Billy Hallowell spoke with Rev. Lazarus Yeghnazar, founder of Transform Iran, on Faithwire last week to speak about the growing number of Christians in Iran, despite conversion to Christianity being illegal. Yeghnazar’s organization works with underground churches and shared that many conversions are a result of visions and dreams that people are having. The visions have such an impact that, despite the personal danger to themselves and their families, Muslim converts to Christianity can’t keep the Gospel to themselves. “They cannot stop talking about it. Hence the severe persecution, the severity of the brutality. [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 said of the visions, with the experiences sounding reminiscent of Paul’s conversion experience on the road to Damascus, which is related in Acts 9. 

Yeghnazar stressed how the impact of dreams and visions is different in a non-Western culture like Iran. “In the Middle East, people see visions. In the Western understanding, we want everything to be tangible, verifiable, accountable,” he said. He also added that having dreams and visions is much more common in the Middle East and that often nearly everyone at a church meeting will have had some sort of a vision about Jesus. The impact is followers that are eager to share the Gospel despite the danger. As Yeghnazar pointed out, the Underground Church must worship in secret, but if they stay in secret, that does not lead to growth. 

The idea of visions and dreams of Jesus can be controversial in Western culture, especially in the debate between cessationism and continuationism. Although cessationism varies from full to classical, it essentially takes the position that most or all spiritual gifts like speaking in tongues, prophecy, gifts of healing, and miracles have ceased since the days of the apostles. Continuationists believe that the spiritual gifts continue as they did in the days of the apostles. 

Despite persecution, Christianity has been growing rapidly in Iran. Exact numbers are hard to come by due to the nature of the Underground Church. However, it was estimated in 2020 that the number of Christians in Iran could be nearing 1 million. In 2018, David Yeghnazar of Elam Ministries declared that “Iranians have become the most open people to the gospel.” CBN also found in 2018 that Christianity was growing the fastest in the Islamic Republic of Iran. One of the key factors leading to the growth is the anemia behind the Islamic churches in Iran. According to an Iranian pastor and former Muslim as far back as 2008, “We find ourselves facing what is more than a conversion to the Christian faith. It’s a mass exodus from Islam.”

The growth comes with increasing persecution and problems as Iran faces a series of protests and riots after the death of Mahsa Amina, an Iranian woman who was arrested by Iran’s “morality police” for the improper wearing of a hijab. It was reported she was beaten and later died in police custody. Iranian Christians have been warned not to get involved in the protests due to their religious minority status. In an op-od for Christianity Today, Hedieh Mirahmadi, a former Muslim, encouraged Christians around the world to care about the Iranian conflict. In her column, she wrote, “Christian media and community members need to be the voice of such courageous individuals so the true story of Iran’s leaders is made public and real change can occur.”