A junior cleric gave the opening prayer in Arabic asking Allah to bless the gathering and strengthen the Islamic Republic against its enemies.

Then a series of speakers took turns at the microphone giving passionate speeches about the greatness of Iran, the wisdom of the Supreme Leader, and the dangers of Western cultural invasion.

A basie commander led the crowd in chanting death to America and death to Israel.

And most people joined in loudly while others just moved their lips without making sound.

A government official read statistics about Iran’s economic progress and military strength, trying to paint a picture of a nation that was thriving under Islamic rule despite international sanctions.

The whole program felt staged and artificial, like a performance that everyone was going through the motions of without real conviction.

I sat backstage with the other VIP guests, watching the speakers and waiting for my turn, feeling the weight of what I was about to do pressing down on my shoulders like a physical burden.

[clears throat] Finally, around 3:30 in the afternoon, the moderator called my name.

He introduced me to the crowd as Colonel Arash Tagavi, distinguished commander of IRGC Intelligence Unit 840, decorated veteran of campaigns in Syria and Iraq, faithful servant of the Islamic Revolution.

The crowd applauded politely as I walked up to the microphone and stood in front of 25,000 faces looking up at me expectantly.

Television cameras were pointed at the stage, recording everything for the state media broadcast.

Security officers were positioned throughout the venue, armed and alert.

My superior officers were sitting in the front row, proud smiles on their faces, completely unaware of what was about to happen.

I looked out at that massive sea of humanity, and felt a supernatural calm wash over me.

The fear that had been gripping my chest all morning suddenly disappeared.

And in its place came a deep peace and clarity.

I knew that Jesus was standing with me on that platform, that his presence was surrounding me, that his words would flow through my mouth.

I opened my lips and began to speak.

I started by saying my name and my rank just as the moderator had introduced me.

Then I paused for a long moment looking across the crowd and I said the words that would change everything.

I said, “For 23 years, I have served the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with complete loyalty and dedication.

I have fought in wars, conducted intelligence operations, and done everything in my power to protect this nation and advance the cause of the Islamic Republic.

But today I stand before you to tell you something that will shock many of you and anger others.

6 months ago Jesus Christ appeared to me in my bedroom in the middle of the night.

He spoke to me in Farsy, called me by my name and told me that he loved me.

He showed me that everything I had been taught about God was incomplete and that he is the only way to know the true and living God.

I gave my life to Jesus that night and I have been a follower of Christ ever since.

And today I am here to publicly declare that Jesus is the son of God, that he died for our sins and rose from the dead and that he is the only one who can bring true peace to Iran and to the human heart.

The moment those words left my mouth, the entire atmosphere of the gathering changed instantly.

There was a collective gasp from the crowd followed by complete stunned silence.

People looked at each other in confusion and disbelief, not sure if they had heard correctly or if this was some kind of test or trick.

The moderator and other officials on the stage froze, their faces showing shock and panic.

Security officers started talking urgently into their radios, trying to get instructions from their commanders about what to do.

But before anyone could stop me, I continued speaking, my voice growing stronger and more confident with every sentence.

I said, “I know that many of you have been taught that Christianity is a foreign religion that has nothing to do with Iran.

But I am here to tell you that Jesus is appearing to Iranians all across this country right now in dreams and visions, calling people by name and revealing his love to them.

I am not the only one who has experienced this.

There are hundreds of thousands, perhaps more than a million Iranians who have met Jesus personally and given their lives to him.

This is not Western propaganda or foreign influence.

This is the living God reaching down to touch the hearts of Iranians because he loves us and wants us to know him.

As I spoke these words, something extraordinary began to happen in the crowd.

From different sections scattered throughout the massive gathering, individual people started standing up.

At first, it was just one or two, then five, then 10, then dozens, then hundreds.

They stood up in the middle of that regime organized event surrounded by security forces and cameras and they began to shout out their own testimonies.

A young woman near the front raised her hands in the air and cried out.

I saw him too.

Jesus appeared to me in a dream three months ago and I gave my life to him.

An older man in the middle section shouted, “I was a Muslim my whole life, but Jesus healed my daughter when the doctor said she would die, and now my whole family follows him.

” A teenage boy stood on his chair and yelled, “The man in white came to me and spoke my name, and I have never been the same.

” All across the venue, in every direction, people were standing and declaring publicly that they had encountered Jesus become Christians.

The security forces did not know what to do because there were too many people confessing at once, scattered too widely throughout the crowd to arrest them all.

It was chaos, beautiful, holy chaos, as thousands of witnesses testified simultaneously to the reality of Jesus Christ.

I stood at the microphone watching this unfold with tears streaming down my face.

This was far beyond anything I had imagined or planned.

This was a move of the Holy Spirit that no human could orchestrate or control.

