Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - REPLAY ｜ Islam Taught Her to Hate Christians — Then She Became One ｜ Lily Meschi

00:00:00.860 Lily Meshi is a former Muslim Iranian-American who is here today to share her amazing testimony,

00:00:09.380 what it was like growing up as a little girl in Iran, fearing the morality police, and

00:00:16.200 what it's like now to be liberated by Christ, and how she and the ministry that she is a

00:00:22.780 part of are working to share the gospel with the people of Iran.

00:00:27.180 You will be so encouraged by her testimony and by this conversation.

00:00:41.960 Lily, thanks so much for taking the time to join us.

00:00:45.260 If you could tell everyone who you are and what you do.

00:00:47.640 Yes, of course, Ali.

00:00:48.800 Thank you so much for having me here.

00:00:50.520 It's such an honor.

00:00:52.560 So my name is Lily Meshi.

00:00:53.920 I, first and foremost, I'm a daughter of the Most High God, and professionally, I serve

00:01:00.540 at a ministry called Iran Alive Ministries, where we air the love of Christ through satellite

00:01:08.740 TV into people's homes in Iran and Afghanistan and some other regions in the Middle East.

00:01:14.960 Wow.

00:01:15.360 And tell me about your upbringing.

00:01:17.300 How did you come to do what you do now?

00:01:19.360 Yes.

00:01:19.900 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.

00:01:32.340 So anywhere except Iran, due to some, you know, economical challenges and my dad's business and all that.

00:01:40.440 And so we moved to Germany where my mom's side of the family lived at the time.

00:01:46.560 And I lived there for a couple of years.

00:01:49.200 And then my dad started a business venture in the U.S. with my uncle, who had been here for a long time.

00:01:55.980 And one by one, we moved to the U.S.

00:01:59.840 And about a year after I moved to the U.S., I came to know Christ.

00:02:06.660 And, you know, ever since it's been over 24 years now, ever since I've been just growing in my faith.

00:02:15.420 and wanting to serve.

00:02:18.780 So Iran Alive Ministries studio is in Dallas, Texas,

00:02:23.360 and I'm just privileged to be able to serve there

00:02:26.720 and share my faith with my other Iranians

00:02:29.680 and other Muslims from Iran.

00:02:31.460 So you were raised Muslim.

00:02:33.020 Yes.

00:02:33.620 Tell me what that was like, especially living in Iran.

00:02:36.320 Yes.

00:02:37.400 It was very restrictive when I was in Iran.

00:02:41.320 I can tell you the culture is such a shame and honor culture. 1.00

00:02:49.000 And so growing up, I really faced lots of challenges with shame and fear in general.

00:02:58.560 You know, if we had a couple extra strands of hair showing from under our head covering,

00:03:07.040 we would be shamed by morality police and we would even be arrested to go to the police station.

00:03:15.120 As a child?

00:03:15.760 As a child.

00:03:16.780 Were you ever arrested?

00:03:18.100 No, I wasn't. But I was always afraid that I would be. My mom and dad were always

00:03:22.180 nervous about us going out by ourselves because they were like, we don't want to pick you up

00:03:28.040 from the police station because one or two many or one too many of your hair is showing from

00:03:35.160 you're under. And what would happen if there was a young woman who, say, had a strand of hair

00:03:40.140 showing from under her hijab, and the morality police came and arrested her, she was taken to

00:03:45.740 the police station, what would be the consequence for her? Yeah, so basically, they go into

00:03:52.180 detention. And as you may remember, back in 2021, a girl by the name of Masa Amini was taken to the

00:04:04.080 police station by the morality police. And she was beat up so severely that she died while in 0.99

00:04:11.940 the custody of the police. And so this has been happening over four decades now since the

00:04:20.800 revolution, the Islamic revolution. And people are just so scared and afraid because the

00:04:28.120 government intimidates them by, you know, scare tactics and all kinds of different fearful

00:04:35.520 intimidation tactics that they have instilled in people. You know, you know that the consequences

00:04:44.120 are going to be severe for just one strand of your hair showing and for non-compliance and all that.

00:04:51.440 yeah um it's it's been it's been brutal tell me a little more about the islamic revolution you said

00:04:58.940 that was 40 years ago yes i don't know much about that but i have seen pictures of iran before the

00:05:05.140 islamic revolution where it looked like the women were dressed kind of like american women right 0.99

00:05:10.440 they were going to school they were leading what seemed like normal lives and then what happened

00:05:16.960 during the Islamic Revolution that changed everything. 0.72

00:05:20.280 Yes. So I also was born after the Islamic Revolution.

