over, if I could have a fresh start?
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And when she said that, I knew the Holy Spirit was speaking through her.
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Um, and so I didn't know back then, but I know now that the Holy Spirit was speaking
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through her because that was the very thing I needed to hear back then.
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And, um, so when I got up to leave, um, um, the daughter of this woman that said that to
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me, um, walked me, uh, to the door and said, Lily, I know, I know that things are looking
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very dark in your life and I know you've been struggling, um, but know that there is hope
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and Christ can, um, can pull you out of this dungeon that you're in.
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Um, do you mind if I share, um, a couple of verses from the Bible with you?
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And at this point, I am thinking she's plotting something against me.
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Why did you think that everyone wanted to destroy you?
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Because I felt that my immediate family, uh, was the blame for, um, arranging this marriage.
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And like, now I'm dealing with this man who's very toxic and doesn't trust me.
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And, um, every, you know, every turn he moves, he, he just blames me for everything.
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And I, I saw everyone as someone who wants to harm me, uh, who wants to do something to,
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I just had become very defensive because of all the hurts and the exploitation and all that.
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I was very sensitive, like, who, who's talking to me and about what, what do they want from me?
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Like, I thought that everyone wants something from me.
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Um, and so, um, when she shared that with me, um, she, she opened up the word of God and she started
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reading John 1, 1 in the beginning was the word, the word was with God and the word was God.
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And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, John 1, 14.
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And the moment she read these two verses, um, even though I had no knowledge, no prior knowledge
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about Jesus other than, you know, he was one of the prophets that performed many miracles.
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I knew that I knew that I knew that Jesus was my Lord and savior.
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And I had this, um, you know, Holy spirit encounter.
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And now I, I, I know that it was the Holy spirit encounter that just made everything so clear to me.
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Interestingly enough that, that afternoon, my sister met me at the mall and she said, Lily, um,
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you know, these friends of my, um, our mom and dads, they say Jesus is God.
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Who calls a man, God, um, that that's, they're, they're so deceived.
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And so that afternoon I said that, and that evening it was revealed to me that Jesus is God.
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And, um, it was so clear that I, I didn't even question it.
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The moment she said the word became flesh and dwelt among us, I was like, that's God.
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And your parents, they, I guess, watched, you said it was a Jesus film, which is like
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What was their immediate reaction to hearing this?
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Uh, they were, their hearts were softened by it and they saw something different in their
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Um, you know, um, you know, I talked with my dad and my mom, um, I was trying to record all
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their testimonies and as to how they came to faith.
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Like, they were like, the kind of love we saw and witnessed in, in our friends was so
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And so we were intrigued to know more about Christ as they were speaking to us.
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And so it was, it was through their love and genuine care that, um, they accepted, um, to
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They started praying and they both have their own stories.
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My dad had a vision and my mom just felt that conviction that Jesus is Christ, um, one time
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They didn't reject, um, Christianity at all because even though their background was, uh,
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from Islam, they were open to even, to hear the gospel.
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They were, they weren't rejecting it or anything.
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My mom was afraid, my mom was scared because she thought that she was betraying God, the
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And so that took her a little bit to really receive that revelation.
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And what happened in your marriage after you became a Christian?
00:36:49.680
I started receiving the kind of peace that transcends all understanding.
00:36:54.280
It was just, I was in the midst of so much hurts and abuse, but I had peace with it.
00:37:00.940
And, um, but it was, I was going through the sanctification process when, you know, when,
00:37:06.660
when I came to faith, I didn't know anything about Christ.
00:37:10.020
I had to learn about who he is, what he does, what, what is it, what are his ways, how, how
00:37:15.900
to even read the word, how to interpret it, all that.
00:37:24.500
And so, but I was, I was committed to learning about Christianity.
00:37:30.180
Nothing really changed, um, to the dynamic of our marriage.
00:37:34.040
In fact, um, it was getting more and more abusive because of the bipolar disorder that
00:37:42.020
he had, like he would wake up one day and say, oh yeah, Jesus is Christ and he's awesome.
00:37:49.420
The next day, um, you know, you're being deceived.
00:37:54.120
You're not, you know, Jesus is, is not who you think he is and all that.
00:37:59.260
I would be reading my Bible in the living room and he would just grab my Bible and throw
00:38:09.280
So it was, it's, it's, I was in a very, um, difficult, you know, environment, um, in a way
00:38:18.320
kind of persecution from my own husband, um, but, um, was, was resident in our, in our home.
00:38:25.280
But, um, um, I thought based on my very immature, um, faith that he's in my life because he's
00:38:38.800
I thought that he's my cross to carry and I will not do anything against the word of God,
00:38:47.740
um, to divorce him or to, um, you know, separate from him or anything like that.
00:38:54.680
I thought that, you know, um, to, to live is Christ and part of it, you know, may come
00:39:04.580
And he was still physically abusing you at this point?
00:39:13.460
Um, and so anyways, I just, um, I just stayed in the marriage and, um, let him, let him manipulate
00:39:25.240
And because of, you know, um, the word of God that says, you know, forgive.
00:39:30.840
And if your brother, you know, does you wrong, forgive seven times seven, you know, all that.
