Christian persecution in Iran is increasing as the time for Christmas gets closer, according to Naghmeh Panahi, leader in the underground house church in Iran, whose most recent book, I Didn’t Survive, is available now.
“Christmas time is when Christians get arrested the most,” Naghmeh says in her most recent texts to BTJ. “This has been happening for decades. Arrests increase around Christmas… it is sad because Christmas should be such a happy time for the persecuted Christians in Iran, but it is a terrifying time. When I think about Christmas in the underground churches in Iran, I am filled with grief.”
Several BTJ partners have been arrested in Iran in the last month. BTJ has a special Back to Jerusalem Martyrs Scholarship Fund that helps to pay for the education of the children of persecuted believers. $5k has been immediately released to help the children of these families.
“For most [Christians] Christmas is a time of presents and celebrating the birth of Christ, but for Iranian Christian children, it means crying in anguish as parents are arrested and thrown in prison. It is living in constant fear that their houses will be raided and Bibles found. The Iranian government brings terror during Christmas.”
Naghmeh is spending this Christmas providing comfort to Christians in Iran who have been targeted by the government.