00:05:25.120 It happened in 1979.

00:05:27.860 So what happened was Persian Empire was one of the largest empires back in the day

00:05:35.240 when Cyrus the King in the Bible actually founded Persian Empire.

00:05:40.640 And so the monarchy for 2,600 years of monarchy turned into theocracy almost overnight when the revolution happened in Iran.

00:05:52.180 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.

00:06:19.620 And, you know, they don't really do justice for the people.

00:06:26.400 And so they thought that the Islamic revolution, a religion can save them. 0.97

00:06:32.120 Because back then it was very secular in Iran.

00:06:35.160 Like the secularism was prevalent and no religion was really being practiced as like the dictatorship, Islamic government. 0.55

00:06:45.620 It wasn't being enforced.

00:06:46.900 It wasn't being enforced.

00:06:47.700 people had the freedom wasn't being enforced there were a lot of muslims there but it wasn't 1.00

00:06:53.300 really a matter of morality police coming around and making sure that you're obeying all the laws

00:06:59.440 right and then the islamic revolution happened and they said nope this is now a matter of this

00:07:04.420 state we're going to make sure you abide by all of these laws yes and so you're um as someone that

00:07:11.420 was born after the revolution um they just give you a religion like i was born as a muslim i didn't

00:07:19.980 have the choice to um or the freedom to choose my own religion i am automatically a muslim if i was

00:07:27.720 born after the revolution so that's that's something that not only is it being enforced but

00:07:33.660 it's being impressed upon, like it's being forced on you.

00:07:41.940 And so anyways, that's how it turned into theocracy through the revolution.

00:07:50.260 And people thought that religion or Islam can save them. 0.98

00:07:54.940 But then after 40 plus years now, they realized that Islam is not the solution, but the very 1.00

00:08:03.100 And so most Iranians are rejecting Islam now, even though a lot of people think that, you know, Iran is an Islamic country because of what the brutality and the cruelty that Iranians have been faced with because of Islam.

00:08:27.320 A lot of them have turned into different religions.

00:08:32.320 Most of them are seeking other religions. 0.74

00:08:36.680 They think gospel is something that they need to cling on.

00:08:41.400 That's why it's open heaven in Iran. 0.90

00:08:43.540 Right now, people's hearts and minds are ready for something new

00:08:48.720 because they're sick and tired of Islam and what has been doing to the people of Iran. 0.53

00:08:55.620 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 know a little bit about Islamic beliefs, but I'm interested in what children are taught from an early age.

00:09:18.180 Yes. So from early age, they taught us in school that Islam is the only religion that can get to God. 1.00

00:09:31.020 Every other religion is false except Islam. 1.00

00:09:36.560 And basically they indoctrinate that type of theology into the children's minds to where everyone else is in the wrong except Muslims. 0.97

00:09:53.120 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.

00:10:22.900 And so as children in school, we don't know why this hatred exists or I didn't even know.

00:10:30.300 And I just knew that this was the way of life and it was ingrained in me until I moved to America.

00:10:38.960 And like I now have a totally different worldview, but it was definitely it is still happening in Iran.

00:10:47.820 They indoctrinate their own beliefs and their own mindset in the hearts and the minds of the children to really brainwash them.

00:11:00.600 Anti-West, anti-America, anti-Israel, anti-Christian, anti-Judaism.

00:11:06.740 Yes.

00:11:07.260 And do women and girls, I mean, I know you've already described kind of the violence that they have to endure.

00:11:13.420 But can you tell us a little bit more about what it's like to be a woman or a girl in Iran?

00:11:17.820 Yes. So women in Iran are treated as second class citizens. The women really struggle with their identity in Iran because it is it is more about what can a woman do for a man as opposed to who is she?

00:11:39.960 Nobody cares about who she is.

00:11:42.040 They all care about what can she contribute to add value to a man's life.

00:11:48.760 And a lot of times, you know, maybe it's not publicly or openly talked about, but they're treated as a possession.

00:11:57.960 Their rights are violated in Iran.

00:12:00.860 You know, 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, which really works against women for, imagine, family laws, custody laws.