00:39:36.560
But going into this new faith, I still brought in my performance based faith to where everything
00:39:48.840
Like I have to, I have to do enough good to deserve God's, God's goodness and grace.
00:39:56.360
And so I looked at my new faith, um, as a Christian, as, you know, I need to do everything
00:40:06.100
right, um, such as bearing with his, you know, tolerating his abuse, um, carrying my, my cross,
00:40:15.980
um, bearing with him and let him abuse me, let him walk all over me, let him dominate
00:40:29.600
I did not understand that Christianity is not a religion.
00:40:35.960
Christianity is our way to have a relationship with God the Father through what Christ has
00:40:41.700
done for us and through the Holy Spirit that lives on the inside of us.
00:40:45.600
I approached it as a religion and a set of do's and don'ts as opposed to, I hear uniquely from
00:40:54.280
the Holy Spirit, what is it that the Father wants for me?
00:41:02.960
What does he want me to learn from the situation?
00:41:07.120
Does the Father want me to stay in this abusive relationship or he wants peace for me?
00:41:21.760
There may be for some people that I want you to stay in this relationship.
00:41:30.680
But for, for me, after 14 years, um, the Lord clearly released me from, from this marriage
00:41:39.440
because it wasn't my cross to carry to begin with.
00:41:42.640
I just made it my own cross based on my own perception, my own misinterpretation of the
00:41:49.360
word of God, my own failure to hear the voice of God for my life, uniquely for me, not, not
00:42:02.060
Just to clarify a couple of things that I'm sure that you would agree with anyone who
00:42:07.820
is in an abusive relationship needs to find safety and should leave that, should absolutely
00:42:15.980
Sometimes marriages are difficult and there is disagreement.
00:42:19.800
And I have Christian friends who are married to unbelieving husbands and that is, you know,
00:42:26.300
And God does use those marriages to sanctify those women, to draw those women to himself.
00:42:32.360
Marriage isn't always going to be easy, but an abusive marriage, a woman needs to find refuge
00:42:38.100
for herself, for her children, and also totally agree with you about the legalism that sometimes
00:42:45.640
comes into our mind of this like performance-based religion, that if we do this, then we get this
00:42:51.300
in return, or if we don't do this, then God doesn't love us or he loves us less.
00:42:56.080
Christianity is a religion in that, you know, like the book of James says, like pure religion
00:43:01.920
is this, it's taking care of widows and orphans.
00:43:05.240
And so it is a religion, but it's different than Islam.
00:43:08.840
It's different than every other religion in that every other faith tells you, this is
00:43:17.920
You show yourself worthy and then maybe God will look down upon you and show favor to you.
00:43:23.180
But Christianity is that, no, there's nothing you can do to earn it.
00:43:27.940
Christ came down from the mountain, proverbial mountain, and came to you because you could not
00:43:36.760
There's nothing you can do to clean yourself up or to make yourself worthy of my love.
00:43:45.060
And so it is a religion in a sense, but it's different because of that relationship aspect,
00:43:51.440
because of the grace, because there's nothing we can do to earn our salvation.
00:43:56.160
And no matter someone's background, that takes a long time.
00:44:00.120
I mean, it might even take our whole lives for us to really understand God's love and
00:44:07.640
So I imagine it was especially transformative for you considering your background.
00:44:13.920
It was the one thing that sets Christianity apart from any other religions out there is that
00:44:22.820
we are given this advocate and the comforter and the Holy Spirit that teaches us all things.
00:44:33.000
And that was the aspect that came to me as a revelation that I didn't understand as a baby in Christ.
00:44:41.080
Um, and, um, you know, it just leaning in to, to hearing the promptings in our spirit through
00:44:51.520
the Holy Spirit, leaning into hearing the voice of God through the Holy Spirit is something that
00:44:57.180
absolutely sets, sets Christianity apart from every, every other religions out there.
00:45:12.280
We don't want to be anxious, but we do want to be prepared.
00:45:14.680
And one of the best ways that you can be prepared, you and your kids, is to have an emergency
00:45:19.480
stash of medications that you might need, especially antibiotics, because those can be deadly.
00:45:25.140
So antibiotics can be life-saving, get you a stash of common antibiotics for the most common
00:45:30.820
You can add on to the Jace case, add on things like Tamiflu and EpiPen or Ivermectin, which
00:45:42.600
That's an emergency supply, a year-long emergency supply of the prescriptions that you and your
00:45:49.240
If you go to Jace.com and you use code Allie, you will get a discount on your order.
00:45:55.280
So you got out of that abusive marriage, and how did you meet your current husband?
00:46:05.240
We actually met through a mutual friend, and it was very difficult for me to
00:46:21.900
It took about eight years of healing and recovery from all the hurts and the pains on the inside
00:46:29.420
of me because I had developed this outlook that all men are abusive and controlling and
00:46:40.360
And I had closed myself up to any possibility of marriage or dating or anything like that.
00:46:50.360
I just did not want to have any man in my life.
00:46:55.100
And it took a couple of years after I met my current husband for the Lord to really convict me of
00:47:08.340
this mindset because I was absolutely against the institution of marriage.
