[Best] Muslim Meet Jesus In "Evin" Prison Iran - Maryam and Marzieh

Otherwise we will beat you until you vomits blood and we were so scared and it couldn't do anything. Even we couldn't talk, we couldn't pray and just we start praying in tongues and God really strengthen us at that time.

[Best] Muslim Meet Jesus In "Evin" Prison Iran. Interview With Maryam And Marzieh. Shalom, this is the story:

I don’t believe in accident. I believe in divine appointment. I was born into a devout Muslim home; And God had plans, wonderful plans. I’ve been dead, I’m going to kill myself and Jesus revealed Himself to me, now He gave me a new life and if you pray with me, and if you plea with me God is going to give you new life today. Jesus Christ is real! He changes lives, He changes destiny and He changes nations and those nations can change the world.


Isik:
Dear friends, my name in Isik Abla. Welcome to our program. I am a former Muslim and Jesus Christ changed my life. As soon as He had changed my life it is my life purpose, my goal to preach Christ and share my testimony with everyone. But today I have two very special guests with me that God also change their lives, their destinies just like He did it for me and He did it for them. And He using them. Jesus Christ is using them mightily in the worlds and in their parts of the worlds that I want you to meet.

These are two courageous women and I’m so privilege and honour to hear them with me today to share their story with you. I am sure and I prayed that their testimonies, their stories will encourage you and give you assurance of Christ Jesus that God is working. He’s working in the Middle East. It is His working, His Spirit is working in the parts of the world that no mind can imagine, no one can understand how, what is it at work and we thank God for that.

Now I wanna welcome my guest Maryam and Marzieh. Welcome! How are You? Thank you so much for being with me here today.

Both:
Thank you for having us.

Isik:
I read your book and I wanna read it again and again because there are so many important stories in your book that I don’t wanna miss. And when I read your stories, I was very touched and I believe that many, many millions will be being touched by your stories. But before I talk too much, I just wanna here about your testimonies first. And I wanna start with you Marzieh. Can you tell us in a nut shell about your story?

Marzieh’s Testimony:
It’s about 14 years that I converted into Christianity. I remember when I was a young child; I always love God and wanted to find out more about His truth. I did everything to get closer to Him. But since I was born into a Muslim family, my only means of getting to know God were religious teaching among the Muslim and at school.


But I always had many questions that Islamic theology and Sharia’s Law could not answer me. I used to think of God as kind Father who was closer to me than the members of my family, because I believe that the God who created my body was closer to my heart than my own flesh and bone. I didn’t believe they’re wrong believes that existing in Islam. Their image that Muslims have of God is one who rule over the human race and punished them for their slightest sins. That was a terrifying images of God.

I didn’t believe that daily namaz prayer bending several times in front of the god who is already in my heart. And I always had many questions about like, “Why I had to speak to my god in Arabic instead of my native language? Doesn’t this God cannot understand my mother tongue? Why should I pray to him as if He’s a great leader or ruler over me?"

There are many questions like these in my mind but the answer I was getting at school were not convincing. After some thinking and consideration I decided to put aside my religion and came to the conclusion that the most important part of being a believer is just my heart.

Isik:
Wonderful! praise God. Now I’m going to turn to Maryam, so wonderful. Now, Maryam how did He revealed Himself to you or did He revealed Himself for you first of somebody else spoke about Him to you? What happen between you and Jesus?

Maryam:
You know, like Marzieh since I was a young child. I always sought to learn more about God and build a more personal relationship with Him. My heart and my soul were always thirsty for the truth and for knowing God. And all of my family members were aware for the love and passion that I had for Him.

As you know, I’m from the Muslim background and I grew up in a country where religious laws and regulations always stop people from knowing the truth. And it starts exactly from childhood, for example, at the school students were forced to read a Quran or other Islamic books or pray in namaz that is in Arabic. They did not let the students to learn about other religions especially Christianity. All we were told that the school was that Jesus was the prophet of love and peace, nothing more.

But I remember I always had many questions in my mind such as, “What is the truth? Who is God? And how can I have a close relationship with Him?" Like Marzieh I had never understood why I had to talk to Him in a language which I didn’t even know its meaning. I mean Arabic, our language is Farsi (Iran).