00:12:28.820 a lot of times women are subject to advances to their male superior at work. And so imagine if 1.00

00:12:41.880 a woman is exploited at work, her own testimony is counted as half of a man's. So they don't even

00:12:50.660 listen to her because her testimony is worthless it's half of a man's and so um that's really um 0.82

00:12:58.480 that's that's a practice that's happening inheritance law are favored towards men um men 1.00

00:13:05.600 get double portion of whatever the inheritance is um when even though women in iran are very 0.97

00:13:15.160 very smart very intelligent like um the number of enrollment at universities um um are twice

00:13:22.220 women are twice as as many as men's so women are allowed to go to university they are okay yes

00:13:28.660 they are allowed to earn education however only 19 percent of them um are reported to be in the

00:13:37.740 workforce. Okay. And the gender gap is around 40%. So men earn for the same job 40% more than

00:13:48.180 women do. And so it's just, they do face economic challenges a lot. And I think the system is set

00:13:58.820 up to where women have absolutely no or very little autonomy. And they want women to be 0.98

00:14:07.760 dependent upon men for financial gains, for financial necessity. And one thing that, one

00:14:16.500 practice is, of course, child marriages. The legal age to marry for a woman is 13, which 0.94

00:14:27.680 leads to child marriages for men, for guys is 15. And so that right there, it just leads to

00:14:38.560 physiological challenges, psychological challenges for women from early age. Then

00:14:45.260 the workforce issues, because of all the, you know, they're vulnerable at workplaces. And so

00:14:55.160 they're being taken advantage of and all that. And so one of the practices in Iran is called 0.82

00:15:00.920 temporary marriages. And what happens is temporary marriage is really a loophole for

00:15:10.340 legalized prostitution in Iran. And what happens is it's a period of time that a man and a woman

00:15:18.960 agree upon to um be legally married so that um you know the man could sexually um have relationship

00:15:29.960 with with the woman without any implications um and they have made it legalized for a certain

00:15:38.100 period of time for a certain amount of money um it could be two hours it could be a week

00:15:44.920 It could be months, whatever they determine it is.

00:15:49.520 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.

00:15:59.280 And what happens if the woman gets pregnant? 1.00

00:16:01.980 Nothing.

00:16:02.800 They ask them to abort the baby.

00:16:05.540 In fact, it's funny you mentioned that.

00:16:09.040 We had a testimony that came to our ministry about the same thing.

00:16:12.460 um woman gets pregnant um the the woman um wants to keep the baby the man says no it's my reputation

00:16:23.720 you have to abort the baby um then um he brings in an arab guy to sell the 11 year 11 days old 1.00

00:16:34.300 baby to an Arab. And the woman flees and goes in hiding and all that. And in one of the places that

00:16:44.320 she was hiding, they were broadcasting gospel in their own ethnic language, which was one of our

00:16:51.780 programming. And she came to faith right then and there. She started praying that he would change

00:16:58.780 his mind about selling the baby um and so um she comes to faith she starts you know praying and

00:17:05.660 then he comes to faith and they come back together and they turn the temporary marriage into permanent

00:17:11.300 marriage and they're they're living happily ever after serving the lord now but um there are

00:17:18.500 there are incidences that you know the woman becomes pregnant and they don't want to have 1.00

00:17:24.640 anything to do with with that it was just very unfortunate you were married young correct yes

00:17:31.620 tell me about that so when I was 18 I was introduced to my dad's business partner

00:17:38.480 who was 14 years older than me and so in a way this marriage was arranged for me

00:17:47.760 Um, and, and the, the string attached to it was the business that, that he was helping my dad to open. And so in a way I was forced by circumstances, um, to, to marry him. Um, I did not like him. I was not attracted to him at all.

00:18:08.360 Um, but from the get go, um, he started manipulating, um, me, you know, he exploited me sexually

00:18:18.220 before marriage to seal the deal, so to speak, to say, Hey, you know, if I exploit her, she's 1.00

00:18:24.480 going to stay with me.

00:18:25.860 And, um, I was just scarred.

00:18:28.800 I was, I was, um, very hurt after that, but I felt like I needed to be the savior of my

00:18:36.560 family and just keep on going with this with this arranged marriage which turned very toxic

00:18:43.440 very abusive on all fronts and was this in the U.S. it was in the U.S. okay so a Muslim man yes came 0.98

00:18:52.360 to your dad yes and was like yeah I want to marry your daughter and your dad who is was I guess

00:18:58.700 strict theologically when it came to Islam thought yeah this is great this is a custom that we need 1.00

00:19:03.820 to continue. And so that's how that was set up. Absolutely. So growing up, my dad was very,

00:19:11.160 very strict. He was very overprotective. And I thought of my dad always as my hero. He was

00:19:20.980 always very honoring, honorable. And I thought, you know, if my dad is introducing this guy to me,

00:19:28.500 he must be really good at age 18. And it's worth to mention that when I was in Iran, it was a

00:19:37.360 societal norm. I had seen and witnessed, you know, young girls being arranged to marry an older man

00:19:48.120 who's semi well off. And this was the way of life. You know, I did not think anything of it.

