She Was Sentenced to Death in Iran for Being a Christian

She was sentenced to death in prison in Iran for her faith, but she lived to tell the story. It's time for The Line of Fire with your host, biblical scholar and cultural commentator, Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity.

Call 866-34-TRUTH to get on the line of fire. And now here's your host, Dr. Michael Brown. I cannot wait to do this interview today to introduce you to a special guest and to find out firsthand details of her story, Marzia Amrizadeh, sentenced to death by hanging in Iran while in prison, sentenced to death by hanging in Iran, survived a notorious event prison, and now lives to tell the story of her faith. I can't wait to tell the story for you and hear it with our guest today. Before I do that, I want to encourage every single one of you, if you're watching on YouTube, click on thumbs up and go ahead and share this video now. If you're watching on Facebook, click like and share. If you're listening on radio, if you can, call or text a friend.

Tell them to tune in. If you're listening after the broadcast on podcast, as soon as you're done, go ahead and share it with others. We want to share the story as widely as possible. And my guest was introduced to me, fascinatingly enough, by my Orthodox Jewish friend, Jonathan Feldstein, living in Israel.

And he said, you've got to meet and connect. And the moment I saw her story, I said, we've got to get her on the broadcast. So without further ado, Marzia, welcome to the broadcast. Thanks so much for joining us.

Thank you so much, Dr. Brown, for inviting me. It's such an honor to share my story on your program. And as you mentioned, I would like to thank our mutual friend, Jonathan Feldstein, for making this connection. Yeah, quite amazing. An Orthodox Jew connects an Iranian Christian to a Messianic Jew to share this story with the larger Christian world.

We'll talk about your books and how people can connect with you in a moment. But you were born shortly before the Islamic Revolution in 1979, led by Ayatollah Khomeini. So you basically grew up in an Iran that had changed dramatically.

What was it like as a little girl and a young woman growing up in that environment? I'm sure everybody knows that about the Islamic Republic regime in Iran, because it's all over the news and this terrorist regime, how they treat their own people. And imagine I was born, as you mentioned, a few months before the revolution in Iran, and I faced many difficulties, many challenges, and women's rights violations from my childhood. For example, at the age of seven, I have to wear hijab, a complete hijab. I'm going to school, and there are many Islamic laws against women. For example, they cannot attend a stadium to watch any sports. They cannot be a judge. They cannot have the custody of their children.

They can't sing, dance, ride a bicycle. There are many things against women, and they have to have a compulsory hijab at the age of seven. And as a child, I was facing all these difficulties, but praise God, he made me a fighter from a very young age, and I was fighting against all these rules from my childhood to keep my rights. What was the price of fighting back, even before coming to faith in Jesus? What happened to someone that didn't conform?

We hear the stories now, and people dying because of it, even as more and more Iranians are less religious and are pushing back against the regime. But this is in the early days, as it's taking over now and imposing this on women that had been very free before that. What kind of price did you pay for pushing back?

Yeah, there are many prices. You can get arrested, and they punish you in different ways. At schools, I was witnessed. I myself got punished once, but I also was witnessed to my classmates how brutally they were punished just because of not being able to cover their old hair. And in the society as well, there are many punishments that you can get arrested. They brainwash all Iranian people with Islamic laws, and they threaten them to follow the Islamic rules. And I'm sure people heard about Masa and me in 2022 that she got arrested just because of not having a proper Islamic hijab.

And she was brutally beaten, which led to her death. So there are many costs for Iranian people who do not follow the Islamic rules. And I experienced it in my own life and in the life of my loved ones in Iran. And I, myself, and my story as well.

Yeah, so before we get into some of those details, and then you're converting, and then the price you paid for that. Growing up as a girl in Iran, or just as a child in Iran, what did you hear about Israel and America? How were these nations reported to you? What were the sentiments in your country about Israel and America?

I'm glad you asked this question. And it is very important to mention that from our childhood, they brainwashed our children against America, and especially against Israel. They spread anti-Semitism at schools. For example, they teach students that Israel doesn't have the right to exist. And there are many verses in Quran.

It's not something that they created. There are verses in Quran about anti-Semitism and killing Jews. They teach students a map of the world without the map of Israel. And I remember when I was very young, there was a series from a national TV that trying to demonize Jews through showing that series.

At that time, I remember I had no idea who are Jews, where is Israel. But that was a kind of brainwashing people against Jews, against an annihilation of Israel. And this is something that routinely they brainwash people with that. And they force children, for example, to stand in the line at schools every morning to say death to America and death to Israel. And this is not just empty words. They are very serious about it because there are Islamic teachings that for the end time, Muslims need to be united and they need to annihilate Israel, which is going to open the path for their 12 Islamic imams to come.

So this is not a joke. This is so real to them. And they strongly believe that after annihilation of Israel, they can open the path for their 12 imams to come.

Yeah. So, you know, Christians can relate to the idea of believing in the second coming of Jesus. And we want to bring the gospel all around the world to hasten the return of Jesus. And it's very real to many Christians. And they live with this expectation of the return of Jesus. So you're saying that growing up as a child and then just the mentality in Islam, not just hype from the leaders, but genuinely believing there will be the Mahdi, the 12th imam revealed. There's even a famous hadith that says that the end will not come until you fight against the Jews and destroy them. So you're saying this just like Christians look forward to the return of Jesus and feel there are things we can do to hasten his return, that as an Iranian Muslim, that you felt that there were things that could be done. This is what you were taught.

Annihilation of Israel, et cetera, was critical for this final redeemer to come. That was a real belief in your circles. That's what you're saying. Yes, that's the truth, unfortunately.

And this is totally evil. And as I mentioned, there are verses in Quran about this. Yeah. So how is it then growing up in this environment that you're exposed to the gospel?

Yeah. Praise God. You know, from my childhood, I was very curious child and I was asking lots of questions. I wouldn't accept everything by just saying to me, because at school, they forced the students to obey the Islamic laws and they describe different kinds of punishment and tortures to the students that if they do not obey the Islamic rules, they will face this kind of tortures after their death, that God will punish them in many severe, savage ways. So imagine as a child hearing these kinds of things, I could not believe such a definition of God because I had a very good father that loved me so much. And I always compared this relationship and I could not accept it that how it's possible that God who created me could be such a cruel God. And I started questioning the Islamic rules, like, you know, Muslims, as you know, they have to pray Namaz five times a day, and just keep repeating Arabic words, which is not my language.

My native language is Farsi. And just bending in front of time, God at specific times, and I had lots of questions, why, why I have to speak to him in Arabic, if I talk to him in Farsi, he cannot understand me, this is ridiculous. Why I have to cover myself why I have to bend in front of him just a specific time today, if I talk to him in another time, this God won't hear me. And, you know, my questions would make my theology teachers angry. And they told me, No, you should follow the Islamic rules, you should not question. And that's why I decided to practice Islam for a few years, I mean, praying Namaz and reading Quran, too. And this time, if there is any truth in Islam, and that was good, actually, that educated me about Islam by reading Quran. But after a few years, I felt no, there is no truth. There is no difference when I am doing that.

It's just routinely doing practicing Islamic rules. So for the first time, God showed himself to me through a dream when I was about 17 to 18 years old. And it was it's a long story, I do not have time to share all the details.

It's in my book, both my books, my second book, especially a love journey with God, which I shared the whole details and people can read it. But I make it brief that through that dream, God, I dream about a white horse, that God revealed the true face of Islam to me. And also, he revealed his amazing love to that white horse, which really changed my life. That's an amazing dream. When I woke up, I could not believe that how much God loves me. So after having that dream, I decided not to practice Islamic rules anymore. In that dream, I didn't know anything about Jesus. It was just God wanted to show his amazing love to me. I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna jump in here.

And we've got to pick this up on the other side of the break. Wow. So her own loving father made her question the God of Islam. Common sense made her question it.

But then a dream revealing the loving God, even without the rest of the gospel, made her understand that that loving God was not the God of Islam. We'll be right back. I'm Dr. Paul Burnett, a board certified doctor of holistic health. And I've got some exciting news for you today about an amino acid formula scientifically shown to build lean muscle, improve strength and reduce recovery time at any age. Dr. Robert Wolf was a researcher of muscle health who raised $20 million to fund 30 years of research and was able to perfect a formula scientifically shown to build lean muscle, improve strength and improve recovery time at any age. And now this formula is available in Trivita's mild health.

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It's win-win for everybody involved. My guest, Marzia Amrizade, what a story. She has two books, Captive in Iran, so don't even worry about the spelling of the name right now, Captive in Iran. So this talks about her capture and imprisonment. So we'll talk about it very briefly here but you read the whole story in the book and in her second book, A Love Journey with God, her journey to faith.

So Captive in Iran and A Love Journey with God, two books that will be compelling readings. So Marzia I find it fascinating that your father being a loving father seemed very different than the God of Islam and just the idea of the God who created you so lovingly, carefully didn't seem to line up with the God of Islam. But then you have a dream that reveals the love of God to you. So you don't know about the love of God expressed through Jesus, but you simply know that this loving God, this compassionate God, even though in Islam Allah is called Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim, so the merciful and compassionate, you knew that was not the real God of Islam.

So this is the beginning of your journey. About 17 years old, you have a revelation of the love of God, you know Islam is not the truth. Now how do you make that next step to come to Jesus and what happens as a result of your conversion?

Yeah, as I mentioned in my dream it was about the white horse and that white horse kept coming to my dreams that I shared most of those dreams and visions in my second book, A Love Journey with God, which is available on my website marzizjourney.com which is m-a-r-z-i-s journey dot com and people can read the details. That dream, as I mentioned, really changed my life and I stopped practicing the Islamic rules. But as I said, I didn't know anything about Jesus at that time. It was a few years after that that one of my friends who had converted to Christianity and I didn't know and she knew how much I love God searching the truth. She shared about Jesus with me about that he came to this world to free us from our sins and he's the son of God and imagine it's very shocking to me to hear such a thing about Jesus because all the teachings in Islamic countries is that Jesus is only a prophet and so at the beginning I could not accept it and but since I was very curious I got the bible and I started reading and doing some research and one day I got tired of searching and I just knelt in my room and I asked God if Jesus is the truth to reveal it to me. I told him that you are my God and you should show me if he is the truth.

I don't want to be misguided. So after that more dreams. I received more dreams, more visions and I had the experience of healing and all the details that I said it's in my book that people can get it through my website marzysjourney.com and after that I began to believe in Jesus because of all those experiences and miracles because I could see there is the truth in Jesus but I wanted to share the day that really changed my life was the day that I was alone in my room and I was just questioning some asking some questions about the Holy Spirit and other things from God that to reveal to me and because I didn't want to have any doubts about Jesus. So while I was talking to him and praying suddenly I received the flames of the Holy Spirit. God baptized me by the power of the Holy Spirit and my hand weighs up and without knowing without any control I started praying in tongues in other languages that I never experienced and it was shocking to me and I would just keep worshiping him and it was the first time I could feel very strong presence of God in my room and suddenly for a few seconds I saw Jesus. God gave me a vision and I saw Jesus right in front of me standing beside the large throne which was covered with shining gold and I felt that God removed the curtain before my eyes and I could see him with my own eyes and I was crying and non-stop worshiping and praying I couldn't solve it because it wasn't in my control and it took four hours I had that experience with him and after that I dedicated whole my life to Jesus.

Extraordinary friends marzizjourney.com m-a-r-z-i-s marzizjourney.com to find out more and to get copies of her two books. So we've got a few minutes before the break but you have an experience like that you obviously begin to tell other people about Jesus. How bold were you in your witness? You know Dr. Brown imagine when you have such a meeting with Jesus when you experience the love of God nothing can stop you after that and I after having such amazing experience and um tasting the love of God I wouldn't care about my security my safety and all I wanted to do sharing this amazing message with other people with my people in Iran and I started sharing with my friends my family members and at my workplace and since I was thirsty to know more about Christianity I decided with the advice of one of my pastor and in underground churches I decided to leave the country and I went to Turkey and attended some leadership and theology courses to learn more about Christianity and it was there that I met my best friend and after finishing those courses we returned to Iran because we wanted to give this message to our people and that's why we decided to distribute Bibles and we prayed and asked God to give us a vision and praise God when I was one day I was reading Bible and he showed me that Iran is like a desert and there is a need for scattering seeds in desert because in Iran you can't find Bible in any bookstores so I called my pastor who was in London and we asked them to send thousands of Bibles to Iran and it was difficult for them because they had to find ways illegal ways to smuggle those Bibles to us and praise God after a few months we received it and we started distributing Bibles at night and I shared the details in both my books and praise God after almost three years we could distribute 20,000 New Testament in the capital of Iran Tehran and a few other cities and we took Bibles to the most religious cities the city of Qom which is the center of Ayatollahs and we actually had some Bibles in the biggest shrine that Muslims were there so during all this time during this mission God really protected us it wasn't like that easy and there's tons of stories we shared some of them in both my books that what happened and how God really protected distributing those Bibles and at the same time we were leading two home churches and during the day we would talk to people about our faith and finally in 2009 the government understood about our work and we got arrested in 2009. All right so on the other side of the break this is where we pick up the story while you have an encounter with Jesus like that everything changes and you can you cannot hold back you tell everyone the good news but there are consequences Paul wrote all who live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution Jesus said if the world hates you remember it hated me first now we find out what happens now you end up in one of the most infamous brutal prisons in the world that's where we go on the other side of the break go to marzysjourney.com marzysjourney.com go ahead and get these two books captive in Iran and a love journey with God we'll be right back hey friends Michael Brown here my delight to serve as your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity we are living in such urgent times today friends that all of us are in the line of fire there's a target on your back there's a target on my back if you simply seek to live by biblical values or just conservative moral values you could be cancelled you could be cast out you could be put down you could be silenced I'm here to say friends that I am not about to be silenced and I don't believe you are either it is time for us to stand up it is time for us to say enough is enough it is time for us to push back in Jesus name not fighting the way the world fights no overcoming evil with good overcoming hatred with love overcoming the flesh with the power of the spirit overcoming lies with truth and that's what we're here to do on the line of fire broadcast and friends it's not just a broadcast it is a movement of people around the world God's people standing up saying enough is enough and saying Lord here we are send us use us I want to urge you today to join our support team because we are on the front lines together and we are literally touching people around the world in America in the nations in Israel and together with your help we're going to amplify this voice and spread this movement around the globe so I encourage you go right now to the line of fire.org the line of fire.org click donate monthly support the line of fire.org click donate monthly support when you do you become a torchbearer we immediately send you two great life-changing books we immediately give you access to many classes I've taught others have to pay to take those you get them for free exclusive video audio content a new audio message every month an insider prayer newsletter 15 discount online bookstore so much more join our support team today go to the line of fire.org donate monthly it's the line of fire with your host dr michael brown get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH here again is dr michael brown all right friends back with my guest marzia amrizade her website marziz journey m-a-r-z-i-s marziz journey.com the two books captive in iran and a love journey with god so marzi you obviously knew this could happen but you must have heard the stories about imprisonment and the horror stories of what took place in every prison you are now arrested and imprisoned for your faith you tell all the story in your book captive in iran but just give us a glimpse of what happened to you what you went through emotionally and then what you were subject to in prison you know I shared with you that before going to prison uh in my life at different times at school in the society I experienced many brutality and I forgot to mention that they also tortured my husband to death and as a result of that he passed away so all right well so yeah hang on you mentioned that so so quickly what what happened to your husband I know you can't tell the whole story and we want to get your imprisonment but what happened to your husband yeah that's why I encourage people to read my second book a love journey with god with all the details there are many brutality that I share the experience living in an Islamic country he was just a young guy speaking to finish his education with the charges of drinking wine and having an affair they arrested him which they didn't have any evidence they tortured him for months and he did his head to the wall and as a result of all those tortures finally he passed away so I was saying that I experienced the brutality of these evil people before going to prison but about prison I believe it was god's purpose because again in another dream a few years before I get arrested god told me that one day you will pass through prison experience and I expected such a thing happened I didn't know why I remember when I had that dream my only prayer to god was that to give me the strength not to deny him and I knew that anything could happen in Iranian prisons like torturing raping women and execution but my only concern was not to deny my god so when we got arrested it was very difficult even though I knew about this but honestly this situation was terrible they sent us up for 14 days in an underground dungeon that it was a very small dirty cells that we had to my friend and I had to sleep on a cold concrete floor cover ourselves with wet blankets that were soaked in urine they would lock the doors from eight at night until eight in the morning and prisoners could not even use the bathroom and they kept insulting us because of our faith in Jesus because in Islam they believe that if you convert from Islam to any other religion you're infidel and dirty so I was witness to beating up other prisoners in front of myself they forced us to being naked fully right in front of their eyes there were many different ways they just that they insulted us like putting food in a dirty pot and throwing inside those cells without giving us any place any place or response and as I mentioned but the situation was very difficult and even though I knew that god has already told me about this but honestly for the first few days my friends and I our only prayers was to get released immediately but after a few days when we could see that how many people were get arrested and were sending to that underground dungeon we found it as an opportunity to share our faith with more people so we started talking to other prisoners who were hopeless and they could not believe that how much god loves them and after that as I said we started instead of praying for ourselves we started praying for other prisoners and in that underground dungeon we were able to talk to like 80 women did who cry they gave their hearts to jesus and we turned that horrible place to our church it was like under having the home church with other prisoners and after that they sent us to evan prison which is a notorious for torturing and raping women execution and again I was witness to many human rights violations and injustices I experienced firsthand the brutality of this regime right in front of my eyes and I was witness to execution of other prisoners that was a very difficult experience for example once they kept me in a cell and intentionally they sent me to the ward of murderers and kept kept me there and after I built a friendship they took one of my cellmates and executed her and it was so shocking to me they wanted to send a message to me that if this is the cost of your resistance because from the beginning in the court they threatened us that they will they are going to execute us because of our faith in jesus and our biggest charge was apostasy which is punishable by death so there were many times that we had a horrible interrogation for hours they put pressure on us to deny our faith in jesus and I remember in the last few months they told us if you just write one a few sentences and just deny your faith in jesus they will release you but I remember I took that opportunity even to share my story with those accrual people and I shared with them that how I became a christian I told them it wasn't like that I went to a church and they told me about jesus or christianity because of all those experiences I gave my heart to jesus that's why even if you cut each part of my body you're not able to separate jesus from me go ahead and hang me I'm not going to deny my faith so it's when I say these words honestly I'm not a hero I'm not a courage person a courageous person but I prayed many times that God gave me the power and there were times that I my body physically I was shaking I could feel the fear but there is a verse in bible that jesus told us whenever you got arrested and you went to trial don't worry about what to say because just say whatever the holy spirit gives you and I really experienced that because the words coming out of my mouth it was powerful and sometimes I could hear my own words and I was saying martha you're in a big trouble talking to them like that but I believe that God and the holy spirit gave me those uh strong words at that time because he didn't want me to look weak in front of their eyes but as I said in prison there were many um discrimination I they executed my best friend shirina lamplish she was a Kurdish um a girl that they brutally tortured her for months and finally they hanged her and that was the most horrible experience which really broke my heart and also in prison we were forbidden to use other facilities like using library and some classes and they forbidden us they told us we don't let you to attend those classes because they could see that how much prisoners were curious and interested to learn more about our faith at the beginning the first few months there were some prisoners they were prejudiced muslims and they called us dirty christians for months but we tried to show them the love of god by loving them by praying for them by um not insulting back because they were keep insulting us um but they could see something different in us and at the end they told they told us that we see as soon as you pray for us a miracle happened there are tons of miracles that we shared in our book the first good captive in iran that how jesus really uh changed that prison for us and uh the interrogators the guards could see that how much prisoners are interested to know about our faith that that's why they try to lock us even in prison not to allow us to go to other wars to other classes but still there were many prisoners who were interested and they would keep coming to us and asking us to pray for them and god really changed that prison for us and we made a revolution inside prison and as i said we changed every prison to our church which which made um our interrogators very angry and i had a few conversation with them and they were so mad and one one one of them shouted at me and told me that or we you need to stop talking to prisoners about your faith even in prison you do not stop you should shut your mouth not brainwash people with um your wrong faith and i told him that um this is not my fault this is your fault you arrested us you put us in this prison prisoners are curious and they ask us why you're here and we have to explain to them so i could see he was so desperate because they could not stop us they were we already were in prison that's why i would i believe that we were more free inside prison rather than outside because we could talk to anyone and no one uh were able to stop us extraordinary friends the website marziz journey dot com m-a-r-z-i-s marziz journey dot com we have two minutes before the break than our last segment how long total were you in prison uh it took 259 days almost nine months we were there and as i mentioned they sentenced us to death by hanging they put lots of pressure on us they threaten our lives the lives of our family members to deny our faith and finally you know because of lots of international pressures first of all because of god's grace and his miracle and second we heard from our sisters who were outside prison that uh how many christians all around the world they were supporting us some of them went in front in front of embassy in uk and they protest and amnesty international got involved and a pope from batikon sent the letter to government on behalf of us and also in the u.s later when we immigrated to the u.s some people in the state department we met they told us that behind the scene they were talking to the regime to not to do such a cruel things and i believe because of all these international pressures we got released otherwise i wouldn't be alive like many other iranians who lost their life and they executed them extraordinary and what year was this that you were released it was i got arrested in march 2009 and i got released end of november 2009. all right friends we will be right back because i want to talk about the people of iran today and try to better understand who they are and how we can reach them check out marzi's journey.com again the two books captive in iran and a love journey with god i'm dr paul burnett a board-certified doctor of holistic health and i've got some exciting news for you today about an amino acid formula scientifically shown to build lean muscle 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lean muscle improve your strength with myo health order today and use promo code brown 25 to receive 25 off your order as a new customer 100 of the proceeds from your first order will go to support the line of fire radio broadcast so call now 1-800-771-5584 1-800 771-5584 or online at trivita.com it's the line of fire with your host dr michael brown get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH here again is dr michael brown thanks for joining us friends if you're not getting our frontline newsletter the newsletter that's going to be going out in february not only will have a stirring article that will really edify and bless you but stories of the gospel actually being preached in mosques in the middle east by some of our own spiritual family people that we support and stand with yeah really happening and then an amazing testimony from a former muslim and how our ministry was able to help him come to jesus so that's all going to be in our frontline newsletter yeah you want to get it go to the line of fire.org the line of fire.org sign up for the frontline newsletter it'll be coming your way within the next couple of weeks all right back to our guest marzia and the website marzizjourney.com you know a lot of christians hear about needs with with prisoners in the faith around the world people in jail sentenced to death similar to yours and their urge you know write this letter do this and sometimes you think it doesn't make a difference but in your case along with god's grace it made a great difference so you're you're able to get out of prison and leave iran and now tell the world your whole story did you ever think when you were initially in that underground dungeon with that that filthy blanket and treat it like a dog that you'd be telling the whole world your story no i i didn't have any idea and i strongly believe god had a purpose for sending me to prison and also also for sending me to the u.s because after i got released again in another dream god told me to come to the u.s even though my pastor was in london and they asked me to go to um to the uk but because of that dream i told them i need to obey uh jesus so i strongly believe that god brought me for here for a purpose and since i came here i shared my story in my both books and i keep uh speaking at different places different churches too i encouraged not only to encourage people in their faith by it but also to let them know how much is important to appreciate freedom and our values um before it's too late and um i in my second book a love journey with god it's not just about a loving story it's about a lot of pains and sufferings besides sharing my journey with jesus i try to educate people about how it is like living uh under islamic rules so that's why i encourage people to read this book um and to educate uh themselves especially um you know after hamas attack on um israel on october uh seventh uh which was a horrific crime against humanity that showed the whole world the evil nature of radical islam um which supported by the islamic regime in iran and i try to um educate people about the evil nature of this regime and these um terrorists always know how to play as victims to do to deceive the world and many in the west have blindly supported hamas without having any knowledge of who they are supporting even palestinian civilians are suffering because of hamas terrorists but their voice will will not be heard by media because uh it goes against the narrative and it's the same um it was the same about iranians too iranians for more than 40 years they suffered under this cruel regime and um the word would not hear their voices but finally they were able to to draw to do a clear line between themselves and the regime but about this attack i believe that the only good point about hamas attack on israel was that it brought to the surface that how much america and the west are infected by the islamic regime and it has become clear that how many politicians and protesters have been brainwashed of the regime through hamas supporters to force israel to stop the war and impose uh a ceasefire and no one like war including me but uh i try to you know warn people that this is uh this war is totally different yeah and i believe all democratic democratic countries must stand with israel to eradicate uh this evil regime forever because we can't wait for another holocaust to happen and jews has the right to live and i i experienced the evil nature of this regime that's why i try to keep warning people through sharing my story and my story in my book all right so i've got a few questions so i'm gonna have to get short answers this time around and maybe expand at another time all right first quick question when did you realize your heart was changing towards israel and the jewish people yeah that's a great question and actually when i became a christian and before that as i said um despite all this brainwashing since i had a great parents that they never taught me about hating others i didn't have anything against israel but i could not understand why the regime keep brainwashing you know people with this kind of things but definitely after i became a christian reading bible reading the history of iran um because the regime tried to hide this amazing history from people and as you know there are many uh great prophets in the bible that their graves are in iran like you know prophet daniel i am his grave is there queen esther king cyrus all of them all of them are there but unfortunately most iranians do not know about these places they only know about the grave of king cyrus and still the regime try to avoid people to approach that place and they get arrested but there are many amazing history i believe iranians and jews had a great connection from the beginning it was king cyrus that helped jews to rebuild their temple and the other kings after him so we had a history of friendship and love together but unfortunately this cruel evil regime tried to eliminate that and teach people the wrong history but um after i became a christian definitely by reading bibles the stories i got to know that amazing history and i really wanted to visit israel um even when i was in iran but i knew that at that time it was impossible even if i could uh they would you know arrest me with the charges of spying for israel yeah yeah so i waited and i went to the united i came to the united states and i have to wait until i became an american citizen which i became an american proudly american citizen in 2016 but still i waited i prayed i didn't want to just go to israel and visit the country by my own decision i wanted god to give me the signal and finally it was last year that he gave me the signal and in april i had a great opportunity to visit the holy land amazing amazing wow yeah and again thanks to our mutual friend jonathan feldstein for connecting us to do this interview so last question we keep hearing reports about the underground church in iran growing amazingly we know the younger generation is much less interested in radical islam than the older generation and then the constant fears of iran getting a nuclear weapon in in war and from your perspective what's happening in in the hearts of the people in iran what's happening with the gospel and and can you see a national change on the horizon you know i would like to say that first of all islam is not religion of peace at all and speaking the truth about islam is not islamophobia because radical muslim is all about violence hate anti-islamism and killing and women's rights violations and it is there are many verses in quran that describe this kind of violence and uh it's um it's islam and but that doesn't mean that i'm against muslims there are many muslims who are peaceful muslims like in iran majority of iranians they're just born as a muslim like me when you're born in a country like iran um a few days after that they fill the documents and they you became a muslim so there are many muslims in iran that they do not have enough education about islam they don't practice islam and they even they didn't read quran and they don't know the depth of this dangerous ideology so i when i was in iran for example i i always encourage iranian to read quran first um besides you know sharing my faith with them i asked them please go ahead and read quran because you need to read this book and that's an eye opening for many muslims and that's why i'm saying that there are unfortunately there are many muslims all around the world i i'm not sure about other muslim countries very much but i know about iranian that um that on many of them they don't have anything um regarding you know these violence they are against this regime they turn their back to the islamic regime and millions of iranians now they are standing with israel especially after a brutal hamas attack on israel they showed their support in different ways and they're um they in different protests they would chance uh chance um different slogans like no gaza no lebanon i will die for iran and another time the regime tried to force them in an idiom to um show that how much iranian support palestinians but they chanted something on that i can't um say it but uh they tried to show that they don't care about you know um amazing amazing courage for many years they try to take advantage of iranians and spreading lies through media marcy we are out of time everyone go to marzysjourney.com check out the two books captive in iran and a love journey with god maybe we can have you back and continue and continue our discussion marzysjourney.com thanks so much for joining us what a great story