Reuel Sample
Welcome to the Wilmington Standard. I'm Reuel Sample. I cannot tell you how happy I am to be interviewing our guest today.

I read her book last year as she talked about her ordeal in an Iranian prison for merely for what she believed. And so joining us today is Marzia and I'm not going to do the last name. I'm on camera.

Tell, give us your full name because I've been given permission just to call you Marzi, but just so that people know, how do you do the full name?

Marziyeh Amirizadeh
I totally understand. Marzia Amirizadeh.

Reuel Sample
There we go. I'm going to stick with Marzi. So thank you for being here.

Marzi is an Iranian, who you have moved to, to America, but you are first and foremost, a Christian.

Marziyeh Amirizadeh
Thank you so much, Reuel, for having me. It's a great honor. Yes, I was born in Iran that, especially these days, it's in all over the news and we know what's happening.

And I was born a few months before the demonic revolution. I call it demonic because it brought demonic people to power since 1979. And Iranian people lost their freedoms.

Before the revolution, they had a great king. There was freedom and women especially had their own rights. But unfortunately, right after the demonic revolution, Iranian people lost all their freedoms.

And I always say that majority of Iranian people, they are just nominal Muslim. Majority of them do not practice Islam at their home. Like my family members, we never practice Islam.

My father never taught me about hating any person, any countries. But there is a system of brainwashing through this regime, demonic regime, that they start at the age of seven when families had to send their children to school. And I remember from my childhood, I had that confusion in my mind, because every morning they forced us to stand in lines and to say, death to America, death to Israel before going to the classes.

We had a specific class, they called it Koran class. It was mandatory and you had to participate. And it was all about the teachings of Koran and the God of Islam, Allah, that how he's going to punish us, especially women, if they disobey the Islamic rules.

They would describe different kinds of tortures that God would do to people after their death, if they disobey the Islamic rules. And the purpose was to make sure that children to obey the Islamic rules.

Reuel Sample
You were getting this, I'm going to interrupt, you were getting this at seven years old? You were getting, you were being told to hate Israel and hate Christians and hate probably Americans at seven years old.

Marziyeh Amirizadeh
Can you believe that? No. Little children, they had no idea.

Imagine, we were just, you know, kids standing in line and every morning before going to the classes they would do that. They would ask children to say, death to America, death to Israel. And most children like me, we didn't have any idea.

Where is America? Where is Israel? Why we should say that?

And at the middle school, I remember that they would invite mullahs, a cleric, to schools almost each month. And they would come to do their brainwashing by teaching the students why America and Israel are our enemies and why these countries must be destroyed. So, and there were times that they would force us to demonstrations in the streets.

And again, that was mandatory. And there was a big punishment if you would refuse that. And that was again, the purpose was again to show for the regime that look how many people support the regime, which was a big lie.

Majority of these students like me, one thing that I would take advantage of that was if they were forcing us to wear chador. And me and my friends, sometimes we would escape by covering ourselves and escape because we didn't want to go to such ridiculous walking in the streets for hours and say, death to America, death to Israel. So yeah, I grew up with this system.

But still, I had my questions. I questioned a lot of their teachings, which made most of them angry at me. And they told me if you want God to be satisfied with you, you have to follow the Islamic rules.

And I started doing that.

Reuel Sample
What made you start questioning?

Marziyeh Amirizadeh
Because I was thirsty to find the truth. I wanted to have a relationship with God. And my father always taught me about love.

And I asked questions. And he always he didn't know Jesus at that time. But he always talked good about, you know, the creation about God.

But I couldn't I that create confusion in me. And that's why I wanted to get to know him. Who is my God, I need to make sure if what they tell me is the truth.

Because in my mind, as a teenage, I could not believe it. I was comparing my father who was the earthly father with the God that God punishment, vengeance. And I was thinking, no, that doesn't make sense.

Because how it's possible that my earthly father loved me that much, even if I make a mistake, he's willing to forgive me. But how it's possible that Allah is being such a torturer.

Reuel Sample
Because that's all you were being told is that is that it's there was, there's really no love there, especially for women. You know, it was all about don't do this, don't do this, don't do this, or you're going to, you're going to pay in this lifetime, and in the next lifetime, starting when you're seven years old.