And I had many other questions about Islam and its rules which made me confused and frustrated. But I was eager to find the truth, so I try to study and do some researches on other religions on my own. I read Persian translation of the Koran and some other books of other religions. Sometimes I prayed namaz, Islamic prayer and also I attended meetings of other religions from time to time.

However, none of those at first could really help me and quench my thirst. At the time I was 17 I was completely disappointed and I thought it would be better not to follow any religion because I was tired of the meaningless rules which were just about religious laws. And I was tired of the God who was so far away and I couldn’t hear His voice.

So eventually I stop doing researches completely. Just whenever I was alone especially at night I look up into a sky and ask God to reveal Himself to me and speak to me. I remember there were times that I would to talk to Him for one or two hours in my own language. And I really enjoyed that relationship. Later I realize that it too was a desire that God Himself had created in my heart.

Isik:
I am just amazed when I was reading your book. Also about your work and marks the prostitutes and many of them, they lost their hospices and they had no other choices to look but through Jesus Christ they have hope today, because of your service to Christ. And everything that you have been telling me that you are doing in your own, very dangerous, right? In the very Islamic country this is against the law. What’s you are doing?

Marzieh:
They arrested us because they found about our activities.

Isik:
And then what happen?

Marzieh:
You know the first day I got a strange call from a stranger in the morning and he asked me some question about my car document and ask me to go to the police station. Since this call was unusual, I called one of my friend who was a lawyer and ask him to give me some advice, what should I do. And he assured me that there would be no problem and you can go there and it usually happens.


But I went there they took all my documents, handcuffed me, and told me that, “You’re under arrest of being a Christian and evangelizing.” And they took everything that I had and they told me that, “We need to come to your house and search your house.” They send 3 guards with me to search in our house without any search warrant. And they took both of us to the police station; they ransacked all our apartment and took both of us to the police station with all our belongings, CDs, books everything that was related to Christian.

And their behaviour was so brutal and so humiliating. And they threaten us to physical torture. They told us that, “You should give us all information that we want, otherwise we will beat you until you vomit blood.” And we were so scared of them, we couldn’t do anything, even we couldn’t talk. We couldn’t pray and just we start praying in tongues and God really strengthen us at that time. After that they send us to a detention that we had to stay there for 15 days. And after that they send us to Evin prison which is very famous.

Isik:
So you were arrested at same time?

Marzieh:
“Yes.”

Isik:
Same day?

Marzieh:
“Yes.”

Isik:
Were you working together in the ministry, this is why you were arrested same day and together?

Marzieh:
“We were living together.”

Isik:
Okay. I wanna here from you Maryam, what was your first reaction or feelings while you face persecution? Did they come to your house? How did it start with you?

Maryam:
You know Marzieh and I were living together. It’s been 8 years that we live together and we were evangelizing people, we were distributing Bibles and we had house church in our apartment. And the date that we got arrested, I was home waiting for Marzieh to come back from the security police.

And I knew that something bad would happen because we were both suspicious about the phone call that she had received in the morning. It’s about 4 pm in the afternoon, I heard the doorbell rang and I heard the sound of Marzieh and other people behind the door. I look through the people and I saw Marzieh with 3 guards standing in front of the door. But I didn’t do anything, my mind was in shock and I couldn’t do anything I just opened the door for them and they said, “Hello.”

They entered in our apartment and Marzieh explained. They ransacked everywhere and they discovered all our Bibles and CDs, Jesus movies and they took both of us to the security police. It was a shock for us the whole first day and the first week but after a week God really strengthen us because we really just praying for each other and the Holy Spirit gave us power to be strong and after a few weeks we understood that it was God’s will that we were in prison because we could see His miracles every day.


For the first few weeks we were praying for our release because we wanted to leave that situation. Especially the first 14 days that we’re in Wusaro it was a detention in the basement and the situation was awful. We didn’t want to stay in that situation but after few weeks when we could see how God was working among prisoners and we were like tools in God’s hands. After few weeks we didn’t just pray for our release, we were happy that we were in God’s hands and we were just praying for His will.

Isik:
So you were denied of your rights to get someone for your defence? So there was any moment in your mind that you said, “I wish I never did this?”

Maryam:
There was just only one day for me that I couldn’t feel the presence of God. At that time we were in solitary confinement and we were not together. They separated us for interrogation. There was another woman. She was a political prisoner and she was a Muslim.

