“My holy Name I will make known in the midst of My people Israel. I will not let My holy Name be profaned anymore, and the Gentiles will know that I am Yahweh, the Holy One in Israel.”
Ezekiel 39: 7
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Look at What is Happening in Iran
Watch this movie. It’s loaded with information that you need to know. You will learn things that you don’t hear about, read about, and watch in the media.
Sheep Among Wolves is a full-length movie. It’s worth the time it takes to watch it. Miraculous things are happening in Iran and in other countries that are hostile to Yahweh. Governments can’t prevent Yahweh from doing anything He wants to do. Yahweh is the Savior. He’s saving people in Iran by the thousands one person at a time right now with powers and wonders that will amaze you.
This article is about the movie: “Iran has world’s ‘fastest-growing church,’ despite no buildings – and it’s mostly led by women: documentary”:
A new film tells the story of the “fastest-growing church” in the world, an underground, persecuted Christian movement in a country known for exporting radical Islamic terrorism — Iran.
People in Iran, a Muslim-majority nation, are fleeing Islam in droves as believers bow their knee to Jesus and become aggressively pro-Israel, according to the documentary “Sheep Among Wolves Volume II.”
“What if I told you Islam is dead?” one unidentified Iranian church leader says in the film, which was directed by Dalton Thomas and produced by Frontier Alliance International Studios.
“What if I told you the mosques are empty inside Iran?” he continues. “What if I told you no one follows Islam inside of Iran? Would you believe me? This is exactly what is happening inside of Iran. God is moving powerfully inside of Iran.”
Yahweh is Moving in Iran
Yahweh is moving in Iran in a powerful way, but it’s under the radar. While the mullahs in Iran are exporting terrorism and terrorizing the citizens of Iran, Yahweh is taking control of the country.
Iran has been moving in the right direction, and the U.S. has been moving in the wrong direction. Thanks to President Trump, the U.S. is beginning to move in the right direction, but we have a long way to go.
The “Impeach the President!” narrative that we have been hearing from Democrats since Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election is evidence that evil forces at work in the U.S. They know they are losing ground, and they are getting desperate. Sinister people realize that if President Trump serves for 8 years, he will undo most of the damage they have done.
The “Church”
The word “church” is derived from the Greek word “ekklesia”. It means called-out ones. It does not mean an institution.
Ekklesia is found 114 times in the New Testament. In every instance, it refers to people, not an institution.
Look at Romans 16: 3-5:
Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Messiah Yeshua, who for my life risked their own necks, to whom not only do I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Also, greet the church that is in their house.”
In Romans 16: 3-5, Paul is talking about people, not institutions. “The churches of the Gentiles” is believers who are not Jewish. “The church that is in their house” is a group of believers who gathered together in Prisca’s and Aquila’s house.
Prisca’s and Aquila’s house was not the church. The people who met there were the church. That’s how the church in Iran is growing.
The First Appearance of the Word “Church” in the New Testament
The word “church” appears for the first time in the New Testament in Matthew 16: 18. Below is the passage in which it appears. The Messiah is speaking:
Now when Yeshua came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living Elohim.” And Yeshua said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Messiah. (Matthew 16: 13-20)
When the Messiah said, “I will build My church,” He was not referring to an institution. He was referring to the body of believers who follow (obey) Him. They are the called-out ones.
“The Church” will Deliver the Gospel
Peter was the first person to actually say that Yeshua is the Messiah. From that beginning, the whole world would get the message—i.e., the good news or the Gospel. This is the Gospel:
- The Messiah is Yahweh.
- Humans are sinners who need a Savior/Redeemer.
- Yahweh is the only Person who is qualified to be the Savior/Redeemer.
- He shed His blood and died for the forgiveness of our sins.
- Thanks to His shed blood, we are healed.
This is how Isaiah explained the Gospel:
Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of Elohim, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, but Yahweh has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him…. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied. By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53: 4-6 and 11)
Some say that Isaiah was talking about the nation Israel. That’s ridiculous. He was talking about an individual. Take a look at these verses in Isaiah. They tell us exactly who Isaiah was referring to:
- For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us. The government will rest on His shoulders. His Name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God [El Gibbor], Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of Yahweh Sabaoth will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9: 6-7)
- Then a Shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of Yahweh will rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh. He will delight in the fear of Yahweh. He will not judge by what His eyes see, nor make a decision by what His ears hear; but with righteousness He will judge the poor and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. (Isaiah 11: 1-4)
It’s obvious that Isaiah is talking about a Person, not Israel. That Person is Yahweh.
Who in the Bible is referred to as Mighty El and Everlasting Father? Only one Person, Yahweh.
Many are Called, but Few are Chosen
The “church” referred to by the Messiah in Matthew 16: 18 is the people who are called out by Yahweh to be different in the world. They are the ones for whom the Messiah died. They are forgiven and saved/delivered.
Anyone can be saved, but not everyone will be saved:
“Many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22: 14)
John 3: 36 explains who the saved ones are:
“He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life. The wrath of Elohim abides on him.”
Two words explain who the saved ones are: Faith and obedience. The saved ones believe in Yahweh (have faith in Him), and they obey Him.
Obey means to do what Yahweh says to do. This is how the Messiah explained it:
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of My hand. (John 10: 27-28)
“My sheep” are the church. The Messiah’s sheep hear His voice and they follow Him, i.e., obey Him.
The Roman Emperor Constantine created the institutional church. He called it the Catholic Church and said that Peter was the first pope.
That’s ridiculous. The Messiah didn’t say anything like that. Neither did Peter or Paul.
Constantine wasn’t a believer. He was an emperor trying to solidify his hold on power.
Protestantism derived from Catholicism. For all practical purposes, they are the same. “Christianity” has morphed over the millennia, but the institutional church is man-made religion.
For a complete explanation, please read The Trilogy.
Back to Iran
“The church” in Iran is growing rapidly.
“The church” in Iran is the fastest growing church in the world. It’s not an institutional church. It’s people talking to people and meeting in homes.
If “the church” in Iran was an institution, it would be crushed by the mullahs in Iran.
Did You Know?
1. “The church” is growing in China.
See “Christianity’s ‘explosive growth’ in China—and the official pushback”.
2. “The church” is growing in Indonesia, the largest predominantly Muslim country in the world.
See “Tides turn against Indonesian Christians”.
3. “The church” is growing in Nigeria.
See “Nigeria: In the face of ongoing Islamist attacks, the faith is growing”.
4. “The Church” is growing in Pakistan.
5. “The church” in the U.S. is shrinking.
See “U.S. Church Membership Down Sharply in Past Two Decades”.
This is a little misleading. “The church” in the U.S. is getting out of the institutional church. As a result, “the church” is stronger and is resisting the slide to gross immorality in the U.S.
The churchgoer crowd in the U.S. still doesn’t get it.
6. “The church” in Europe is shrinking.
See “Losing our religion: Christianity in Europe is dying out as young people turn away from the church”.
Europe may be gone. At this point, there is still hope for the U.S.
An Interesting Fact
China is the most populous country in the world. Chinese leaders are suppressing religion, Christianity in particular, but snydertalk.com and hisnameisyahweh.org are not being blocked in China. Through both of those websites, His Name is Yahweh: Revised Edition and The Trilogy are being downloaded and shared freely in China.
Neither site is being blocked in Iran, either. The church has easy access to both books in PDF format for free in China and Iran and every other country in the world. As the author of both books, I can assure you that people all over the world are downloading, copying, and sharing them with my permission.
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“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17: 22-24)