Marziyeh Amirizadeh
And imagine they would describe, for example, one of two of torturers that I remember at school, they would tell us that if a man see a part of strays of your hair, God after your death will hang you with your hair. And another thing about, you know, telling children, girls, that if you laugh loudly in public in front of man or talk, you know, not talk, you know, in the way of their Islamic ways, God will pour some very hot liquid it's lead or something, I don't know the name in English, in your throat for doing that. Imagine when I was hearing those things, I was thinking this is ridiculous.

That doesn't make sense to me that why we should have such a cruel God. And it's it wasn't just about us. They were, you know, for example, one of my question was that because they were saying that only Muslims go to heaven because Muslims know the true religion, Islam is the perfect religion, everyone must convert to Islam at the end time.

And I was asking them, okay, so there are so many people in the world. So what about Europeans, they do not believe in Islam, all of those people, millions, billions of people go to hell. And they would tell me no, it's not like that at the end, God will give a chance to these Kafir infidels to repent and convert to Islam if they accept it.

Yes, many will accept it at the end time and they will go to heaven. But if they do not, Muslims has the right to destroy them, to kill them and confiscate their properties. So these were teachings at school at different phases of the school.

And it wasn't just at school, you know, Iranian people always had two lives. One life is underground at their homes that we were living like Western people, we would not follow the Islamic rules. And another life was in public that we had to follow the Islamic rules.

For example, if you wanted to get a job, there's a hard test that you have to pass it and respond to lots of Islamic questions for them to make sure that you follow the Islamic rules. When you go to the universities, there is a dress code, there is another test that you have to pass it. So there is always, especially for women, it's much harsher because of the misogyny laws.

I remember always I had stress walking in the streets because they had police officers in each corner of the streets to arrest women, to beat them up right in front of others for not following the Islamic dress code. And all this, I was just had so much stress and had to, you know, find a way to escape these people at different corners of the streets.

Reuel Sample
So how did you come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ in the midst of all that where Christianity had been a part of Iran for centuries? And we can, we're going to get to that. However, after the 1979 Iranian revolution, which you were born just a few months before, so you basically, you spent your entire life under a regime that was forcing Islamic law and Islamic faith down the throats of its people since 1979.

How did you get to the point of knowing Jesus Christ?

Marziyeh Amirizadeh
You know, I have described a little bit the environment that I grew up in Iran, but still, I was so thirsty. I was a very stubborn kid from my childhood. I would not accept whatever people would tell me.

I would test it and to find out if this is true or not. That's why, that was the reason that I decided, okay, I told myself, Marzi, you need to practice it to see if there is any truth in that. And that's why I started reading Quran and praying namaz every day for two years.

But nothing happened. But it opened my eyes to many terrible verses coming from the book of Quran against infidels, against women, that opened my eyes, such a religion is that. So since I was thirsty, as I mentioned, finally, you know, a friend gave me a Bible that I started reading.

But before that, it started with a dream that I shared in both my books. There are lots of details to that. We don't have much time to go over all these details, but I'm telling that both my stories in both my books, Captive in Iran and A Love Journey with God, that I shared all the details of my walking step by step by Jesus, that how true dreams, true visions and true miracles, he revealed himself to me, that finally I gave my heart to Jesus.

It wasn't like that somebody told me about Christianity and I said, okay, I'm going to be a Christian. As I said, I'm very headstrong person, I need to make sure and even about Christianity, about Jesus, I just had a very powerful, amazing encounter with Jesus, which really changed my life. That's why in prison, when they told me, we will kill you if you do not convert back to Islam, I said, go ahead.

I'm not going to deny my faith. Because it wasn't like a Christian came to me and brainwashed me. I met Jesus.

He talks to me through my dreams and you can't, even if you don't accept it, I don't care. This is my faith and go ahead and kill me, but I'm not going to deny my faith in Jesus.

Reuel Sample
I kind of say when I first met you, because I met you through your books, is that I saw two things. Number one, yes, you are incredibly stubborn, because I think it took that stubbornness to get you through that prison. I want to talk about that real quickly.

Number two, you also reminded me of the early Christian mystics, who were quite often women themselves. A lot of your faith statements and your faith journeys, and you outline this in your book, A Love Journey, which is both before and after your prison, basically, you outline that, is that there is a lot of mystical experience that brought you to where you are. You were thrown in prison, because you were A, a Christian, and B, a woman.

Both of those are important, is that correct?

Marziyeh Amirizadeh
Yes, and you mentioned about my stubbornness, honestly, that also my interrogators understood this, because they do a big research about you to find out something in your life to break you. I never forget in my first interrogation at Evan prison, when my interrogator entered the cell, he said that we did some research about you, and we know you are such a stubborn person, but you need to know that here is not the place, and we will break you. I said, okay, go ahead.

