Iran (MNN) — Iran and the United States continue to trade threats and airstrikes on regional targets after renewing their hostilities last weekend. But Denise Godwin with International Media Ministries believes that for the Iranian regime, the hostilities never stopped in the first place. 

“They’ve kept killing their own people, whether they admitted it to the world stage or not. They keep undermining governments around them,” says Godwin. 

“They believe in certain Islamic practices… that they can lie, as long as it’s in the interest of what Allah has called them to do. So it’s not a problem to lie about hostilities or about killings.”

That doesn’t mean that everything the Iranian regime says is a lie. However, the Qur’an does explicitly permit lying in times of war. This is not a new reality. It’s been over 47 years since the Iranian revolution led to Iran becoming an Islamic republic. Today, disillusionment with Islam is profound among many Iranians.

“Iran perhaps in a different way has a perspective on Islam destroying their culture, like the economics and the everyday life that people have been experiencing bit by bit over these 50 years,” Godwin says.

Muslims who leave Islam often become atheists at first, she says. But that isn’t a comfortable place to be, because, “they have a very strong sense of God being out there, and then they begin to seek.”

However, death and loss are rampant in Iran today amid increasing government crackdowns. For example, in August, Iran’s parliament introduced new legislation that, if passed, will make it a criminal offense to view or contact media sources deemed hostile to Iran’s Islamic Republic. 

This material called “hostile” will no doubt include Christian content, whether foreign or otherwise.

The IMM team on a film shoot.
(Photo courtesy International Media Ministries)

“We must pray for [Iranians’] safety, pray for opportunity [and] creativity in our access as believers to communicate how much God cares for Iranians,” says Godwin. “It’s a terrible, tragic situation, but people are coming to Jesus in desperation and in prisons, and Christians are standing up for things that are very hard and helping others. These tragedies are real, but God is at work.”

Pray for access to the gospel and Christian discipleship to grow for Iranians. Pray for spiritual forces of darkness to have no power against seekers and Christians alike. 

“Pray for the opportunity to have an open door, whether that’s in moments on the internet, whether that’s hand-to-hand materials being passed,” says Godwin.