00:19:57.200 I didn't even think it was a thing like arranged marriage. Later on, you know, I learned about

00:20:02.900 arranged marriages, but I thought this was the culture. This was something that we do as Iranians

00:20:09.320 and as Muslims. And so, yeah, he asked for my dad's permission to speak with me and my dad

00:20:14.380 arranged that. And he thought that he was doing me a favor. But, you know, it turned south.

00:20:22.380 Yeah. So tell me about the beginning of the marriage and how it turned abusive.

00:20:26.100 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.

00:20:50.160 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.

00:21:00.120 And so he started he started like asserting his dominance and like he wanted to to say, hey, I'm the dominating, you know, figure here in this marriage.

00:21:12.720 But you said you were 18. I was 18. And he was in his 30s. Yes. 32.

00:21:16.900 Yes. And so he wanted from from the beginning, he wanted to make sure that I know that he's the alpha. He is the guy that dominates. He is his 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.

00:21:39.060 And so, you know, it turned abusive.

00:21:45.280 It turned into physical abuse.

00:21:47.580 Sometimes he would accuse me of liking other men so much that it just became the biggest fear of his life.

00:22:00.520 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 because he had a dream that, you know, I was with another man.

00:22:20.340 Like he was very jealous, very controlling.

00:22:23.460 I woke up feeling I was being choked because of that.

00:22:27.620 And so there were just the physical struggle, the emotional and mental, verbal.

00:22:35.300 It was just constant, constant accusations.

00:22:39.460 Constantly I was trying to prove myself trustworthy, that he can trust me.

00:22:46.240 He can't, you know, we can have a relationship based on trust.

00:22:53.400 but he he always would just find other ways to accuse me of different things

00:22:58.900 and were you still wearing like a hijab at this point in america okay oh you were not okay so the

00:23:07.480 the hijab is only enforced in iran yeah um and like if you're um not a devout muslim you if it's

00:23:16.400 not um you know okay so your dad didn't make you do that your husband didn't make you do that we

00:23:22.400 were nominal muslim like again you know because we were born into that culture we were known as

00:23:28.220 muslims but we weren't really practicing it to a t yeah when did you become a christian did you

00:23:34.760 become a christian while you were married um so i became a christian a year after i got married

00:23:40.520 okay and that's the story um of me coming to faith because i was you know the relationship

00:23:47.440 was very toxic. And I was so depressed at age 18. Back then, I was 19. It was a year after.

00:23:55.940 I literally had no hopes for my life. I felt trapped with him because of the way he was

00:24:05.160 behaving, the way he was treating me. He wouldn't let me go. He would just, you know,

00:24:10.920 manipulate me in every which way possible to keep me in this marriage and I didn't know if I

00:24:18.100 wanted to continue education I started going to college he would follow me to college peek through

00:24:24.700 the windows of the classroom to see who I was sitting next to and then he would monitor my

00:24:29.040 phone afterwards to see who I was talking to and whatnot he was just you know like that and so

00:24:35.840 So, you know, it was an outlet for me to go to college and, you know, study and thinking

00:24:43.180 that I'm doing something good, a value for my life.

00:24:46.180 But then I would come home and he would just make me cry from his accusations and the way

00:24:50.920 he treated me and all that.

00:24:52.160 I just didn't know what to do anymore.

00:24:55.320 It was a period of my life that I was very, very down and depressed and in complete darkness,

00:25:02.960 thinking that I'm trapped in this relationship and there's no way out.

00:25:08.620 That's when some of our friends came to visit us out of the blue.

00:25:14.120 And they brought Jesus' film with them and they brought Bibles. 0.77

00:25:20.460 Came to visit you to your house?

00:25:22.260 They came to visit my parents.

00:25:24.240 They were family friends from back when we were in Iran.

00:25:27.760 They had moved to Oklahoma.

00:25:29.500 And when we moved to the U.S., we were in Austin, Texas,

00:25:32.080 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.

00:25:41.160 And so when I went to visit them at my parents' house, they were watching Jesus' film in Farsi, in my parents' living room.

00:25:52.480 And so when I went in, I started watching it with them, didn't think anything of it.

00:25:57.560 I was more of a dead person walking.

00:26:00.500 I was so numb to myself. I thought I was betrayed by my own family being 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.

00:26:17.960 And so I sat there, watched the movie, and got up to leave.

00:26:24.740 One of the women there said, Lily, I know you've been through a lot.

00:26:31.220 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?