Yeah, maybe God used that to help me in that situation. But yeah, it was just, you know, my friend and I, when we got arrested, we were the first women that we were charged by apostasy, because it was many years ago, like 20 years before our arrest in 2009, it was Pastor Haig, Armenian pastor, and Pastor Dibaj, who were killed by the regime. Pastor Dibaj was a Muslim background, who converted to Christianity, and they sentenced him to death, and then Pastor Haig advocating for him, and as a result of international pressures, they had to release him, but after their release, they killed them in different ways.

They stabbed both of them. So when they arrested us, they gave us the charge of apostasy, which is punishable by death, and it's based on Sharia law. So that's why, you know, their problem was mostly with our faith.

They didn't know that we distributed 20,000 Bibles. My friend and I, I shared the details in my book, but if they knew, they would kill us immediately for that, but they didn't know God covered that, but that's why their major problem was our faith, and they said to us that if you just write down that you made a mistake and you convert back to Islam, we will release you. Otherwise, they kept telling us that you will face execution by hanging.

Reuel Sample
Didn't they realize that that same line has been tried since the Romans? You were in that prison for how long?

Marziyeh Amirizadeh
259 days, and they used different tactics, actually, to break us. They had a good cop, bad cop. They invited a professor from university that was educated in all Islamic teachings, and he has also read the Bible to come to convince us.

They had the ways of, you know, violence, you know, aggressive interrogations. They separated us. They put me in the world of murderers, and that they took my soulmate and executed her in order to show me what will happen to me.

They used a lot of tactics to break us, but it didn't work, and it was not me, honestly, because I knew how much I am weak. I have so much fear. It was God's power.

The Holy Spirit that would strengthen me. I always say that sometimes when I was, you know, responding to their questions, communicating with them, I was shaking in my body, but the words coming out of my mouth was so powerful that I was hearing my voice, and I was saying, you're in big trouble, but that reminded me the verse that Jesus said in Bible that whenever you got arrested and brought to trial, don't worry about what to say. Just open your mouth, and I will give you the words, and it really happened.

I really experienced that because I could not tell it was me because I was in my body. I was shaking, and they are evil. You can't even look into their eyes.

Reuel Sample
I'm going to put the links to both of Marzi's books in the podcast because I don't want to give the books away too much, but suffice it to say, they didn't break you. You broke them because you started. God broke them.

You started doing things that just blew them away, and just as a side note, you were in, is it Evam or Evam prison?

Marziyeh Amirizadeh
Evam.

Reuel Sample
Evam.

Marziyeh Amirizadeh
Evam prison.

Reuel Sample
That was blown up in one of the first rounds of this whole attack on Iran. How did you feel when you saw the news that that prison was no longer?

Marziyeh Amirizadeh
Yeah, I immediately checked the news, and I praise God for that because when I saw the pictures, there was no way that prisoners get hurt because the places that Israel is very amazing, they are very amazing in precise strike, that they only strike the entrance of the Evam prison, and there's a big space. Since I was inside Evam prison, I know the structure of this prison. There's a big distance between the guards' offices and everyone, two different wards, and those wards, honestly, it has a very complicated map.

It's deep under the mountain, so there was no way when I checked the news and saw the pictures, I said, praise God, they targeted most of the prison authorities, that their buildings, I knew, were in those locations.

Reuel Sample
So the prisoners were safe, it was just those who were torturing and imprisoning the prisoners that met their doom. So I wanted to get your perspective, not just on what you're thinking about Iran right now, but you have a website called newpersia.org, and you have a vision for your homeland that goes just beyond what politicians talk about regime change and everything else. You have a far different idea of what Iran should be.

So first off, can you tell me, have you heard anything from Iran lately? I'm sure you still have family and friends back there.

Marziyeh Amirizadeh
Honestly, it's very hard to communicate. One of my high school friends, it's been, again, it's been weeks, I sent a text message through WhatsApp, still it's not even delivered to her. But the times that we were able to contact them, they shared with us what's happening, and it's terrible, especially, I'm sure, you know, your audience know about the recent protest that regime, it was a nationwide protest, millions of Iranians came to the streets, and they called the return of Prince Pahlavi, the fall of this regime, and the regime killed over 50,000 Iranians.

