<\/p>\n
The Rev. Shah Ahmadi, an evangelist, pastor, and the director of strategic alliances for Iran Alive Ministries, grew up in Iran and lived under its repressive regime for 22 years.<\/p>\n
He recently told CBN News about his upbringing and his eventual decision to flee Iran for the U.S.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was age 8, my dad took me to the mosque, so I start learning about Islam because of my dad,\u201d he said, noting his father, who has since become a Christian, was once a devout Muslim. \u201cHe took me to there because, in Iran, [the] only religion you can practice is Islam.\u201d<\/p>\n
By age 13, Ahmadi was memorizing the Koran. He eventually earned a degree in survey engineering \u2014 and became one of the top engineers in the country. With this position came prestige and a life he loved.<\/p>\n
But that eventually came to an end.<\/p>\n
Listen to the latest\u00a0episode\u00a0of \u201cQuick Start\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Ahmadi worked at a petrochemical factory and came under the Iranian government\u2019s crosshairs after reportedly witnessing a secretive government installation. Suddenly, he was being investigated, and interrogated, and asked if he had a connection with Israel or America.<\/p>\n \u201cWe said, \u2018No, no, no. I have nothing to do with them,’\u201d he recalled, noting he soon was warned that he would be killed if he didn\u2019t flee the nation. \u201cI couldn\u2019t say \u2018Bye\u2019 to my family, my mom and my dad, and this was hardest part of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n Ahmadi continued, \u201cI had to escape illegally from Iran because, if I go through the border, they would arrest me. So there was a wintertime in our area \u2026 There\u2019s a lot of snow. So I had to pass the mountain between Iran and Turkey border.\u201d<\/p>\n A smuggler took Ahmadi and other strangers accompanying him on the difficult journey.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was like hardest, hardest part of my life,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m just running for my life and the fear, and \u2026 I don\u2019t know [if] I\u2019m gonna be die. I don\u2019t know the area.\u201d<\/p>\n Once in Turkey, Ahmadi had to figure out who he could trust. With Iranian agents purportedly operating inside Turkey, he wasn\u2019t sure who would be safe to confide in.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s when I start drinking, smoking because I looked at the world, how they are getting satisfied, how they are overcoming the pain, the loss I had,\u201d he said. \u201cGod \u2014 Islam didn\u2019t answer me.\u201d<\/p>\n At that point, praying and fasting in the Islamic tradition simply didn\u2019t help him find his footing. Eventually, Ahmadi made his way to England, where he continued to party and live a life gratifying himself \u2014 until someone presented him with the Gospel message.<\/p>\n \u201cSomeone approached me [with] simple words [and] said, \u2018Do you know Jesus loves you?’\u201d he recalled. \u201cAnd by that time I felt I\u2019m [a] sinner because I was drinking [and] all this party stuff. In Islam, if you do good, God loves you. If you do bad, God hates you.\u201d<\/p>\n But this individual\u2019s message about Jesus was different.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said, \u2018Come to him as you are. He loves you as you are. He will wash you clean,’\u201d Ahmadi recalled.<\/p>\n After attending a few worship services, he said \u201cGod touched\u201d his heart, and that his heart and mind began to shift and change.<\/p>\n \u201cThe peace I received I never had before,\u201d Ahmadi said. \u201cThe presence of God came like rain from top of my head to all of my body. I asked God, \u2018Would you show me again if this is you?’\u201d<\/p>\n He continued, noting he was touched by the presence of the Lord.<\/p>\n \u201cI was crying and weeping like a baby,\u201d Ahmadi said. \u201cAnd from that point, my life started changing. I start comparing Bible with Koran for eight months, page to page.\u201d<\/p>\n Being outside Iran allowed for him to more easily find the Lord. After his conversion, he was taught that people embracing the Gospel must be \u201cready to take your cross,\u201d as persecution often follows.<\/p>\n Interestingly, though, many of Ahmadi\u2019s family members found Jesus.<\/p>\n \u201cOne by one, they came to Christ,\u201d he said. \u201cEight of my family came through dreams and visions; Jesus appeared to them inside Iran in different timelines.\u201d<\/p>\n Ahmadi continued, \u201cI brought my mom\u00a0and my dad, and the 20 people from my family members to Turkey in 2016. Again, amazing friend of mine \u2026 from America. \u2026 He was sharing his testimony about how he need to forgive drunk driver who killed his boy, and my dad was crying and weeping. He gave his life over there.\u201d<\/p>\n While some of Ahmadi\u2019s family members were initially targeting his newfound beliefs, he said he now has 32 family members who are part of the underground church in Iran \u2014 something that requires intense devotion to the Lord, as it can come with great risk.<\/p>\n Becoming a Christian inside Iran can usher in true chaos and danger, especially if one serves as a pastor or a faith leader who evangelizes others and brings them to Christ.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they attend the house church, they could end up to 5 to 10 years in prison,\u201d he said. \u201cIf they get baptized, they go to prison for 12 to 13 years. If they baptize someone, my goodness, that goes in prison.\u201d<\/p>\n Please sign up for\u00a0Faithwire\u2019s daily newsletter\u00a0and download the\u00a0CBN News app\u00a0to stay up-to-date with the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.<\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Rev. Shah Ahmadi, an evangelist, pastor, and the director of strategic alliances for Iran Alive Ministries, grew up in Iran and lived under its repressive regime for 22 years. He recently told CBN News about his upbringing and his eventual decision to flee Iran for the U.S. \u201cWhen I was age 8, my dad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24008,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[7976,2669,2512,585,7421,3825,481,2444],"class_list":{"0":"post-24007","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jesus","8":"tag-appeared","9":"tag-dreams","10":"tag-exmuslim","11":"tag-family","12":"tag-fled","13":"tag-iran","14":"tag-jesus","15":"tag-members"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}