"Because of His Grace and Your Prayers"

In yesterday’s post, we told you about two former prisoners in Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran. Today we bring word from a current Evin prisoner: Farshid Fathi.

Earlier this week our friends at Elam Ministries released a new letter written by Farshid in prison. The letter was written after he heard of an internet story that he'd written a letter complaining about the “agony” of his suffering in prison. In fact, Farshid has never complained about the persecution and suffering he has endured, even to friends and family. He wrote this new letter to set the record straight:

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Recently I heard about a letter which was published on the Internet on behalf of me about a part of my suffering that I went through during the time since I was imprisoned in December 2010. Although I did not write the letter, it tells the truth. But I would like to tell you that after all the things that have happened to me it would be a shame for me to speak about my suffering.

How can I complain about my suffering when my brothers and sisters are paying a high price for their faith all over the world? I recently heard about many people killed in front of a church in Pakistan. I also heard a young sister in Christ sharing about how she lost her family for the sake of the Gospel and still she is willing to return to share the good news.

How can I complain about my suffering when our dear brother Haik gave his life and was killed with more than 20 knife-stabs to preach to sinners like me? And what about our dear brother Dibaj who spent 9 years and 27 days in prison and was finally martyred after that much suffering?

How can I complain about my suffering when I think of our lovely brother Soodmand who had four precious children (and was martyred)? And dear brother Michaelian and Ravanbaksh, whose blood is still crying out from the land of Iran to heaven? And finally what about the apostle Paul who was many times in prison, suffered countless beatings, was stoned, and often near death, but served the Lord with all of his heart? But after all this Paul says: ‘This light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.’

So when I look at all these heroes of faith, how can I complain about my suffering?

Thank you so much for your prayers and for your support and for your love.

And I am sure I have this joy in my heart here because of His grace and your prayers.

Your brother in Christ,

Farshid

Praise the Lord for His sustaining grace for Farshid. Please continue to pray for him and other Christians imprisoned in Iran. You can write letters of encouragement to Farshid and others through www.PrisonerAlert.com.

Source: Elam Ministries