And they not only shoot at them, they went to the hospitals, they shoot at the head of the injured people, they killed the nurses who tried to, you know, treat these injured protesters, wounded protesters, they raped some of them. There are terrible news that, you know, whenever we had a chance to talk to friends inside Iran, all of them were saying that it was before the war started, they were begging and asking, please, let America and other countries know to help us and to strike this regime, because Iranian people know that their true enemy is the Islamic Republic regime. And some of our friends, it's very heartbreaking, they told us, we don't care, even if by accident, for example, America and Israel by accident, a bomb killed us, we don't care.

We just want to make sure that this regime is gone and our children, grandchildren live in freedom, because they know if this regime stays in power, they are going to kill hundreds of thousands of Iranians more, and they keep executing people.

Reuel Sample
And we're finding out just today that they have actually increased the regime, what's ever left of it, is increasing those executions. We had the the wrestler that was just hanged a couple weeks ago, and those are increasing that. At what point do you think, Marzi, will the Iranian people rise up?

Now, right now, they're being told, at least from what I understand, by the Israelis, stay inside, it's not, it's not time yet. Do you think the Iranians are ready to do this when all the bombing stops?

Marziyeh Amirizadeh
Definitely. Let me tell you, Iranian people knows, as I mentioned, that America and Israel are targeting passages, military bases, IRGC, and the key leaders of Iran, and they are waiting for the order. And during these shooting and strikes, they ask Iranian people to stay inside, not to come out.

But beside that, imagine the regime brought their forces in the streets of Iran, with machine guns, military weapons, and they also imported their Islamic Shia and their proxies from Iraq, from Lebanon to Iran, hundreds of thousands of them to place in different parts of the country, to make sure to shoot at the Iranian people. Because they know that their true enemy are Iranian people, and they are waiting for any chance to immediately come to the streets and overthrow the regime. That's why they are placing their forces in the streets and threatening Iranian people that if you come out to do any protest, we will shoot at you.

That's why Iranian people need help from America, from Israel, from other countries to help them to get rid of these terrorists, because they don't have any gun to defend themselves. That's obvious that it's difficult for people when they know that if they come just in peaceful protest, they will randomly shoot at people. There were many Iranians that they killed because just they were walking in the streets.

Hundreds of kids, they shoot at kids. Why?

Reuel Sample
I find it so incredibly difficult to understand that in this country, we've got people walking around last Saturday, dressed up in the weirdest things, protesting, no kings, yet in your country, they go outside and they protest, and they are taking their very lives in their hands. That's just amazing. I know we're starting to run up some time.

Real quickly, at the end of all this, when, not if, I'm convinced, but when Iran is freed from this regime, there's got to be a new Iran in place, and it just can't be political. It's got to be a spiritual rebirth, which is where newpersia.org comes into play.

Marziyeh Amirizadeh
I wanted to talk about that. I found New Persia based on God's prophecy in Bible, Jeremiah 49, which is God's promise regarding the future of Elam, which is the ancient name of Iran, that He will set it stronger. I found my ministry based on that, and my big vision is to turn Iran to a Christian country, and as you mentioned, this is not just a physical battle, this is a spiritual battle, and we need a spiritual awakening in Iran, and it's happening.

It has already started, and God's justice, God tells us in Jeremiah 49, that after destroying the kings and rulers of Elam, which is Iran, I'm going to set my throne in Iran, and God's justice has already started through Israeli IDF soldiers and American soldiers that are helping Iranian people striking this regime, but we need a bigger revolution, which is a spiritual revolution in Iran, because this regime is evil. They are demonic, and they brought darkness to Islam, to the country.

They brought curse, they brought witchcraft, worshiping wrong gods, and that's why we need to help Iranian people to break this darkness, this veil of darkness over their eyes. Iran has the fastest growing churches, many Iranian people are coming to Christ, and it's not just based on the news. I, for about four years, I was evangelizing Iranian people.

I know how much my people are thirsty. That's why I'm saying that this is going to happen. We will witness a big spiritual awakening after the fall of the regime, and it was a few weeks ago that I started a campaign of global prayer for Iran, which is based on a vision that God gave me a few years ago, because since I moved to America, I never stopped praying for my country, for my people.

I never stopped thinking how to get rid of this evil regime, and writing about it, exposing the lies of this regime, and it was through the story of Joshua, when I was reading in Bible, that how he brought down the walls of Jericho. God showed me, gave me that vision of Iran. If you look at the map of Iran, it's behind me.