I raised my voice above the noise and continued my testimony.

I said, “I know that speaking these words will cost me everything.

I will lose my position, my career, my reputation, and possibly my freedom or my life.

My family will be shamed, and my name will be cursed by the regime.

But none of that matters compared to the treasure I have found in Jesus Christ.

He is worth more than all the power and prestige in the world.

He offers forgiveness for every sin, peace for every troubled heart, and eternal life for everyone who believes in him.

And I want to tell you today with complete confidence and joy that Jesus will bring peace to Iran.

Not the false peace of political power or military strength, but the real peace that comes from knowing God personally and being loved by him unconditionally.

The crowd was in complete uproar now.

Some people were cheering and crying and praising God.

Others were shouting angrily and demanding that I be arrested immediately.

The besiege militia started pushing through the crowd trying to reach the people who were standing and testifying.

But every time they grabbed someone, three more would stand up in a different location.

The cameras kept rolling, capturing [clears throat] everything, and I knew that this footage would spread across Iran and around the world within hours.

The moderator finally recovered from his shock and tried to grab the microphone from me, but I held it firmly and kept speaking.

I said, “If you are watching this and you have had dreams or visions of a man in a white, if you have felt empty inside despite following all the rules of Islam, if you are searching for truth and meaning and love, I want you to know that Jesus is calling you.

He knows your name.

He sees your heart and he is inviting you to come to him.

You do not have to earn his love or prove yourself worthy.

He offers himself to you as a free gift.

All you have to do is believe in him, confess your sins, and ask him to be your Lord and Savior.

He will transform your life just like he transformed mine.

Security forces finally rushed the stage and grabbed me roughly, pulling me away from the microphone and dragging me down the stairs.

But even as they wrestled me to the ground and put handcuffs on my wrists, I kept shouting at the top of my lungs, “Jesus loves you.

He died for you.

He is alive and he will never leave you.

” The crowd was in total pandemonium with people running in every direction.

Some trying to escape the chaos and others pressing forward to see what was happening.

[clears throat] I saw believers being arrested throughout the venue, pulled from the crowd by angry security officers.

But I also saw something else that filled me with hope.

I saw hundreds, maybe thousands of people with their phones out recording videos of everything that was happening, capturing my testimony and the testimonies of others.

I knew that even though the state media would try to suppress this story, it was already too late.

The footage was being uploaded to social media in real time, being shared through encrypted messaging apps, spreading like wildfire across Iran and beyond.

The truth had been spoken publicly, witnessed by 25,000 people and recorded on countless devices.

The regime could arrest me.

They could torture me.

They could even kill me.

But they could not erase what had happened here today.

The shock wave had been released and nothing would ever be the same again.

They dragged me off the stage and threw me into the back of a security van that was parked behind the platform.

My hands were cuffed tightly behind my back and my face was pressed against the cold metal floor as the vehicle sped away from Mosia complex with sirens blaring.

I could hear shouting and chaos outside as the van pushed through the crowds trying to leave the area.

Two security officers sat on either side of me with their boots pressing down on my shoulders to keep me from moving.

Nobody spoke during the drive, but I could feel the anger radiating from them like heat.

They knew that what had just happened was a disaster for the regime, a public humiliation that would be impossible to explain or cover up.

Within 20 minutes, we arrived at Evan Prison, the notorious facility where political prisoners and enemies of the state are held.

They pulled me out of the van roughly and marched me through a series of locked doors and dark corridors until we reached section 209, the intelligence wing of the prison where high-v valueue detainees are kept in solitary confinement and interrogated.

They threw me into a small windowless cell that was barely 2 m wide with nothing inside except a thin mat on the concrete floor and a bucket in the corner for waste.

The door slammed shut behind me and I heard the lock click with a sound of terrible finality.

I was alone in complete darkness and silence except for the sound of my own breathing.

I sat down on the mat and leaned my back against the cold wall.

And for the first time since the gathering, I allowed myself to process what had just happened.

I had done it.

I had spoken the truth publicly in front of 25,000 witnesses and millions more who would see the footage online.

I had declared my faith in Jesus Christ and called on others to follow him.

I had fulfilled the mission that God had given me when he appeared to me 6 months ago.

And now I was facing the consequences.

Locked in a prison cell with no idea what would happen next.

But instead of feeling afraid or regretful, I felt an overwhelming sense of peace and joy.

I had been obedient to Jesus, and that was all that mattered.

Whatever happened to me now was in his hands.

I spent the first 3 days in that cell in complete isolation.

Nobody came to interrogate me or even bring me food.

They gave me only water and left me alone in the darkness.

Probably hoping that the isolation would break my spirit and make me more willing to cooperate when the questioning finally began.

But I was not alone.

I felt the presence of Jesus with me constantly in that cell.

So real and tangible that it was almost like he was sitting next to me in the darkness.

