By Mathis Lefevre –
His buddies were gunned down by the regime on Jan. 5. The next day he posted pleadings for international support to topple the IRGC in English and Farsi. The two videos got a combined 12M views, and angry Iranian paramilitaries immediately hunted for him.
Ali Rezaei Majd hastily packed a bag and fled to Iraq, a ~350 mile journey, hitching rides, walking, through snow. He crossed the border illegal and joined the Kurdish forces with the idea of fighting against the Islamist leaders who have hijacked his nation.
“In Iran I was always feeling like I was living in a prison,” Ali says. “We want to live free… Our voices are silenced. Our dreams are being destroyed, and our people are suffering… It is a big lie when they say we hate Americans and we hate Israel… We need a free Iran, not one that is kidnapped by jihadis.”
In the safety of Iraq, he consummated 10 years of secretly following Jesus by getting baptized on March 7 in the bathtub of a small house church. As sometimes happens with converts from Islam, he adopted a Christian name, Michael.
“As a Christian, I forgive all IRGC and Basij (personnel),” he says. “I will pray for them. But I am like a sheepdog for the Lord. Sheepdogs must sometimes protect the sheep.”
In his native Doroud, Iran, he ran a small gym, building a following on Instagram with videos about fitness and discipline. Now he has integrated into Kurdish forces ready to fight the evil Iranian empire.
Born into a Shi’ite Muslim family, Ali began to ask deep questions when he was a teenager. The imams didn’t give him adequate answers. A friend sent him a Persian-language Bible as a gift.
“So I started reading the Gospel, and I got my answers,” he says. “I found my connection to that book, and I just kept reading and reading. I became a believer after I read that book.”
Despite finding peace, he couldn’t share with anyone – not even his family – his newfound faith. He hid the Bible from everyone.
“So I was just hiding. I was only dreaming of being in a church with other believers, praying with the people. I was alone,” Ali says. “I was living with Jesus for a long time, and after this the protests began in Iran.”
Related content: Illegal missionary tortured by Iranians, Baby Rider motorcyclist killed in the uprising, Iranian hip hop artist murdered by Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Sources: CBN, WNG news.
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