Some Danish European Mission employees meet Mojtaba, as we call him here for security reasons, via video. He leads the smuggling of thousands of New Testaments, printed and transported with the support of Danish European Mission's intercessors and donors - and he has an extraordinary story himself.
Mojtaba is among the few Muslims who became Christians before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. "I married an English woman who came to Iran. She became a Muslim so she could marry me. I was a successful businessman. I had been reading the Bible for 3-4 years because I was trying to convert an American to Islam."
But instead, it was Mojtaba who became a Christian, as did his wife later on. And Mojtaba had a calling: "God put it on my heart that Muslims should come to faith in Jesus. I was working with the Gideonites at the time and had 10,000 copies of the New Testament that I could easily distribute, including in schools."
However, freedom in Iran was severely curtailed with the Islamic Revolution in 1979, and only a few weeks later, the first convert Christian Iranian was martyred.
Protests express the widespread frustration with Islam
There is widespread frustration among the population about how the clerical regime imposes Islamic rules on the population.
"Young people have energy and take risks," Mojtaba tells us about the current protests where young people are protesting against the demand for women to wear hijab. "Young people have seen the seduction of Islam. Iran is a theocracy and is led by ayatollahs, but there is a lot of corruption. There have often been protests, but the regime meets the protests with ammunition. It's terrible what's happening. The regime is solving the situation with brutality." Mojtaba says.
More open to the Christian message than before
The brutality of the clerical regime and the oppression of the population means that Iranians are seeking alternatives to Islam. In missionary work in Iran, it is therefore not necessary to plan major evangelization strategies, as Iranians are already open. "If you tell 10 people about Jesus and hand out New Testaments, eight of them will gladly accept it. If you spend time with those eight and follow up with them, 1.5 will come to faith in Jesus," says the man who has quietly served the underground church for decades.
The challenge is not openness, but rather that the new believers must be anchored in the Bible, says Mojtaba. "Jesus came with grace and truth, while Islam is lies and deception. Iranians are born into a Muslim culture, which they must break when they become Christians in order for faith to take root in their hearts"
Islamic clerical regime sees Christians as a threat
It is in the Christian community that new believers can grow in faith. But convert Christians are not allowed to meet in church buildings, but meet secretly in homes and sometimes in forests, maybe even in parks. The songs are whispered and no more than ten people meet.
The Islamic clerical regime has "a whole army tracking underground churches, getting tips and breaking in," Mojtaba says. "The government has a lot of surveillance equipment. The police break into house meetings and take all the participants to detention. The police beat people over the head, confiscate phones, laptops and books. The detainees are interrogated for hours. The police try to intimidate the young people and at the same time try to find out who is the leader of the house church. The leaders are detained and not heard from for weeks or months. If they find out it's a key leader, they will end up in jail, possibly solitary confinement. Typically, they let them out on bail."
From their release on bail until the court hearings begin, the authorities will try to motivate them to leave the country. One reason is that the Christians are witnessing in the prisons and the authorities don't want them to stay in the country and witness about Jesus either.
"For Iranians, becoming a Christian is life-changing - and that's why they are willing to go to prison, even though they know what the Ayatollahs' prisons are like. I know many who have been in prison, tortured, beaten, but they are stronger in faith when they come out. Some experience God's tangible presence in prison very clearly, while others have a clear sense that there are people praying for them" Mojtaba says.