And one day I just woke up and I couldn’t feel the presence of God. It was a very sad experience and it was the worst experience that I had. And the rule was that nobody is allowed to even speak loudly and but at that moment I don’t care about the rules. I just wanted to have my relationship back with my Father. And start singing in tongues very loudly and my cellmate, the Muslim woman, was so scared she told me, “Maryam please be quiet, the guards will come and they will punish you.”

But I wanted to continue. I remember for 1 hour I was singing in tongues and I was crying and I was laughing at the same time and after one hour I could feel the very presence of the Holy Spirit all over me and in myself. And even my cellmate Muslim woman, she could feel the presence of God.

Before that I had taught some worship songs to her and she told me that, “I can join you and we can sing those songs together.” She was so encouraged and she wasn’t scared anymore. I think we sang for more than 2 hours and nobody came, no guards came and they didn’t punish us. And after 2 hours I felt peace and joy and God told me that I am with you every day even you cannot feel My presence, it’s not about your feelings. I will be there with you everyday.

Isik:
Wonderful! We heard about Evin Prison many times and it’s sound like a very scary place to be. Can you tell us little about the conditions? And also when I read in your book, there was also some hostility from some inmates that you guys experienced, right? Would you like to talk about a little of that, the condition of?


Marzieh:
Ok! You know, we believe that Evin is really the heart and brood manifestation of the power quite a lot and the dominance over Iran. And this prison is famous for arresting, raping, torturing and executing of many innocent people. There are many intellectual and genius people like doctors who have been in this prison.

Maryam:
From the beginning, from the first day, in the security police and then in our course and also in the time that we were enter in line for interrogations. They were trying to convince us to deny our faith in Jesus. And they were trying to Marzieh explain tells us that you are young and once they told me you came to Christ at a very young age at that time you didn’t know what you were doing.

And at that day when they invited the university professor we had different interrogation. We were not together. And the university professor asked me to share my testimony with him. I shared my testimony. As I shared here and I could see that they were both listening and they were thinking, the interrogator and the university professor. These people I think their mind is closed and some of them are really prejudice. For example, like this professor, I was trying to challenge him, I was trying to tell him about verses in Bible.

And because I told him that I’m not following the religion and nobody had forced me into anything because I met with Jesus even before I’ve spoken about Him with anybody or had gone to church because they try to tell us that, “You went to the building, you saw the church and it was you know, there were some distraction and you enjoyed the worship in the church?”

But I told them that I didn’t go to church before, I met with Jesus before going to the church in my room when I was alone. And when I was talking to him about verses in Bible, and about Jesus’ grace, about His love. I understood that his heart is really close to grace, to love. And he told me that, “If I was one of my family members I wouldn’t wait for the court and their decision, I would have killed you myself.”

I told him, it’s good to go and read the Bible. And when you read the Bible and when you read the Quran, if you compare them, you can see the difference. Jesus is talking about the grace, about love but when you read about the Koran it’s all about revenges, it’s about war and for example, there were some women in prison that they had to stay in prison because of Islamic rules. Their own rules that existing the Quran and like temporary marriage is one the rules that existing the Koran and some of those women in prison. Because of these rules they ended up in prison.

But his answer was that, “I prefer verses in the Quran, I prefer revenge rather than Jesus’ love, Jesus’ grace.” And I couldn’t say anything more to him because he didn’t want to accept grace, he didn’t want to accept Jesus’ love. He prefers to stay in those rules and he prefers revenge and he prefer to obey Islamic rules and his heart is close to grace I believe.

Isik:
How did God work in the midst of everything and brought you out?

Marzieh:
We were sure that it was God’s will at the time that we were in prison, because we had many great opportunities there. And the second reason it was about the support of Christian people from all around the world. They were supporting us either by praying or sending letters to prison. It was so encouraging for both of us. And also it makes the Iranian government very angry about this.


And we heard that other international organization like United Nation and Amnesty and even pope from Vatican. They were supporting us and pope from Vatican send letters to Iranian government. And Iranian government was under pressure from all these organizations. They knew that many people from all around the world, they were watching their cruelty and injustice by keeping us in this prison. So they had to release us in order to show people that they have religious freedom in Iran which is not true. And as you know still there are Christian in this dark and brutal place and suffered for their faith.