00:26:41.460 and that just struck a chord with me because I had been wanting a new fresh start I thought well

00:26:49.040 my life had been wasted um I what would it happen if I could have a do-over if I could have a fresh

00:26:57.020 start and when she said that I knew the Holy Spirit was speaking through her um and so I didn't know

00:27:04.020 back then but I know now that the Holy Spirit was speaking through her because that was the very

00:27:08.620 I needed to hear back then. And so when I got up to leave, the daughter of this woman that said

00:27:17.160 that to me walked me to the door and said, Lily, I know that things are looking very dark in your

00:27:26.280 life and I know you've been struggling, but know that there is hope and Christ can pull you out

00:27:34.300 this dungeon that you're in. Do you mind if I share a couple of verses from the Bible with you?

00:27:41.520 And at this point, I am thinking she's plotting something against me. Everyone's against me.

00:27:47.120 Everyone wants to destroy me and whatnot. And I was like, okay, whatever. I mean, I've got nothing

00:27:54.000 else to lose. Why did you think that everyone wanted to destroy you? Because I felt that my

00:27:59.080 immediate family, uh, was the blame for, um, arranging this marriage. And they did that to

00:28:06.840 destroy me. And like, now I'm dealing with this man who is very toxic and doesn't trust me. And,

00:28:13.400 um, every, you know, every turn he moves, he, he just blames me for everything. And I,

00:28:19.360 I saw everyone as someone who wants to harm me, uh, who wants to do something to,

00:28:26.940 to um destroy my future and whatnot i just had become very defensive because of all the hurts

00:28:35.260 and the exploitation and all that i was very sensitive like who who's talking to me and about

00:28:43.120 what what do they want from me like i thought that everyone wants something from me um and so

00:28:49.100 when she shared that with me um she she opened up the word of god and she started reading john 1 1

00:28:56.520 in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God. And the word became

00:29:02.600 flesh and dwelt among us, John 1, 14. And the moment she read these two verses, even though I

00:29:11.160 had no knowledge, no prior knowledge about Jesus, other than, you know, he was one of the prophets

00:29:18.200 that performed many miracles. I knew that I knew that I knew that Jesus was my Lord and Savior.

00:29:24.660 And I had this, you know, Holy Spirit encounter.

00:29:29.680 And now I know that it was the Holy Spirit encounter that just made everything so clear to me.

00:29:36.540 And all my questions were answered.

00:29:39.620 Interestingly enough, that afternoon, my sister met me at the mall.

00:29:46.600 And she said, Lily, you know, these friends of my mom and dad's, they say Jesus is God. 0.90

00:29:55.180 And I was like, that's ridiculous. 0.79

00:29:57.240 Who calls a man God? 0.99

00:30:00.700 They're so deceived.

00:30:02.860 And so that afternoon, I said that.

00:30:06.000 And that evening, it was revealed to me that Jesus is God.

00:30:11.760 And it was so clear that I didn't even question it.

00:30:16.600 The moment she said the word became flesh and dwelt among us, I was like, that's God.

00:30:21.300 That must be God.

00:30:22.860 Yeah, that's amazing.

00:30:23.840 And your parents, they, I guess, watched, you said it was a Jesus film.

00:30:28.180 Yes.

00:30:28.380 Which is like the Gospel of Luke, right?

00:30:30.580 Yes.

00:30:30.780 What was their immediate reaction to hearing this?

00:30:35.600 Their hearts were softened by it.

00:30:39.540 And they saw something different in their friends that they had never seen in the past.

00:30:50.400 I talked with my dad and my mom.

00:30:54.340 I was trying to record all their testimonies as to how they came to faith.

00:30:59.740 I was like, what were you thinking?

00:31:00.920 They were like, the kind of love we saw and witnessed in our friends was so different than anything we had experienced.

00:31:10.380 And so we were intrigued to know more about Christ as they were speaking to us.

00:31:15.740 And so it was through their love and genuine care that they accepted to read the Bible and to find out for themselves.

00:31:26.480 They started praying, and they both have their own stories.

00:31:30.940 One had a vision in his dream.

00:31:33.680 My dad had a vision, and my mom just felt that conviction that Jesus is Christ one time at church.

00:31:42.060 And so, yeah, they both came to faith.

00:31:44.640 They didn't reject Christianity at all because even though their background was from Islam,

00:31:53.300 they were open to even to hear the gospel they were they weren't rejecting it or anything my

00:32:00.180 mom was afraid my mom was scared because she thought that she was betraying god the father 0.96

00:32:07.480 if she calls christ um god and so that took her a little bit to really receive that revelation

00:32:16.700 and what happened in your marriage after you became a christian um so i i changed

00:32:23.180 I started going to church.

