Newsletter 071009
TBN Nejat TV: A Great Victory for the Church in Iran
Dear Beloved,
On September 9, 2008 the Iranian Parliament voted on in favor of a bill stipulating the death penalty for apostasy. The bill was approved with 196 votes for, seven against, and two abstentions.
The bill was then sent to the Guardian Council for approval and would then in turn be brought before the office of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. The bill had passed through one third of the Iranian constitutional process before it became enacted into the law. Right then I felt that I needed to act before the proposed bill went any further, stopping a possible genocide. We approached the office of ACLJ (American Center for Law & Justice), a.k.a. Jay Sekulow's, ministry for some advise. Attorney Colby May was very compassionate about this matter and spent many hours studying and formulating a plan of action where by we would put pressure on the Iranian government to abandon their pursuit of the Apostasy Law and their persecutions of Christians in Iran.
We filed a complaint to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. (UNHCR) We faxed all the first hand accounts of persecutions, imprisonments, and tortures by the authorities in Iran against all our underground home churches. I also contacted the offices of the U.S. Senators from Oklahoma, Tom Coburn, and Jim Inhoff, to see if they would be willing to pass a "Sense of the Congress" resolution, either in the form of a "Sense of the Senate" or "Sense of the House" resolution so that greater pressure would be put on the Iranian government in their pursuit of the Apostasy Law. Dr. Coburn's office was very helpful and accommodating but we were not able to pass any resolution against the Iranian government.
The recent uprising, as a result of the presidential election, has caused quite a concern among the leadership in Iran. The rift between the moderates and the radicals within the government is growing. It seems as though the Iranian government is softening a bit to prevent a revolution against them. The good news is that the Iranian Government has decided to remove articles stipulating the death penalty for apostasy from the Islamic Penal Code Bill. Praise God. Please pray that the bill may be approved as now it will be sent to the Iranian Parliament for a final vote before its review by the Guardian Council. This is a great victory for the church in Iran. To God be all the glory.
The recent uprising in Iran was an alarm clock going off, waking up the Islamic government of Iran to the possibility that their time is coming to an end. It was also a wake up call for us, the church. The time of harvest will now be intensified in Iran and this time will not last forever.
Disheartened Muslims make up the majority of the responses to our TV broadcasts. So far the Gospel has not had a great impact upon the secular and the Orthodox Muslims. The secular Muslims put their faith in political and economic movements. This is where the Mousavi's supporters fit in. Now that their hope for reform has been crushed, their heart will become open to the Gospel. The time for the ultra fanatics, of whom President Ahmadinejad is a part, has not yet come. Their time will come when they lose power and their lives will be in jeopardy.
Again God's Hand is all over Iran which, I believe, is a key nation for this end time. Please continue to lift us up in prayer as TBN Nejat TV is playing a very important part in all that is happening in Iran today. We are getting a lot of top secret information from inside Iran that I am not at liberty to share with you. So many people from various social statuses are coming to the Lord in Iran through our broadcasts. Many of the future leaders of Iran are now living in the United States. We need to reach out to these people with the message of the Gospel. Therefore we need TBN Nejat TV back on the air in the US again. Please continue thanking the Lord with us for this miracle. Praise God for His glorious wisdom.
You are Blessed (Eph 1:3).
Pastor Reza F. Safa
TBN Nejat TV
P.O. Box 702094
Tulsa,OK 74170-2094
www.rezasafa.com
918-488 9645
