The Jesus Revival in Iran No One is Talking About!

Day 6 of Israel/Iran War

This morning, I went out to pray on my balcony. Within a few minutes, I was deeply burdened for the church in Iran. Over the years, I have heard stories that the Church was growing, that there were divine, supernatural visitations, and that many Iranians were turning away from Islam and embracing Jesus. But I’ve never really researched it. Suddenly, I felt this love for the Church of Iran that I’ve never experienced. As I was praying, a few things came to mind. I’m not prophesying (maybe a little), but I am encouraging you to pray into what I’m going to share.

The first thing that came to my mind was Ukraine and Russia in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse. It is incredible to me that Christian voices, such as Charlie Kirk, are warning against toppling the Islamic dictatorship. “Keep the pressure up [on Trump]. Regime change in Iran would be a catastrophe,” Kirk tweeted. I do understand not wanting to get into a quagmire that would last two decades, like Iraq and Afghanistan; however, those are not the only two examples of regime change in world history. There is no insurgency in Iran—the regime is the insurgency (since 1979)! There is a cry for freedom coming from the people.

Ukraine and Russia, Circa 1991

The collapse of the Soviet Union resulted in regime change, a regime change that was, by and large, caused by the policies of Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. It led to a great revival all over Russia and Ukraine. Seventy years of atheistic repression had left deep spiritual hunger as well as cultural disorientation. When the Iron Curtain fell, people were suddenly free to ask existential questions in public without fear of arrest. Churches—Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant—began filling up overnight, often overflowing with people who had never been to church before.

And we saw one of the greatest influxes of Jewish people embracing Yeshua in world history. Jonathan Bernis of Jewish Voice Ministries began to hold mass Jewish cultural events that ended with an altar call. Tens of thousands of people attended—a high percentage being Jewish looking for spiritual life. This led to Messianic congregations being birthed all throughout the former Soviet Union. Our family moved to Ukraine in 1998 to teach in the Messianic Jewish Bible Institute.

Years earlier, in 1993, I went to Tolyatti, Russia, with 70 believers. I remember preaching on a street corner with a translator, and within minutes, it seemed like 100 people gathered to listen. Every evening, we had capacity crowds of over 1,000 people coming to hear the gospel. I have a feeling that Iran is more like Ukraine than Iraq.

The Revival has Begun

While the revolutionary regime claims that 99.5% of Iranians follow Islam, the truth is much brighter. A 2020 survey revealed that only 40% of Iranians follow Islam. From the outside the 1.5% that identify as Christian seems small—but that is 1.35 million people. Open Doors says today the Iranian church is one of the fastest-growing in the world! “With such an [oppressive] environment, it would seem surprising to hear that in the past decade Iran has been one of the fastest-growing churches in the world. Some estimates point to a million or more Iranian converts to Christianity,” writes International Christian Concern. I have a friend who ministers in Iran and says the number of believers there is actually much higher.

Like the former Soviet Union, the collapse has already begun. Listen to the words of Middle East expert Daniel Pipes:

“Something religiously astonishing is taking place in Iran, where an Islamist government has ruled since 1979: Christianity is flourishing. The implications are potentially profound.

“Consider some testimonials: David Yeghnazar of Elam Ministries stated in 2018 that ‘Iranians have become the most open people to the gospel.’ The Christian Broadcasting Network found, also in 2018, that ‘Christianity is growing faster in the Islamic Republic of Iran than in any other country.’

“This trend results from the extreme form of Shi’ite Islam imposed by the theocratic regime. An Iranian church leader explained in 2019: ‘What if I told you the mosques are empty inside Iran? What if I told you no one follows Islam inside of Iran? ...What if I told you the best evangelist for Jesus was the Ayatollah Khomeini [founder of the Islamic Republic]? (emphasis added)”’

The vast majority, more than 90%, of these new believers are former Muslims, according to a study done by a secular group in the Netherlands. And they are hungry for freedom. What Charlie Kirk, Candace Owens, and Tucker Carlson, all who claim to be Christians, do not know (or perhaps care) is that the regime brutally persecutes Christians, who largely meet in house churches. “We still can’t forget the day when the police raided our house church, took some of us away, and forced the rest to sign a paper confessing we would never meet or engage in Christian activities again,” says Fatemeh, an Iranian Christian.

