A Competitive Fire
Some people have a competitive fire that burns so brightly its heat drives everything they do. My new Iranian friend, Iman, is one of those people. But before he would tell me his story, he paused to pray. He said he didn’t want to even think about the things he did before he met Christ; he didn’t want to give Satan even a crack in the door to influence his life. So he prayed that God would bring back only the things He wanted Iman to share and that He would protect him from the memories and influence of the ways Satan had controlled him before he met Jesus.
A Life Driven by Extremes
Iman started his story by talking about the competitive fire that drove him his whole life. When he was a soldier fighting in the Iran-Iraq war, he told his commander to send him to the place where the fighting was the fiercest, the place where he could be a martyr for his country within twenty-four hours.
And when he was a thief, he was driven to be the best thief, stealing things other thieves had tried and failed to snatch. And when he was a drug addict, he wanted to be the best drug addict. He wanted to use every drug available, and he wanted to use more of each drug than anyone else was using. Whatever he was doing, he was driven to be the very best at it.
A Moment of Rescue
As a young man, Iman was involved in a terrible car accident. The car was totaled, yet he walked away without even a scratch. People who saw the accident told him how amazing it was that he’d been able to steer the car around the obstacle, to maintain control of the vehicle. But Iman knew that wasn’t him; he hadn’t been steering. He credited the spirit of his martyred brother, who had died in the war. Or maybe it was his mother’s prayers to Allah on his behalf. Only years later would he find out Who rescued him that day.
Once drug addiction sank its ugly, poisonous teeth into Iman’s flesh, he didn’t much care about anything. Not his family. Not eating. Nothing except the burning, all-consuming question of where his next fix would come from. He was on his way to being a statistic; one more in a long line of Iranians who’d lost hope and turned to the needle for comfort.
A Glimpse of Faith
One night, high on drugs and flipping through channels, Iman came across a Christian satellite TV channel. He was on the station only a few seconds, but the words he heard somehow stuck in his mind:
“When I gave my heart to Jesus …” “Wow,” he thought. “Christians are very strange people to actually give their hearts to somebody. These days, people won’t give away even a pen, and Christians are giving their hearts! That’s crazy!”
Ten days later, he was drunk and again flipping channels. Once again, he flipped across the same Christian TV channel. It was on the screen only a few seconds, and the only words he heard was a lady saying, “When I gave my heart to Jesus …” He changed the channel, again thinking how crazy Christians must be to give away their hearts.
His family was planning a fun trip out of town, but Iman’s addiction was so strong, and he looked so terrible, they invited him not to make the trip with them. He was devastated; even his own family didn’t want to be seen with him.
That night, he was up on the roof of his house, smoking crack. The drugs were almost gone, and Iman was feeling the weight of the misery of his life. He realized he was powerless against the pull of drugs. “I couldn’t even imagine that I could live without drugs for even one day. Because I had tried before to be free from drugs and had failed.” In desperation, Iman looked up at the sky and said, “God, save me. Save me from my addiction.”
Encounter with God
In that moment, he was brought back in his mind to the car accident fifteen years earlier. Suddenly he knew Who it was that had steered the car and brought him through that experience: it was God. Iman fell to his knees and lifted his hands in prayer, thanking God for saving him all those years earlier, repenting of not giving God credit for His miracle then, and begging to be saved from his addiction.
“I expected to hear a voice, or that I might see a light. I didn’t see that, and I was really disappointed. I went back to sleep in my bed, but before I went to sleep I said, ‘God, it doesn’t match Your character to let me go empty-handed. Either You are not real or I am too sinful for You to do anything for me.” He got in bed, but turned on the TV, again flipping through channels. This time when he came across the Christian channel, he paused a little longer.
To Be Continued…
Date: 28th October 2023
Martyr: Iman
Location: Turkey, 2010
Source: When Faith Is Forbidden: 40 Days on the Frontlines with Persecuted Christians
Author: Todd Nettleton
Suffering Saturday 062
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