By Kirollos Abadalla —
An Iranian who got a PhD in AI in California but turned to a lifetime of outreaching his nation says Iran will soon cease to be a springboard for Islamic terror around the world.
“This fire of a revival has started and it’s going to impact not just Iran,” says Hormoz Shariat, whose satellite channel Iran Alive gets 7M daily views. “It’s going to impact the whole Middle East and even the whole world. Am I saying talking big that Iran will be a Christian nation? Yes.”
When he became a Christian after being a successful computer engineer, he asked God — flippantly — for a million Iranian souls. He calculates that he has reached the number already, based on projections. He says 100,000 have reported to his channel about making a decision for Christ. He believes many more have accepted Christ but haven’t reported it.
“Iranians love America and love Israel,” he says. “Eighty percent of Iranian are against their government.”
When he was raised in Tehran, he got swept up in the Iranian Revolution of 1979, shouting “Death to America” in the streets. But his heart wasn’t really into it. He wanted to go to America and get his PhD and make money. (As a Christian, he has repented of America-hating.)
He came to America and got his PhD in Artificial Intelligence from University of Southern California. Disenchanted with a meaningless life of making money and updating fancy cars for newer ones, he decided to see if there were purpose in religion.
He’d been raised a Muslim, so he gave Islam his first attention. Muslims tell that it’s the latest and most updated (it emerged out of the 7th century, supposedly deriving from the earlier Judaism and Christianity). But he didn’t find God in the Qur’an.
He didn’t expect to find God in the Bible, but just to justify his complete dismissal of religion, he read the Bible. He was shocked by the beatitudes, by loving your enemies, by forgiving those who wronged you — notions that were the complete opposite of Islam.
He became a Christian along with his wife in the Church of the Open Door in downtown Los Angeles. Immediately he began telling others about Christ.
Then his brother in Iran was arrested for political activism and executed by the brutal Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. He wanted revenge.
“I realized, ‘Oh, no, no, no, no. I remember reading the Bible. The Lord says, “Revenge is mine.”‘” he says. “So I said, ‘I’m sorry, Lord. I’m sorry. I I repent. But God, I just really hate them. I hate them. I feel hatred.’ Oh, no. I’m not supposed to hate. I supposed to love my enemies.”
As he wrestled with injustice in the world, the evil that slew his beloved brother, Shariat tried to figure what was a proper response.
“Those who killed your brother are not your enemies. They are victims in the hands of one enemy that’s Satan,” God told him. “If you want to take revenge against Satan, you’ll have to do it against this devil that
enslaves a couple billion of Muslims.”
Shariat evangelized Iranians in America with very little success for seven years. But when he launched satellite programming into Iran, he has seen increasing success.
Shariat’s prediction that Iran will become Christian is not just based on data and projections. He also cites prophecy. “I will set my throne in Elam, and I will destroy the king and officials from there.” — Jeremiah 49:38. Elam is Iran.
Shariat, who interviews many of the converts to Christ, says they become Christians primarily through the testimony of friends or family. Sometimes, it is because people get freed from drugs.
In one case, he tells, a man dressed in a white robe walked down the main road of a village. No one knew who he was. Then the villagers watched the Jesus film and realized it was Jesus. Shariat says entire villages are converting to Christ.
His 2020 book Iran’s Great Awakening: How God is Using a Muslim Convert to Spark Revival talks more about revival in Iran.
Related content: Christianity on the rise in Arab nations, Muslims converting because of dreams, a missionary in Iran tortured. Source Sean McDowell.