I prayed constantly, sometimes out loud and sometimes silently, thanking him for the privilege of suffering for his name and asking him to protect the believers who had been arrested at the gathering.

I recited verses from the Bible that I had memorized during my months of secret study, letting the words of scripture strengthen my heart and remind me of God’s promises.

I thought about the Apostle Paul, who had been imprisoned multiple times for preaching the gospel and how he wrote in one of his letters that he had learned to be content in every situation, whether in plenty or in need.

I realized that this was my opportunity to learn that same lesson to find joy and peace even in the worst circumstances because my hope was not in my freedom or comfort but in Jesus alone.

On the fourth day, the interrogations began.

Two intelligence officers came to my cell early in the morning and took me to a small room with a metal table and chairs.

The room was brightly lit with harsh fluorescent lights.

After the days of darkness in my cell and my eyes hurt when I first entered, they sat me down in a chair and handcuffed my wrists to the table so I could not move.

Then they began asking questions in an aggressive and hostile tone designed to intimidate me.

They wanted to know when I had converted to Christianity, who had influenced me, whether I was working with foreign intelligence agencies or missionary organizations, and what my goals were in making such a public statement at the gathering.

I answered all their questions honestly and calmly, explaining that nobody had recruited or brainwashed me, that Jesus had appeared to me supernaturally in a vision, and that I had decided on my own to speak publicly because I wanted other Iranians to know the truth about him.

They did not believe my story and accused me of lying to protect my handlers.

They said I must have been recruited by the CIA or MSAD to undermine the Islamic Republic from within and that my confession at the gathering was part of a coordinated psychological operation against Iran.

The interrogations continued every day for 2 weeks, sometimes lasting for hours at a time.

They used various techniques to try to break me down and get me to change my story.

They would alternate between friendly persuasion and violent threats.

Sometimes offering me deals if I cooperated and other times describing in graphic detail what they would do to me if I refused.

They brought in religious scholars to debate with me and tried to convince me that I had been deceived by Satan and needed to return to Islam.

They showed me videos of my wife Mariam crying and begging me to recant my faith so that our family would not be destroyed.

They told me that my sons were being bullied at school and called traitors because of what their father had done.

They said that my elderly mother had suffered a heart attack from the shame and stress and might die if I did not repent.

Every one of these tactics was designed to create psychological pressure and make me feel guilty and responsible for the suffering of my loved ones.

But I knew that these were lies and manipulations meant to break my will.

I prayed constantly for strength to endure and for Jesus to protect my family from harm.

After two weeks of failed interrogations, they changed their strategy.

Instead of trying to get information from me, they started trying to force me to make a public recantation.

They brought in cameras and scripts and told me that I would be filmed reading a statement denouncing Christianity and declaring my return to Islam.

They said if I did this, I would be released from prison and allowed to return to my family with minimal punishment.

But if I refused, they would charge me with apostasy, espionage, and national security crimes that carried the death penalty.

They gave me 24 hours to think about it and make my decision.

I spent that night in my cell wrestling with the most difficult choice of my life.

Part of me wanted to accept their offer, to read the script and say whatever words they wanted so that I could go home to my wife and children and end this nightmare.

I thought about how easy it would be to just pretend to recant publicly while secretly remaining a Christian in my heart.

Nobody would blame me for doing whatever was necessary to survive and protect my family.

But then I remembered the words of Jesus in the Bible where he said, “Whoever denies me before men, I will also deny before my father who is in heaven.

” I realized that if I publicly rejected Jesus to save my own life, I would be betraying the one who had died to save me.

How could I deny him after everything he had done for me? How could I go back to living a lie after experiencing the freedom of speaking the truth? The next morning when the officers came to get my answer, I told them clearly and firmly that I would not recant my faith in Jesus Christ under any circumstances.

I said that I was willing to die rather than deny the truth that had set me free.

They were furious and began screaming at me, calling me a fool and a traitor who was throwing away his life for nothing.

But I remained calm and peaceful, knowing that I had made the right choice.

They took me back to my cell and told me that I had signed my own death warrant.

Over the following days, I heard through whispers from guards and other prisoners that my case had become a major crisis for the regime at the highest levels.

The video footage from the Masala gathering had gone massively viral on social media despite all attempts to suppress it.

Millions of Iranians had watched the video of my testimony and the spontaneous outbreak of public confessions from believers in the crowd.

International news organizations had picked up the story and were reporting on the unprecedented public display of Christian faith in the Islamic Republic.

Human rights groups were calling for my release and condemning my imprisonment.

Even more troubling for the regime, reports were flooding in from across Iran of people having dreams and visions of Jesus after watching the video.

The underground church networks reported that thousands of new believers were seeking baptism and joining house churches every single week following the gathering.

