Many readers will be familiar with the animated film, JESUS: He Lived Among Us which VOM produced as an evangelism tool for our partners and coworkers in restricted and hostile nations. The film was produced originally in English, and has since been translated into multiple other languages, with the first priority being languages spoken in restricted and hostile nations.

Today on the Persecution Blog we'll share an excerpt from the testimony of "Mohammed," an Iranian Muslim who came to know Christ through one of VOM's ministry partners. Mohammed's story is one of those told in VOM's April newsletter. You can read his complete testimony on the newsletter media page.

Last year VOM shared this video produced by one of our ministry partners, Iran Alive Ministries:

After 10 days in solitary confinement, Hussein was taken back to the main prison. The paperwork they gave him said he was a “blasphemer of the Holies,” an apostate. One of the guards, seeing the charge, told Hussein, “Only God can help you in here.”

Still blindfolded, Hussein was taken inside a building; he couldn’t tell if it was a house or a business. He was led down four steps just inside the door, and then after 15 feet there were more stairs. He was going to a basement. He heard men speaking Kurdish, a language he didn’t know. Looking down past the edge of his blindfold, he could see that the floor was made of tiles. Hussein was taken to the manager of solitary confinement; he was placed in a cell and the blindfold and handcuffs were finally removed. They gave him a gray jumpsuit to put on and took his clothes. The cell was a 10’ by 6’ room, with no bed or toilet or sink. On one wall were two floodlights, and one of them was always on.

Hussein and his ministry partner had gathered in an apartment belonging to a Christian in a Kurdish area of Iran. The man who lived in the apartment had also invited 10 young Kurdish, Muslim women to come hear about Jesus. The previous week, the believers had received a secret shipment of 500 New Testaments, which were stacked in three large boxes in one of the apartment’s bedrooms.

Iranian Christian Hussein stood in amazement at how far God had brought him. Just a few years earlier, he had been a drug addict, a patron of prostitutes and a criminal. Yet the drugs and women and ill-gotten money brought no joy to his life; he felt only misery and desperation. He became so depressed that he planned to end his life. He came up with a plan to make his death painless: he would get high on ecstasy and then jump off a tall building. He found an appropriate building, and he even found a way to get to the roof. All he needed now was the drugs; he was trying to locate them when an old army buddy came to town and asked Hussein to coffee.

“I could tell that I am touching death now. Then I realized, ‘I am going to die.’”

Following is a portion from an interview with Padina, an Iranian Christian woman who, along with her husband, is helping grow God's Kingdom in Iran. You can read the full interview here.

Special thanks to our friends from The American Center for Law & Justice who not only got behind the cause to help free Pastor Youcef, which we saw earlier this year, but who are now helping to raise awareness of Pastor Saeed Abedini who has been in prison in Iran for being a Christian. Reports say he has been abused and that he is a convert from Islam to Christianity.