MAGAZINE MAY | JUNE 2021 Locked up in Iran Stories from secret believers in the Middle East www.opendoorsca.org GARY’S TAKE 4 INSIDE THIS ISSUE Dear Friend, Lately I have been burdened for those in our Christian family who are PAGE 4 | Secret Believers Find imprisoned for faith-related reasons. Open Doors’ latest World Watch List Freedom in Prison reveals that in 2020 alone, 4,277 Christians were detained without trial, arrested, sentenced and imprisoned and another 1,710 were abducted. PAGE 8 | Be Prepared to Escape Countless others have been held captive for years without hope of being released. The suffering and worry they bear is immeasurable. PAGE 10 | A Safe Haven in the Midst of Hopelessness In this magazine you’ll read the story of a young father by the name of Taher who was incarcerated for a period, but then had to flee with his family to another country to avoid imminent long-term imprisonment. PAGE 14 | Because of You... Taher shared that a song close to the heart of everyone in his family is, “I Surrender All.” A line from the hymn says, “All to Jesus I surrender, all to 8 Him I freely give. I will ever love and trust Him, in His presence daily live.” Even amidst the challenges of living as refugees, their faith inspires us to trust God’s plan. Open Doors Canada 8-19 Brownridge Rd. In June we are launching an annual focus on prayer for our family Halton Hills, ON L7G 0C6 members who are imprisoned or held captive for their faith. It will culminate on Sunday, June 27, with, One With Them: A Day for Christian (905) 636-0944 Captives. I am praying that this becomes a prayer movement and that we www.opendoorsca.org will see significant answers to our prayers. Thank you in advance for your [email protected] participation. Grace & Peace, /OpenDoorsCanada Cover image: Saghar gathered with other Christians, worshiped and prayed. It was always risky, but the fellowship was the base for their growth in faith. They shared their lives together—and became family. Eventually Saghar even decided to take the most dangerous job in church: the Pastor Gary Stagg pastor. And then the unavoidable happened: The Iranian secret service raided the church. Read her story on page 8. Executive Director OPEN DOORS MAGAZINE is published 6 times a year to provide concerned Christians with information about events affecting persecuted Christians worldwide. ODC is a member of Canadian Centre for Christian Charities and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. The material contained in this publication cannot be reproduced in any form, including on the internet, without written permission. © 2021 Open Doors Canada. www.opendoorsca.org 3 Miracles, dreams and TV MESSAGE OF STRENGTH shows are bringing Muslims in the Middle East to Christ. Taher may not have written the The church is growing, names of his fellow believers in but the threat of rejection, the interrogation room, but he did violence and imprisonment quietly slide a pen from the table is rising. These believers into his pocket. When the guards need their worldwide family returned him to his cell, he began to scribble in the cracks of the wall. to stand alongside them. “Ask, seek, knock, and it will be “Taher*. You need to come home, given to you,” he wrote, with now.” The call came from the reference to Matthew 7:7. Iranian secret police. They were in Taher’s house with his wife and He desperately hoped these words two daughters, ransacking the would encourage Christians just place for evidence of his Christian like him—believers from the Iran faith. underground church who would be arrested and find themselves There was plenty to find, because in this same cell. Perhaps these Taher loved to share his faith in faint messages would give others Jesus. In front of his family, he was courage to stay strong in the face of handcuffed, blindfolded and was their interrogators. taken away in a car. The secret service eventually For the next week he survived in a released Taher on bail. Months later, tiny cell, interrogated every night during his sentencing, the judge between midnight and 4am. He decided to have mercy on Taher was given paper and a pen and and released him under one instructed to write down the names condition—he stop evangelizing. If of the Christians he knew. the authorities arrested him again, the judge would have no leniency, He never wrote a single name. and the conviction would be SECRET BELIEVERS FIND execution. All over the Middle East, God is revealing Himself to new believers. NEVER STOP MINISTERING FREEDOM IN PRISON These converts from Islam live with “The time that I had with Jesus in prison was the real freedom for me,” the constant threat of rejection, However, the warning to stop says Taher*, who hopes the secret messages he wrote on his cell walls violence and imprisonment. Open preaching didn’t deter his calling. will encourage other Christian prisoners. Doors helps them to grow and Taher says simply, “I went back build healthy faith communities. home and started ministering again.” 4 Open Doors Magazine - May | June 2021 www.opendoorsca.org 5 more acute. Trapped inside Stand with secret believers in with their potential persecutors, the Middle East who live under secret believers found it harder the threat of imprisonment to hide their faith. Peter, another and persecution. Open Doors worker, reports that during lockdown, government PLEASE PRAY surveillance increased leading to a higher number of arrests Pray for secret believers and the imprisonment of whose house churches are believers. raided, for those whose family members are violent against “Even though you can’t them, those who have lost their jobs because their employer put an arm around them: found out about their faith. Secret believers in the Middle East rely on prayer from nobody should face PLEASE GIVE the global church to stay strong under persecution. persecution alone.” Every $50 could provide Eventually, the situation in Iran secret believers know they are not Yet perhaps the greatest counselling training for a secret became too dangerous for Taher alone. danger is to leave these secret believer, so they can support fellow and his family. The secret service believers in the Middle East Christians facing persecution. followed them everywhere. Jonathan, an Open Doors field without prayer and without He couldn’t find a job and the worker, says, “We have a lot of support. Jonathan explains, Every $90 can provide two regular harassment become online programs to reach new “When we don’t support the secret believers who’ve fled overwhelming. One night, they met believers. We give them pastoral Christian community in the to a neighbouring country with as a family and made the prayerful care, help them grow in faith and Middle East to grow in faith practical and spiritual support at decision to leave Iran. connect them to a community of and stand strong in the face of a Christian community centre. believers if possible.” persecution, many will fall back Today, Taher and his family are into their old faith. This is also a Every $100 could provide refugees in Turkey, but they hope COMMUNITY ONLINE hindrance in the maturing of the online training for ten secret to return someday if God opens church.” church leaders to develop their a door for them. Believers from He continues, “Community really is leadership skills, so they can a Muslim background across the the key word here. Having others “Most importantly we need our better disciple their churches. Middle East face persecution to share your faith with helps you supporters to not cease their not only from the police and the to endure persecution. If you know prayers. It helps secret believers PLEASE WRITE authorities, but their own families that there are people like you, if to know that people are praying and communities too. As a you know that there are people for them. Even though you don’t Use the power of your pen to write consequence, they hide their faith praying for you: then you can stand speak their language, you can’t a message of encouragement and suffer from severe isolation. strong.” put an arm around them: nobody to secret believers. See Open Doors aims to connect should face persecution alone.” page 12 for more details. believers online, as well as in During the Covid-19 restrictions, person where possible, to help the dangers of isolation became *Names changed for security reasons. 6 Open Doors Magazine - May | June 2021 www.opendoorsca.org 7 DELETE THE EVIDENCE As she found her seat, her name Be prepared to escape echoed through the airport. The Next, she began to delete all security service had just received a evidence of her Christian faith from warrant for her arrest. When the secret service raided Saghar’s church her phone. One of the female secret in Iran, she knew what to do. She’d been to service officers pushed on the toilet But it was too late. Saghar’s plane gatherings to prepare for persecution – but she door, trying to force it open. But took off safely. still relied on God to save her. Saghar firmly explained her rights, forcing the officer to back off. Four years later, in a country of refuge, Saghar still suffers As the interrogation continued, occasional flashbacks of the raid. A crowbar forced the door open, officers told Saghar she was under But the regular nightmares come but no voices were raised. The arrest. But she remembered what less often now.