Historically, despots, dictators and oppressive regimes persecute and seek to eradicate those who they believe threaten their power and control. This fact is as old as history itself and serves as the grounds upon which almost every major military conflict in history has occurred. And this violence and persecution almost always takes place under the guise of necessary purification or essential cleansing of the culture. Iran, which became an Islamic Republic in April 1979 once had a vibrant Christian church. But with the rise of Shi’a Islam in Iran in the 1500’s the systematic annihilation of Christianity was already underway.
When Ayatollah Khomeini became the “Supreme Leader” of Iran (December 1979), a new rule of law went into effect, called “velayat-e faqih” – a new paradigm within Shi’a Islam which promotes the idea that its people require guardianship or absolute rule in the form strict supervision by Islamic judges. These jurists or qadis are supposedly guided by shariah law – the precepts of the Qur’an and the life of Mohammed. This interpretation of shariah law by the qadis controls everything from politics, crime and economics to personal matters such as employment, marriage, sexual intercourse, personal hygiene, daily diet, and much more). And this same shariah law calls for the violent annihilation of all those who disagree with the policies and practices of those who impose the “guardianship” of society.
Iranian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani may well become another among the thousands (or more) of Christian martyrs whose blood has been shed by a pagan, violent religion of hatred and oppression (as prescribed by the Qur’an and carried out under the guise of shariah law). But the net result will be the same – the growth of the Christian Church, fueled by the persecution of fear-filled detractors. Given that the Christian church in Iran has grown more since the 1979 Islamic Revolution than in any other time in its 4,000 history speaks volumes to the power of the blood of martyrs.
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