CHRISTIANNEWS.COM. – Jail was not an impediment for Pastor Fathi to continue evangelizing, after a group of Muslims asked the authorities to arrest him for preaching, and allegedly helping the population move away from Islam.
From prison, the pastor continued to proclaim the good news of Jesus. One of his followers says that he regularly met with a close group of Christians.
“On Sunday, they would meet on their little bunk that was about six feet by two and a half feet. They would get together, five or six, and they would study the word of God and pray,” he said.
The attack on the leader began when he became a Christian for the first time, it was there that they began to persecute him for his faith.
After being in jail, he says it was there that his relationship with God deepened and he tasted grace in a new and empowering way.
This was not the only time Fathi had faced jail, as he had previously been arrested by the police but had been let go without realizing that he was a pastor.
mass arrest
Farshid Fathi was arrested in a wave of arrests of believers in Tehran and other Muslim-majority areas.
Of the 22 believers detained by security forces in Tehran, 10 were released after intense interrogation and after signing agreements to refrain from Christian activities.
Eleven others were also released later. As of the end of April 2011, only Farshid remained in prison, although his family had posted huge bail. He spent almost a year in solitary confinement.
Farshid’s appeal against the charges was rejected, months after his arrest, and he must serve out the remainder of his sentence in Evin prison.
Christians are a minority and are still a small minority in Iran. They are not given the freedom to share the Gospel with others.
Conversion to Christianity is a punishable offence. Christians are often under real pressure to renounce their faith, and they need prayers to persevere.
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