The regime was facing a dilemma they had not anticipated.

If they executed me publicly, they would create a martyr whose story would inspire even more people to convert to Christianity.

But if they released me or gave me a light sentence, they would appear weak and encourage others to speak out boldly.

They were trapped by their own fear and had no good options.

While they debated what to do with me, something unexpected happened that changed everything.

A network of underground believers both inside and outside Iran began organizing a sophisticated rescue operation.

I learned later that the plan involved bribing certain prison guards, creating false transfer documents, and coordinating with exile Christian organizations to arrange safe passage out of the country.

On the night of October 28th, exactly 6 weeks after my arrest, two guards who had secretly become sympathetic to my case came to my cell at 3:00 in the morning.

They unlocked the door quietly and told me that if I wanted to live, I needed to come with them immediately without asking questions.

They led me through a series of back corridors and service tunnels that I did not know existed, avoiding all the main security checkpoints.

We emerged in a loading area where a delivery truck was waiting with its engine running.

They told me to hide in the back of the truck under a pile of laundry and not make any sound no matter what happened.

The truck drove for what felt like hours, stopping several times at checkpoints where I could hear guards talking to the driver and inspecting the vehicle.

Each time, my heart pounded with fear that they would discover me.

But each time, the truck was waved through without incident.

Finally, we stopped in what sounded like a quiet residential area, and someone knocked on the back of the truck in a specific pattern.

The doors opened and hands reached in to pull me out.

I found myself standing in a dark alley surrounded by several people I did not recognize.

But they greeted me as brother and told me I was safe now.

They took me to a safe house where I stayed hidden for 3 days while arrangements were made for the next phase of my escape.

During that time, believers came to visit me and pray with me and thanked me for my bold testimony that had encouraged so many.

They told me stories of people all across Iran who had given their lives to Jesus after watching the video from Mosiah, including government officials, university professors, and even other IRGC officers.

They said the movement was growing so rapidly now that the regime had completely lost control of it and did not know how to respond.

On the third night, they moved me again, this time in a car with fake license plates driving west toward the Turkish border.

The journey took 2 days with multiple stops at different safe houses along the way.

Finally, we reached a remote area near the border where a guide was waiting to take me across on foot through the mountains.

The crossing was dangerous and exhausting, hiking for hours in the darkness over rough terrain, constantly watching for border patrol.

But we made it safely into Turkey, where another network of Christians was waiting to receive me.

From Turkey, I was taken to a refugee processing center and then eventually relocated to a European country where I was granted asylum.

I cannot say which country for security reasons.

But I can tell you that I am safe and free now.

Living under a new identity in a place where I can worship Jesus openly without fear of persecution.

I have been able to connect with my family through secure channels.

And while they do not fully understand my faith, they are relieved that I am alive and safe.

Now I spend my time telling my story to anyone who will listen, giving interviews to media organizations, speaking at churches and conferences, and encouraging other Iranian believers who are still living in danger inside the country.

The video from Mosala has been viewed over 50 million times across various platforms.

and it continues to spread despite ongoing efforts by the Iranian government to block it.

Reports from underground church networks indicate that the number of Iranian Christians has now grown to somewhere between 1.

5 and 2 million believers, making it one of the fastest growing Christian movements in the entire world.

Jesus is appearing to Iranians in dreams and visions at an unprecedented rate.

And no amount of persecution or propaganda can stop what God is doing.

The prophecy that I declared at the gathering is coming true.

Jesus is bringing peace to Iran, not through political power or military force, but through the transformation of individual hearts, the one person at a time.

I believe with all my heart that we are witnessing the fulfillment of ancient biblical prophecies about Persia turning to the true God.

And I am honored beyond words that Jesus chose to use someone like me as part of his plan.

If you are watching this video or reading this testimony and you are Iranian, I want you to know that what happened to me can happen to you too.

Jesus is not far from any of us and he is actively seeking those who are hungry for truth.

If you call out to him sincerely and ask him to reveal himself to you, he will answer.

He has proven himself faithful to hundreds of thousands of Iranians already.

And he will prove himself faithful to you as well.

Do not be afraid of what it might cost you to follow him because I promise you he is worth infinitely more than anything you could ever lose.

I gave up my career, my position, my country, and my comfortable life to follow Jesus.

And I would make the same choice a thousand times over because knowing him is the greatest treasure and joy of my existence.

So I encourage you today to pray a simple prayer from your heart.

Say, “Jesus, if you are real, show yourself to me.

I want to know the truth.

” Then wait and watch what he does because he will respond to every sincere seeker.

And when he appears to you, do not hesitate to give him your whole life because that is when you will finally discover what you were created for and experience the peace that surpasses all understanding.

Jesus will bring peace to Iran and he wants to start by bringing peace to your heart right now.

God bless you all.

 

« Prev