Isik:
And then, one day they released you. They came and they opened the door for you. Was it just like that?

Maryam:
Marzieh explained, because of all this pressures, international pressures and because of the support of all Christians they had to release us. They were supposed to execute us by hanging, but they were forced by all these international pressures to release us.

And then one day they cane to prison and they told us, “You are free you can go home.” They brought some cookies, food, and delicious food to prison and they try to apologize to us. And they told us that, “If you go out of prison, you shouldn’t interview with anybody, you cannot meet with your friends, Christian friends, you cannot go to church." And they threatens us that, “We will watching you and your activities and you cannot do whatever you want.”

And then we went home but we couldn’t leave Iran because we have to stay in Iran for 6 more months for our last court. Actually they freed us, they wanted us to run away before our last court, but we prayed and decided to stay for our last court, because we didn’t want to run away from our country.

In our last court there were about 5 judges and we were ready to go back to prison and we were ready to answers their questions again. But I guess that it was all planed and in God court. He didn’t ask any question from us. Some of the judges wanted to ask questions, they were looking at us very, and you know they were so angry.

But the head of the judge didn’t let then to ask any questions and just he just asked us to sign some papers. And one of the judges told us that, “Next time it won’t be like this and you cannot be freed very easily.” And they threaten us even in the last court.

20 days after our last court we heard from our lawyer that our case is closed and we were free. He didn’t have any written documentation. He just received some verbal confirmation from the court that we were free and then 20 days after that, we left Iran.

Isik:
And Marzieh, coming to after this, amazing but also very difficult time. What God revealed to you? What do you think that God’s purpose was for you when you look back right now? What do you see that He was doing? He was strengthening your faith? He was doing was in your life?

Marzieh:
I believe that my faith became more strengthen during the time when I was in prison. And I had many experience with Him and I could see His miracles among prisoners among even guards, which was so encouraging for me and it helped me to grow in my faith. And also I believe that it was God’s will to be in prison at that time and God has a purpose for this in keeping us in that prison.

I remember about 4 or 5 years before we got arrested I had a dream and God spoke to me in that dream and He told me that, “Marzieh, you will pass through prison experience one day.” And I was waiting for this and I was sure that God had a plan. I didn’t know what His plan is and why I need to experience this, I need to pass through this but I just trust God. It’s from God, so God has a purpose for this.

Isik:
Wonderful! Maryam one last question I wanna ask you, there are maybe people watching this program right now and believers in Christ that they may be going through trials and tribulations because of their faith. Maybe not as radical as you and your friend experience but in their world it is radical, it is difficult. How would you and why so, what do you wanna tell them that if they are being persecuted maybe in their family, maybe in their society, in their country for Christ sake?

Maryam:
You know, first thing I want to tell that we are all human beings and we need to accept that. We have our weaknesses and we are not heroes, we are not sacred. All we have is from God and we experience this in prison. We explained that, we were so weak especially in the first few months.


And we could feel that without God and without His presence we are nothing and even we couldn’t bear one day in prison. And just my experience tells me that I learned how to trust God in prison. I learned how to forgive my enemies. I learned how to live with God and how to listen to Him and how to listen to His voice. We all experience difficulties in our lives and its okay I think and we learned from our experiences.

The only thing that I can tell, I won’t say advice but my experience that is, if we put our trust in God, if we listen to Him and He will lead us to a beautiful path. He has a great plan for each one of us; just we need to learn how to trust Him and how to trust His plan. Not to see the darkness but to put our trust in Him.

Isik:
And one last thing for you, if you pray one thing for Iran, one thing that you want really deep in your heart. What that would that be?

Marzieh:
You know I always tell people that Iran is our country and we cannot forget our home, our country. And we love Iran and Iranian people and we believe that these days Iran is captured with this government. And my prayer for my country is that, one day Iran became free and Iranian could a touch freedom. And also my prayer is for the kingdom of God in my country. (Marzieh Sob…)

Source:

We always tell people that part of our heart is at set there, and we cannot forget our country. And we hope that one day Iran became free Iranian, could touch freedom, young people being in university instead of being in jail. Human have equal rights and it could have our righteousness government. We believe that, it will come in the future!

• Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. - (John 14:6).

Thanks You, Jesus Bless You.