00:32:25.140 I started reading the word.

00:32:27.980 I started receiving the kind of peace that transcends all understanding.

00:32:32.940 It was just, I was in the midst of so much hurts and abuse, but I had peace with it.

00:32:39.360 And, but it was, I was going through the sanctification process when, you know, when,

00:32:45.020 when I came to faith, I didn't know anything about Christ.

00:32:48.380 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.

00:32:58.800 So I was a very, very baby Christian.

00:33:02.860 And so, but I was committed to learning about Christianity.

00:33:08.560 Nothing really changed to the dynamic of our marriage.

00:33:12.380 in fact um it was getting more and more abusive because of the bipolar disorder that he had like

00:33:21.120 he would wake up one day and say oh yeah Jesus is Christ and he's awesome he's my best friend

00:33:27.300 all that the next day um you know you're being deceived you're not you know Jesus is is not who

00:33:36.220 you think he is and all that I would be reading my bible in the living room and he would just grab

00:33:41.120 my Bible and throw it across the room and say, this is all BS, why are you deceiving

00:33:45.980 yourself, whatnot.

00:33:47.760 So I was in a very difficult environment, in a way, kind of persecution from my own

00:33:58.860 husband, but was resident in our home.

00:34:03.620 But I thought, based on my very immature faith, that he's in my life because he's my assignment.

00:34:17.440 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.

00:34:33.040 I thought that, you know, to live is Christ and part of it, you know, may come with suffering and he is my suffering.

00:34:42.940 And he was still physically abusing you at this point?

00:34:46.220 Yes. Yes. He was very violent. He was very aggressive.

00:34:51.020 um and so anyways i just um i just stayed in the marriage and um let him let him manipulate me

00:35:02.360 every which way and because of you know um the word of god that says you know forgive and if

00:35:10.080 your brother you know does you wrong forgive seven times seven you know all that but going

00:35:17.600 into this new faith I still brought in my performance based faith to where everything

00:35:25.400 is on a skill system like I have to I have to do enough good to deserve God's God's goodness and

00:35:34.380 grace and so I looked at my new faith as a Christian as you know I need to do everything

00:35:44.440 right, such as bearing with his, you know, tolerating his abuse, carrying my cross,

00:35:55.000 bearing with him and let him abuse me, let him walk all over me, let him dominate me.

00:36:02.520 Divorce is no option for me. It was very black and white and cut and dry. I did not understand

00:36:10.180 that Christianity is not a religion.

00:36:14.320 Christianity is our way to have a relationship with God the Father

00:36:18.860 through what Christ has done for us

00:36:20.820 and through the Holy Spirit that lives on the inside of us.

00:36:24.140 I approached it as a religion and a set of do's and don'ts

00:36:28.860 as opposed to I hear uniquely from the Holy Spirit,

00:36:33.980 what is it that the Father wants for me?

00:36:36.720 What is it that I need to accomplish?

00:36:39.140 what is my purpose here? What does he want me to learn from the situation? Does the father want me

00:36:46.720 to stay in this abusive relationship or he wants peace for me? He wants growth for me. He wants

00:36:54.460 me to live out my purpose. Which one is it that he wants for me? There may be for some people that

00:37:02.220 I want you to stay in this relationship because I'm doing something in you. But for me, after 14

00:37:11.860 years, the Lord clearly released me from this marriage because it wasn't my cross to carry

00:37:20.160 to begin with. I just made it my own cross based on my own perception, my own misinterpretation of

00:37:27.560 the word of god my own failure to hear the voice of god for my life uniquely for me not

00:37:35.300 not based on set of rules of do's and don'ts yeah just to clarify a couple things that i'm sure that

00:37:43.840 you would agree with anyone who is in an abusive relationship needs to find safety and should

00:37:50.860 leave that should absolutely leave that marriage yes sometimes marriages are difficult and there

00:37:57.460 is disagreement and i have christian friends who are married to unbelieving husbands and that is

00:38:03.360 you know very hard and god does use those marriages to sanctify those women to draw those 0.99

00:38:08.820 women to himself marriage isn't always going to be easy but an abusive marriage a woman needs to 1.00

00:38:15.760 find refuge for herself for her children and also totally agree with you about the legalism that 1.00

00:38:23.480 sometimes comes into our mind of this like performance-based religion that if we do this

00:38:28.780 then we get this in return or if we don't do this then god doesn't love us or he loves us less

00:38:33.920 christianity is a religion in that you know like the book of james says like pure religion is this

