Refined by Fire

The courage of ordinary believers in Iran is amazing. They are forced to meet in secret, and their Farsi language Bibles are forbidden by the government. Yet they persevere.

A woman who was arrested led three fellow-prisoners to Christ. Another believer found authorities waiting at his house to arrest him. Instead of running away, he called Christian friends to ask for prayer, and then continued home to meet his captors.

One ministry leader said, “These Christians are prepared to suffer and they count it a privilege to be suffering for the name of Christ.” In the past 31 years, the church has grown from roughly 350,500 Christians—including only 500 converts from a Muslim background—to over one million.

The church is growing, and persecution cannot stop it.

“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” –1 Peter 1:6-7

News source: Assist News