Page 7 - Voice of the Persecuted Christians - Jul-Sep 2023 - 123

a Muslim, was doing this and she told me about Jesus and that you could be forgiven. So I went to the church with her and when I entered it I cried non- stop and asked Jesus to free me from this sexual addiction.’
Priscilla’s back was towards the
door when a group of men entered the room and began to ask more questions. She was so scared that she started crying. They said they would let her go as long as she returned the next day and they instructed her to sign a paper saying she would stop sharing her faith.
As she reflected on her time in detention, Priscilla explained how God had used her to help many of the prisoners including one who was saved from execution after she prayed. Another woman who was also about to be hanged had her sentence commuted after Priscilla interceded for her.
In fact she ended up staying with her friend simply to be able to go to the church.
After attending another conference abroad the same thing was to happen. She was visited at her home by a group of officials who took her away in handcuffs. ‘They took me to a place used to detain people involved with drugs crimes.’
At that point in our interview the memory of the two women becomes too upsetting for Priscilla and we agree to take a break.
When she did finally tell her family about Jesus, there was even more
There she was stripped and made to perform sit-ups for no apparent reason other than to humiliate her. Priscilla, who was afraid of being raped, said: ‘I was begging them [to stop] but they did not care.’
I began again by asking whether she had found it easy to forgive those who had treated her so badly and she admitted that it had not been easy while in prison but that once free she was able to.
‘I stopped lying and
gossiping and my whole
In another room, she faced a number of threats. ‘They told me I had to tell them about all the Christians I had been in contact with, otherwise I knew what would happen.
Given her experience, it would be understandable for her never to want to go anywhere near a prison again but that is not the case.
life changed’
rejection, with her mother and sister accusing her of blasphemy.
During that time, however, she had started watching Christian satellite
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that but ‘I stopped lying and gossiping
TV and on one occasion called
the broadcaster. The gospel was explained to her and she gave her heart to Jesus and in that second was freed from her addiction. Not only
‘I was questioned for four to five hours but lost all awareness of time because I was so frightened. I told them the only Christians I knew were from the Netherlands not Iran but they accused me of lying, asking how I knew [Release International’s partner].’
and my whole life changed’.
Her mother continued to fight with her but Priscilla loved sharing her new faith with her relatives and as a result two members of her extended family accepted Christ.
After nine days they sent her to prison where she was initially housed with four other women in
a cell measuring 12 square metres, which included a shower and toilet.
The opposition took on a more sinister aspect, however, after Priscilla attended a conference in Turkey run by Release International’s partners. She returned to Iran to
‘There was no ventilation and they kept a spotlight in the ceiling on for 24 hours a day so you could not sleep.’
find four men waiting for her at her workplace. ‘I was scared and then one said he was from the intelligence services. I called my pastor and said: “They are coming after me.”’
However, during the next two and a half months she was in prison many of the 350 inmates came to Priscilla
Her laptop and other devices were confiscated and she was arrested.
‘I will go back to the prison, get the list of prisoners’ names and tell them about Jesus!’
‘They took me to a strange place and blindfolded me and made me sit in a dark room until 1am, during which time they questioned me,’ she said.
to hear her story and she told them about her faith. She also discovered that she was not in prison for simply being a Christian but for talking about Christ to others.
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