00:47:13.100
I was against it, and I thought that I knew that this was not God's will, but I was against it
00:47:22.820
because of all the hurts and the pains and the experiences I had.
00:47:26.440
And so I had formed this deception in my head that marriage is not for everyone.
00:47:33.600
And that was a journey that the Holy Spirit convicted me of, that marriage is God's will.
00:47:45.120
Marriage is something that God has in store for me.
00:47:49.560
And my perspective changed completely in that period of time to where I wanted to do the will
00:48:00.720
of God and to marry, whereas before I was totally against it, totally against it.
00:48:09.780
And it was through this marriage that the Lord redeemed me from all my pains and all my hurts in the past.
00:48:19.740
I always say it was a divine encounter that the moment I opened myself up to the will of God in my life,
00:48:29.960
the Lord brought the right person into my life, to be alongside me, to complement me,
00:48:47.360
So right now, as we mentioned, darkness is so abundant in Aaron.
00:49:06.940
And people are becoming more desperate and more hopeless every day.
00:49:12.580
Because of the governmental restrictions, the unjust, unfair treatments of people,
00:49:22.140
and so many different brutality that's happening in Iran.
00:49:27.440
And so what we do, because missionaries cannot go to Iran, and there's risks of persecution,
00:49:43.040
And so through the satellite TV, we beam into people's homes the love of Christ and the gospel.
00:49:51.700
And we basically broadcast church services for those that are believers.
00:50:03.700
You know, we have teachings for women and their identity on our channel, and children, kids.
00:50:10.700
So movies that are faith-based, they're all being aired in Farsi.
00:50:17.300
And so over the years, Iran Alive Ministries has been ministering to Iranians since 2000.
00:50:26.120
And so over the last 24 years, 100,000 people, over 100,000 people have contacted us and documented their salvation.
00:50:37.380
And we know that so many others, because of the risk of getting found out and the persecution,
00:50:46.000
We believe that there are millions of believers in Iran right now, an estimated 2 million now.
00:50:53.460
And the Christian movement is picking up momentum in Iran.
00:50:59.340
The discipleship-making movement is picking up momentum in Iran.
00:51:03.980
And more and more people are becoming open to the gospel and receiving Christ, which is an amazing phenomenon.
00:51:13.740
Iran has the fastest-growing evangelical population in the world.
00:51:20.200
You know, the operations manual was saying that the—I think in 2019, Iran had a rate of 19% of evangelical population.
00:51:35.380
And because of the discipleship-making movement, it's, you know, it's growing even more than that now.
00:51:41.180
And what consequences do they face if it were found out that they were watching church services at home?
00:51:47.880
So there are house raids that are happening, you know, almost every day.
00:51:54.460
So people have to be very, very cautious to practice Christianity in Iran, even like during worship and praise.
00:52:04.420
Like if we do a lot of praise and worship in Farsi on our channel, they have to turn down the volume so much.
00:52:11.520
They can't even hear themselves worship because if a neighbor hears them and reports them, they're going to be arrested.
00:52:16.660
And sometimes executed, sometimes are being sent to exile.
00:52:23.580
It's just, you know, the repercussion of being a Christian in Iran is very severe.
00:52:29.520
Have you guys received any formal opposition from the government there in Iran?
00:52:34.900
Because y'all have distributed over 100,000 Bibles, right?
00:52:41.280
And so I imagine they don't like Iran alive over there.
00:52:47.040
We actually, there were some government officials that came to faith and contacted us.
00:52:54.080
And they said that the government is scared of the movement that is happening in Iran and they want to shut it off every way possible that they get.
00:53:06.460
The founder of the ministry gets death threats all the time.
00:53:10.980
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.
00:53:32.420
Pray for Iranians' hearts and minds to open even more to the message of Christ and for the veil to be removed from their sides because the people of Iran are desperate and exhausted.
00:53:53.140
And they're seeking freedom, but they think that the freedom comes through democracy.
00:54:04.020
But we want to bring to them the ultimate freedom that comes only by Christ.
00:54:10.820
And so I would say just pray, share the stories that are coming.
00:54:18.980
You know, we put them on our website, iranalive.org.
00:54:22.560
Share them with your neighbors, with your friends, with your circle of people.
00:54:27.200
Bring awareness about what's happening in Iran because the misconception is that Iran is an Islamic country.
00:54:32.820
And most people think that the government and people are the same, whereas the government is very separated from the people.
00:54:42.100
People are open to the gospel while the government is an agent of antichrist.
00:54:49.040
And so, you know, so just bring awareness, support our work so that we can continue on sharing the gospel with Iranians and the people in the Middle East.
00:55:06.060
And I will put the link to the website where people can learn more about it.
00:55:17.320
So I am personally on Instagram, Lily Meshi, and Iran Alive Ministries also is on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok and all that.
00:55:31.460
And we also have a phone number, which if you don't mind me saying, I can just let people know.
00:55:38.000
They can text the word Iran to 85789 and we send them updates and stories.
00:55:45.240
We have all become text savvy nowadays, so we would rather do text.
00:55:50.000
So if they are interested in connecting with us, that's also another way.