00:38:40.900 it's taking care of widows and and orphans and so it is a religion but it's different than islam 1.00

00:38:46.980 it's different than every other religion in that every other faith tells you this is how you can

00:38:52.380 get to God. This is how you earn it. This is how you climb up the mountain. You show yourself

00:38:57.920 worthy, and then maybe God will look down upon you and show favor to you. But Christianity is that, 0.99

00:39:03.700 no, there's nothing you can do to earn it. Christ came down from the mountain, proverbial mountain,

00:39:10.420 and came to you because you could not save yourself. There's nothing you can do to climb

00:39:14.840 up. There's nothing you can do to clean yourself up or to make yourself worthy of my love. Christ

00:39:20.360 made us worthy. He gave us his righteousness. And so it is a religion in a sense, but it's

00:39:26.340 different because of that relationship aspect, because of the grace, because there's nothing

00:39:32.400 we can do to earn our salvation. And no matter someone's background, that takes a long time.

00:39:38.480 I mean, it might even take our whole lives for us to really understand God's love and grace for us

00:39:44.540 through christ so i imagine it was especially transformative for you considering your background

00:39:50.720 yes absolutely it was the the one thing that um sets christianity apart from any other religions

00:39:58.240 out there is um that we are given this advocate and the comforter and the holy spirit that teaches

00:40:07.680 us all things and we can rely on that. And that was the aspect that came to me as a revelation

00:40:16.140 that I didn't understand as a baby in Christ. And, you know, it just leaning in to hearing

00:40:26.720 the promptings in our spirit through the Holy Spirit, leaning into hearing the voice of God

00:40:33.640 through the Holy Spirit is something that absolutely sets Christianity apart from every 0.99

00:40:39.400 other religions out there. So you got out of that abusive marriage. And how did you meet your

00:40:45.640 current husband? We actually met through a mutual friend. And it was very difficult for me to

00:40:57.900 to see myself with another man. It took about eight years of healing and recovery

00:41:07.900 from all the hurts and the pains on the inside of me because I had developed this outlook

00:41:14.620 that all men are abusive and controlling and jealous and they just want to exploit women.

00:41:21.900 And I had closed myself up to any possibility of, you know, marriage or dating or anything like that.

00:41:31.880 I just did not want to have any man in my life.

00:41:36.020 And it took a couple of years after I met my current husband for the Lord to really convict me of this mindset.

00:41:50.740 because I was absolutely against the institution of marriage.

00:41:54.620 I was against it, and I thought that I knew that this was not God's will,

00:42:03.040 but I was against it because of all the hurts and the pains and the experiences I had.

00:42:07.960 And so I had formed this deception in my head that marriage is not for everyone.

00:42:15.140 And that was a journey that the Holy Spirit convicted me of that marriage is God's will.

00:42:26.680 Marriage is something that God has in store for me.

00:42:30.220 And, you know, my perspective changed completely 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.

00:42:50.600 and um it it was through this marriage that the lord redeemed me from all my pains and

00:42:58.320 all my hurts in the past it was i always say it's it was it was a divine um encounter that

00:43:06.420 you know the moment i opened myself up to the will of god in my life the lord brought the

00:43:13.180 right person into my life to be, um, to be alongside me, to compliment me, um, to do ministry

00:43:21.660 together, to serve together. Tell me about your ministry. What is it doing right now? Yes. Um,

00:43:29.120 so right now, um, as, as we mentioned, darkness is so, um, abundant in Aaron. I mean, the

00:43:39.220 Sexual immorality is increasing, suicide rate is increasing, rate of addiction is going through

00:43:47.420 the roof, and people are becoming more desperate and more hopeless every day because of the

00:43:56.660 governmental restrictions, the unjust, unfair treatments of people, and so many different

00:44:05.420 um, different brutality that's happening in Iran. Um, so what we do because missionaries cannot go

00:44:16.040 to Iran and, um, there, you know, there, there's risks of persecution, execution, all that in Iran.

00:44:24.320 And so, um, through the satellite TV, we beam into people's homes, the, the love of Christ and the

00:44:32.820 gospel. And we basically broadcast church services for those that are believers. We

00:44:41.560 share the gospel with non-believers. You know, we have teachings for women and their identity

00:44:48.340 on our channel and children, kids. So every with movies that are faith-based, they're all

00:44:56.540 being aired in Farsi. And so over the years, Iran Alive Ministries has been ministering to

00:45:05.340 Iranians since 2000. And so over the last 24 years, 100,000 people, over 100,000 people

00:45:13.100 have contacted us and documented their salvation. And we know that so many others, because of

00:45:21.580 you know the risk of getting found out and the persecution they don't ever reach out or anything

00:45:27.540 we we believe that there are millions of believers in iran right now an estimated two million now

00:45:34.220 and the christian movement is is picking up momentum in iran the discipleship making movement

00:45:42.640 is picking up momentum in iran and um more and more people are becoming open to the gospel

00:45:50.300 and receiving Christ, which is an amazing phenomenon.