It's surrounded with seven countries that has earth borders with Iran, and God showed me to have Christians in those countries to stand up and all around the world in a global prayer to pray for, to break this darkness while American soldiers, while Israel is fighting against these terrorists. We as Christians, we are the army of God, and we need to be united in prayers, because it's not just about Iran. Breaking this darkness will influence our countries, because they infiltrated in America and in other Western countries through their agents to bring down America, to destroy our freedoms, to destroy our Judeo-Christian values.

So based on that vision, people can read it through my website, newpersia.org. There's an instruction that God gave me, not only to have people in those seven countries, but anywhere people can fast and pray for seven days, and I ask them, please buy a map, print a map of Iran with its neighboring country, and just gather together, seven people, five, whatever, and pray, fast and pray for seven days, every day gather once a day, pray to break and focus on breaking this darkness, and on the seven days, then you need to pray seven times and declare Iran under the kingdom of God, because that's the only solution to Iranian people to be saved through Jesus Christ, and he's the only king that needs to sit on the throne in Iran, and I really want that for my people.

I tasted, I experienced Jesus in my life, and I want my people to see the truth, and this is going to happen if people around the world to be united, and I gave the window from April 1st to May 17, which is 47 days, representing 47 years that the Islamic regime was in power, which is going to be seven weeks, and I told them, pick your own seven days, it doesn't matter when you are going to start, I have already started yesterday, and I myself am going to be fast and pray for 47 days, but I ask people, choose your seven days, and pray and fast, this is just easy thing that we can do, we have power in Jesus name.

Reuel Sample
You know, we are covering Iran with, we're carpet bombing them with bombs, but this is blanketing them with prayers, which is even, which is even stronger, so, and all those suggestions and the timeline is right there on newpersia.org, we'll make sure that that link is there as well. Thank you so very, very, very much, best of luck on your ministries, and best of luck in what your family and friends are still going on in Iran, and we will continue to keep you and your people in our prayers.

Marziyeh Amirizadeh
Thank you so much, God bless you.

Reuel Sample
And God bless you. This has been the Wilmington Standard, I'm Reuel Sample, thanks for listening.

Marziyeh (Marzi) Amirizadeh is an Iranian American who immigrated to the US after being sentenced to death by hanging in Iran for the crime of converting to Christianity. She endured months of mental and physical hardships and intense interrogation in Evin prison- one of the most brutal prisons in the world.

Marzi is an author, public speaker, and columnist. She has written two books “Captive in Iran,” and “A Love Journey with God” which are available on www.marzisjourney.com.

She is co-founder of Root & Branch (www.rootandbranchisrael.com) Israel’s first olive harvest pilgrimage for Christians. Marzi also is the founder and president of NewPersia.org, whose mission is to be the voice of persecuted Christians and oppressed women under Islam, expose the lies of the Iranian Islamic regime, and restore the relationships between Persians, Jews, and Christians. www.NewPersia.org

A Love Journey with God

Read the remarkable and inspiring story of Marziyeh Amirizadeh, both before and after the events of her first book, Captive in Iran. She shares memories of growing up in Iran under the harsh dictates of Sharia law, which deprives women of even the most basic rights of self-determination. We follow her as her dreams of a college degree go unrealized, her wealthy brothers deprive her of her inheritance, and she struggles to earn a living in a culture where single women are viewed with suspicion and derision.

Most of all, she recounts the journey of her walk with Christ from her first thoughts and questions about faith to her imprisonment and death sentence, from her new life in the United States to her hopes and plans for the future. A Love Journey with God invites you to share in this very personal story of faith, courage, and hope.

Buy A Love Journey with God

Captive in Iran

Marziyeh Amirizadeh and her friend knew they were putting their lives on the line. Islamic laws in Iran forbade them from sharing their Christian beliefs, but in three years, they’d covertly put New Testaments into the hands of twenty thousand of their countrymen and started two secret house churches.

In 2009, they were finally arrested and held in the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran, a place where inmates are routinely tortured and executions are commonplace. In the face of ruthless interrogations, persecution, and a death sentence, Marziyeh and her friend chose to take the radical―and dangerous―step of sharing their faith inside the very walls of the government stronghold that was meant to silence them. In Captive in Iran, two courageous Iranian women recount how God used their 259 days in Evin Prison to shine His light into one of the world’s darkest places, giving hope to those who had lost everything and showing love to those in despair.

Buy Captive in Iran

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