“The Iranian government strictly monitors and cracks down on Christian activities, making any attempt to share the good news a dangerous task. You never know if the person you approach will betray you and hand you over to the authorities. Believers also know that they could be turned in by suspicious neighbours and friends. 

“‘In Iran, the government sees our faith as a threat,” Fatemeh says. “We live under constant surveillance and face different kinds of pressure. It’s a daily battle to keep our faith in such hostile conditions. But God is good!” 

Could it be that God has raised up a remnant that will lead a revival? Will they be leaders in the coming growth and evangelism? Missionaries will pour in. It will be very much like Ukraine after the Soviet Union collapsed. There’s never been a moment in my life when I wanted to visit Iran—until I was in prayer this morning. I could be wrong, but it felt like prophetically I was looking into the future, and it was like visiting Russia and Ukraine in the height of the post-Soviet spiritual awakening. This was not on my mind as I dragged myself away from my computer and the headlines to spend time with God, but the burden came powerfully.

Supernatural Visitations—Man in White

In an interview with CBN, Iranian Christian minister Lazarus Yeghnazar said,  “[Believers will say], ‘I saw a vision of a man with a white robe, with a cross on his shoulder or on his heart, and he says, ‘I’m Jesus.’” Yeghnazar says if you ask any gathering of Iranian believers if they’d had a dream or a vision that radically transformed their lives, 90%, will raise our hands.

Tranform Iran says, “One of the most moving testimonies Lana shared was of a woman who wasn’t even searching for Jesus! She was just trying to be a better Muslim. She had suffered greatly, married at 12, trauma after trauma, and thought Allah was punishing her. She started praying more to win his favor. But instead, Jesus began to appear to her in her dreams, standing in her doorway, reaching out His hand. Today, that woman is the first pastor from her ethnic group and leads a growing church in Iran. These aren’t isolated cases; they’re happening across the country. And God is using these new believers to reach others with the hope of the Gospel.

Warning

Sometimes, the worst thing for the Church is better conditions. The bishops of Rome were strong when they were persecuted; however, when Christianity became legal and, a few decades later, the official religion, those same bishops enjoyed dinner parties as guests of honor. The Church quickly grew cold. “Unlike the Western world, there is hardly any ability to remain lukewarm in faith in Iran. The light of the Gospel shines the brightest in the darkest of nations,” writes Iranian believer Lana Silk.

“When Jesus appears to these once-staunch Muslims in dreams or visions, completely transforming their belief systems, they face social ostracization and persecution through imprisonment, violence and death for their new faith — realities they readily embrace in order to boldly follow Jesus and share the Gospel message of joy with others.”

Some say that the very reason for the growth of the Church has been the regime’s violent oppression: “Persecution only seemed to spur the growth of the church.”

We Must Pray

I don’t know for sure … maybe the downfall of the Islamic Republic of Iran will lead to chaos and instability. I don’t feel that in my gut. Like I said, I think it’s more Ukraine than Iraq. What we do know is this—

• The people there have been protesting against their government for years.

• There is a growing Christian remnant that is spreading the good news despite persecution.

• The government appears to be toppling as we speak.

Let’s pray for peace in Iran, a new godly leadership, and that the revival fire spreads across the nation. Let’s pray together.

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MIRACLE IN BNEI BRAK SCHOOL (near Tel Aviv)

The ALEH school, opened just five years ago, was built with a bomb shelter meant to protect the neighborhood in times of crisis. But when the missiles came, and terrified residents rushed to its doors for safety, they found them locked. With no time to spare, they ran to another shelter—an act that, unknowingly, saved their lives. The building they had tried to enter was later reduced to rubble. Had the door been open, many of them might have died beneath it.

Another version says that they had the key, but it would not work: The principal of the Bnei Brak school that took a direct hit, Rabbi Zechariah Shalom, recalled the harrowing moment when neighbors desperately tried to reach the shelter: “Local residents had received the shelter key. When the sirens sounded, they ran to the shelter but couldn’t get in. For some reason, the key wouldn’t work—which is extremely rare. The moment they stepped out to seek another hiding place, the building collapsed. Thank God, no one was hurt.”