00:45:55.940 Iran has the fastest growing evangelical population in the world.

00:46:01.820 You know, the operations manual was saying that the, I think in 2019,

00:46:08.840 Iran had a rate of 19% of evangelical population.

00:46:14.280 So they're growing every single day.

00:46:16.920 And because of the discipleship making movement, it's, you know, it's growing even more than that

00:46:22.160 now. And what consequences do they face if it were found out that they were watching church

00:46:28.420 services at home? So there are house raids that are happening, you know, almost every day. So

00:46:36.280 people have to be very, very cautious to practice, practice Christianity in Iran, even like during

00:46:44.520 worship and praise. Like if we do a lot of praise and worship in Farsi on our channel, they have to 0.99

00:46:50.760 turn down the volume so much. They can't even hear themselves worship because if a neighbor hears

00:46:56.360 them and reports them, they're going to be arrested and sometimes executed, sometimes

00:47:02.320 are being sent to exile. It's just, you know, the repercussion of being a Christian in Iran

00:47:09.680 is very severe. Have you guys received any formal opposition from the government there in Iran?

00:47:16.440 Because y'all have distributed over 100,000 Bibles, right? Yes. Since 2001, I believe. Yes. And so I

00:47:23.400 imagine they don't like Iran alive over there. They do not. They do not. We actually, there were 1.00

00:47:30.300 some government officials that came to faith and contacted us. Wow. And they said that the

00:47:37.120 government is scared of the movement that is happening in Iran and they want to shut it off

00:47:43.600 every way possible that they get. The founder of the ministry gets death threats all the time.

00:47:52.700 I mean, they're threatening us, but they haven't been able to take down the satellite dishes and

00:48:01.780 they haven't been able to prevail the move of God in Iran, which is great. 0.85

00:48:07.620 Yes, praise God.

00:48:09.200 Yes.

00:48:09.580 And what can this audience do?

00:48:11.820 How can they support you guys?

00:48:15.820 Pray for Iranians' hearts and minds to open even more to the message of Christ and for

00:48:25.000 the veil to be removed from their, from their sides. Um, because the people of Iran are desperate 1.00

00:48:33.400 and exhausted. Um, and they, they're seeking freedom, but they're, they're, they think that

00:48:42.060 the freedom comes through democracy. Um, but we want, we want to bring to them that the ultimate

00:48:49.900 freedom that comes only by christ and so um i i would say just pray um share the stories that

00:48:58.800 that are coming um you know we put them on our website iran alive.org share them with your

00:49:05.120 neighbors with your friends with your circle of people bring awareness about what's happening in

00:49:10.760 because the misconception is that iran is an islamic country and most people think that the

00:49:17.100 government and people are the same whereas the government is very separated from the people

00:49:23.500 people are open to the gospel while the government is um an agent of antichrist and so um you know

00:49:32.480 so just bring awareness um support our work so that we can we can continue on sharing the gospel

00:49:40.160 with Iranians and the people in the Middle East.

00:49:43.820 Yeah, most importantly, just pray.

00:49:46.460 Thank you so much.

00:49:47.600 And I will put the link to the website

00:49:50.340 where people can learn more about it,

00:49:52.180 donate if they're able to.

00:49:54.080 Can they follow you?

00:49:55.860 Yes.

00:49:56.300 They can.

00:49:57.000 Okay, where can they follow you?

00:49:58.780 So I am personally on Instagram,

00:50:02.340 Lily Meshi and Iran Alive Ministries also is on Instagram,

00:50:08.000 um twitter and tiktok and all that yes and we um we also have a phone number which um

00:50:15.900 if you don't mind me saying i can just let let people know they can um text the word iran

00:50:21.720 to 85789 and we send them updates and stories we have all become text savvy nowadays so we

00:50:30.040 rather do text so if if they are interested in connecting with us that's also another way

00:50:35.140 Okay, awesome. Well, Lily, thank you so much. And God bless your ministry and just the courage

00:50:39.940 that you guys have. We will definitely be praying. Thank you. I appreciate you, Ali. Thank you so much.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - March 14, 2026

REPLAY ｜ Islam Taught Her to Hate Christians — Then She Became One ｜ Lily Meschi

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript