Have you heard? God is moving in Iran! Being faithful to His word, the oppressive life in Iran is pushing people into the arms of Jesus. Dr. Hormoz Shariat and his wife are founders of Iran Alive Ministries. In the March 2023 issue of Today’s Christian Living magazine, I read an interview with Dr. Shariat. I was moved to donate to the ministry, which is broadcasting the gospel 24/7 into Iran, and revival is happening! Faithful to this organization’s promise, that after I donated, they gifted me Dr. Shariat’s book, Iran’s Great Awakening How God is Using a Muslim Convert to Spark Revival. Joel Rosenberg, who wrote the foreword to the book, begins with: “I consider Hormoz Shariat to be the Billy Graham of Iran.” In this book, you will read about the Doctor’s salvation experience and he walks you through the promises the Lord has given Iran, also known as Elam.
Check out https://iranalive.org/
Did you know God gave a similar promise to Iran as He gave to Israel? He promised Abraham that both Isaac and Ishmael would be blessed and prosper. In Genesis chapter 17, at the point where God had changed Abram’s name to Abraham, and Sari to Sarah, he laughed that they would have a child at such an advanced age, so Abraham asked the Lord to bless Ishmael. This is what He replied:
Genesis 17:19 Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.
20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.”
Jeremiah 49:34 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, 35 “Thus says the Lord of hosts:
‘Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, (Iran)
The foremost of their might.
36 Against Elam I will bring the four winds
From the four quarters of heaven,
And scatter them toward all those winds;
There shall be no nations where the outcasts of Elam will not go.
39 ‘But it shall come to pass in the latter days:
I will bring back the captives of Elam,’ says the Lord.”
And what did God say about Israel, about the Jewish people?
“Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
And declare it in the isles afar off, and say,
‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,
And keep him as a shepherd does his flock.’
11 For the Lord has redeemed Jacob,
And ransomed him from the hand of one stronger than he.
12 Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion,
Streaming to the goodness of the Lord—
So, the children of Isaac and the children of Ishmael are both part of God’s plan. He has scattered them among all the nations, as they have gravely sinned and turned their backs on the Lord. He has a plan to bring them back into the Land God provided for them, after they’ve been used to bless all nations that they’ve taken up residence in. Both clans are coming to the Lord in numbers these days!
I hope you are experiencing the new era of revival and renewal, the current move of the Lord that is drawing people into the fold. In our area, churches, including ours, are dealing with buildings bursting at the seams. Some of the influxes of people are moving from other churches, but we also have many coming to salvation and prodigals returning to the fold. I am tithing on the books I’m selling, donating it to Airport Christian Fellowship Church’s Building Fund. Thank you to all who are buying my new book, Musings Along Life’s Journey. So far, I have sold 34, and given/gifted 32 books. Two of them were given to faithful waitresses at Cracker Barrel this morning during our breakfast!
I am donating two gift baskets with a crocheted lap robe, a clip-on book reading light… and whatever else the Lord prompts me to put in with a signed copy of my book, to the Beaver Camp Auction. The hybrid auction begins on-line June 1-8, with the on-site auction June 10th (viewing on Friday evening) at the Lewis County Fairgrounds, Lowville, NY. You can find full info at:
https://beavercamp.org/get-involved/annual-benefit-auction
Save the dates: Friday June 9th, and Saturday June 10th.
I will be at the auction, and you may buy a book from me if you see me!
Also, Saturday, August 12th, Henderson Heritage Day, I will be at a table on the Heritage Society lawn. https://hendersonnyhistoricalsociety.com/
I am at ACF Church in Dexter before/after church service, 6 PM Saturdays and 10 AM Sundays. https://www.airportchristianfellowship.org/
I celebrated my 60th birthday in Ottawa with 11 women from Henderson Garden Club. We enjoyed the beautiful tulips, the Byway Market, and toured the Senate that’s temporarily housed in the old train station on the Rideau River. The capital buildings and the statues are lovely. Mamma Teresa’s Italian restaurant and Roast & Curries Indian restaurant were two of our delicious dinner destinations in the Capital area. If you get the chance, I hope you get to experience the Ottawa Capital area yourself soon!
Because of this Scripture, they believe you should not donate your blood. I marveled, with a bit of disgruntlement, that my young daughter could easily answer the questions in the readings we were doing. I also threw away my blood donor card and the fancy cross necklace I’d been given from my church. I came under a fear that if I didn’t come under the Watch Tower, the end was near, and I would not be saved. The woman invited me to a sledding party they were hosting, and I seriously thought of going to their Kingdom Hall. As a new believer in Jesus, I had not begun Bible reading on my own and did not know how to speak about my salvation and had no idea what it all meant.
I began to back off from wanting them to come into my home. The day they walked in to see I had put up a Christmas tree and was noticeably pregnant with our third child, she was not happy with me. Shortly after this we moved to the other end of town, and I did not tell her our new address. The Adirondack Home News, a free weekly paper, came into our new apartment. Looking through the classifieds, I saw an ad, “Are you involved with Jehovah’s Witnesses? Do you need help? Call Cheryl ‘555-666-8888′” I cut that ad out and never saw it in the paper again, but a few weeks later I got up courage to call the number and Cheryl answered. She said she’d love to come visit me and we’d talk. She came a few days later and gave me some cassette tapes that talked about abuses JW’s had done and told me her story and encouraged me in my young motherhood. She said she had hated going door-to-door and prayed no one would be at home when she had to knock. She gave me a couple of Scriptures that are supposed to speak truth to Jehovah’s Witnesses, and I used them the next time the couple came (yes, a kind neighbor near our old apartment told her where we’d moved). After telling her these things, she finally quit coming to my house. 
I got into a good Bible believing and teaching, Spirit led church soon after and spent years trying to search out what the Jehovah’s Witnesses had taught me to see which things were true and which were not and what really mattered as far as truth in Jesus. Yes, we need to have a firm handle on what we believe and why. Even the Bible says that zeal without knowledge is no good. Remember, God’s will is that none should perish, so we need to love people that have been deceived like this and share truth with them. In the 16 minute video above, Melissa shares clips of former Jehovah’s Witnesses that were never told the truth by any Christian. We need to learn how to lovingly share truth with those who are hurting like this. There are kernels of truth in each cult/false teaching. As they do, we should be witnessing to people in Jesus’ name and living a godly life that shows our faith. Yes, it is biblical to go out two by two.
Heaven’s economy has no lack. That means wealth is a renewable resource; the more you give, the more you have to give. The more you get and use knowledge, the more knowledge you have to give. It’s worth the risk, as long as you are intimately involved with God’s plan for you and those around you. The Gospel is free, but it takes finances to spread it! Let us do all things in the spirit of God’s love!
Musings along life's journey 